The argument
Beef fat or oil
Beef fat makes the better fry. Oil makes the easier one. Most weeks the easier one wins, and I have made my peace with that.
Beef fat
Ossewit, or blanc de boeuf on the French side of the label: rendered beef fat, sold in white blocks. Frituren fried in it for generations and some still do, often mixed with vegetable fat. Fries from it taste rounder and a bit savoury, and the crust is somehow drier. I can’t prove that last part. Rik says he can.
It sets solid as it cools, so the fryer turns into a big white candle between sessions. Good for keeping, a nuisance for melting (see the warning on the method page). The smell gets into the curtains. And it is not vegetarian, which matters: tell your guests before they ask what makes it so good.
Oil and vegetable fat
Sunflower and rapeseed oil are neutral, cheap and liquid at room temperature, which makes them easy. Groundnut oil fries beautifully but brings peanut allergies with it. Solid vegetable frying fat, in blocks like tallow, is what a lot of frituren use now; it behaves much like beef fat without the beef.
Fries in oil are good. They are just a little quieter.
Side by side
| Fat | Taste | House smells of it for | Solid when cold | My note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beef fat (ossewit, blanc de boeuf) | deep, a bit savoury | days | yes | The traditional choice and still the best, to me. Not vegetarian: tell people. |
| Vegetable frying fat, in a block | clean | a day | yes | What many frituren use now. Behaves like tallow without the beef. |
| Sunflower oil | neutral | a day | no | Cheap, easy, my weekday choice. |
| Rapeseed oil | neutral, grassy when tired | a day | no | Fine. Goes off a little sooner than sunflower in my fryer. |
| Groundnut oil | neutral, faintly nutty | a day | no | Lovely to fry in. Peanut allergies: always say so. |
| Olive oil | strong | a day | no | I don’t. Three litres of it costs a fortune and it argues with the potato. |
What I actually do
Tallow at weekends and when people are coming. Sunflower oil on a weeknight when it’s just us, in the small fryer, because it heats faster and the house smells of it for a day instead of three. Rik thinks this is a betrayal. Bart thinks I should pick one. I think they should both cook more often.
Looking after it
After each session, let the fat cool until it is warm rather than hot, and pour it through a sieve lined with kitchen paper or a coffee filter. Crumbs burn, and burnt crumbs make everything taste of the last thing you fried. Keep it covered, cool and dark.
Don’t salt over the fryer, keep breaded snacks out of it if you can, and never fry fish in it. Topping up with fresh fat helps a bit, but it doesn’t reset the clock.
When it has to go
When it darkens, foams as the fries go in, smokes at its usual temperature, smells sharp or fishy, or the fries come out dark before they are crisp. For me that is eight to ten sessions. I keep count on a strip of masking tape on the lid, because otherwise I lie to myself.
Getting rid of it
Never down the sink. Let it set (tallow does that by itself; cold oil goes back into its bottle) and take it to the recycling park. In Ghent they take used frying fat, and I would guess most places do. Then come home and open a window.