Interesting info on animal fats

[Zurie]

I came across this interesting information on average chemical analyses for various animal fats. I give my source at the end. The figures are approximate, and will vary with breed and diet.

But what is interesting is that animal fats are by no means simply unhealthy saturated fats.


BUTTER:

50% saturated fat
30% mono-unsaturated fat
4% polyunsaturated fat

Butter also contains healthy fatty acids as well as vits. A, D, E and K, copper, zinc, chromium, selenium, iodine and lecithin.

PORK FAT (both bacon fat and lard):

39% saturated
45% mono-unsaturated
11% polyunsaturated

POULTRY FATS:

Duck:

33% saturated
50% mono-unsaturated
13% polyunsaturated

Chicken:

30% saturated
45% mono-unsaturated
21% polyunsaturated

Turkey:

29% saturated
43% mono-unsaturated
23% polyunsaturated

Goose:

28% saturated
57% mono-unsaturated
11% polyunsaturated

BEEF TALLOW AND SUET: (Tallow = rendered fat)

50% saturated
42% mono-unsaturated
9% polyunsaturated

LAMB TALLOW:

47% saturated
40% mono-unsaturated
9% polyunsaturated

CALF BONE MARROW:

31% saturated
63% mono-unsaturated
6% polyunsaturated

DRIPPING:

45% saturated
42% mono-unsaturated
8% polyunsaturated

*** All figures are approximate and will vary with breed and diet of the animal. The numbers do not always total 100%, as there is water and connective tissue in the fats.

(OLIVE OIL fats, posted as a comparison):

13.3% saturated
67.1% mono-unsaturated
9.6% poly-unsaturated

(This is also dependent on the type of olives, and will vary slightly with olive varieties used).

The animal fat compositions were taken from the book "FAT" by Jennifer McLagan. The subtitle says: "An appreciation of a misunderstood ingredient, with recipes."

It was published by Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, California, in 2008.

It is also a cookbook with meat recipes.

[AskCy]

its a very interesting guide but is a little misleading for the average home cook.

Take something like bacon, its fat content could be different depending on breed, how its looked after, which country its from and even between two different pigs of the same breed. So the list showing how the fat content is made up is great but you have to remember as a percentage of the meat it could be 2% of the weight or 50%.

On a similar theme there is a common practice of saying chicken is a lean meat and the true fact is modern chicken is often over fed and under exercised so tends to be a lot fattier than it used to be when most of the figures were compiled..

Steve