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To Clarify Fat

A method for clarifying animal fat by simmering with dried bread to remove impurities.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,258 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity. The science ↓

To Clarify Fat

Ingredients

Directions

Heat the fat

  1. Set the fat in a pan over moderate heat.

  2. Once it starts to boil, add the dried bread.

  3. Boil gently for about 30 minutes.

Settle and strain

  1. Remove from heat.

  2. Let it settle for a few minutes.

  3. Take out the bread.

  4. Pour the fat into a jar or pot, leaving the dregs in the pan.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Chicken + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,258 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Fat
The main ingredient; heating and straining it leaves a clearer fat with the solids removed.
Bread
Dried bread absorbs moisture and residue from the fat as it cooks, helping clarify it.

The step that matters

Keep the boil gentle. Vigorous boiling can scorch the solids and darken the fat. A gentle boil lets water evaporate and impurities separate so the fat can be poured off cleanly.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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