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Introducing the Great Fuel Foods: Fats

(CREAM, BUTTER, OLIVE OIL AND SALADS) FATS form the third great class of food stuffs; these are represented in our bodies in the form of fatty tissue. Fatty tissue is made up of a mass of albuminous cells, containing oil and held together by a slight framework of connective tissue. The oil in nuts, olives and seeds is, in the same way, held in cells connected together by a framework of connective tissue. Fat and oil are practically the same thing, fat being oil in a solid state and oil being fat in a liquid state.

THE USES OF FATS IN THE BODY As fat contains about eighty per cent. of carbon, largely available as a source of heat, fats would seem to be indicated for use in cold rather than in warm weather, and in a cold climate rather than in the reverse. Still this compound is a necessity for people even in hot climates; for growth and proper nutrition are dependent upon the ingestion of a due proportion of all the food principles. Fats lubricate the human machine and aid in building up fatty tissue, which serves as a cushion for the nerves, and provides a reserve store of material to furnish heat and energy in time of need. During convalescence from severe acute disorders, and while suffering from chronic wasting diseases, fats in larger measure are a necessity. In both cases an easily digested form of fat is called for.

FORMS OF FATS USED AS FOOD 1. Fatty tissue in the form of bacon, the exterior of roasts, steaks and chops, or of boiled ham, corned beef or mutton. 2. The fat that is cooked from bacon and meats (drippings), the kidney fat of beef (suet) and pork, removed by heat from the fatty tissues and clarified. 3. Oil expressed from vegetables and seeds, as olive and cotton-seed oil. 4. Combinations of suet and vegetable oil, as cottolene and cotosuet. 5. Butter and cream. DIGESTION OF FATS Starch is digested, largely, in the mouth, proteid in the stomach, but fats are changed but little until they reach the small intestine. Here the pancreatic juice, bile and intestinal juice divide the fat into smaller and still smaller droplets; these minute droplets are then taken up by the cellular lining of the intestine and carried to the blood. Anything that aids in the division of the oil is helpful to its digestion and assimilation. Thus, with fat and oil, we masticate food that is deficient in these compounds; as lean meat, bread, potato and other vegetables, which tend to separate the masses of fatty tissue (bacon and the like). Or, we spread butter upon steak or bread, or toss hot vegetables in butter, to coat them with it, or turn lettuce and other green vegetables over and over in oil, that each leaf may glisten with it.

WHY PASTRY AND DOUGHNUTS ARE NOT EASILY DIGESTED From what has been said above, it would seem that pastry, in which starch is surrounded by fat, and doughnuts, which are largely starch, cooked in fat, would form ideal ways of presenting fat to the system. But fats are not affected by either saliva or gastric juice, and, if starch be permeated through and through with fat, how is the saliva to get at the starch to digest it? If the doughnuts be so made and fried that the fat does not penetrate the dough, the principal objection to this form of food is removed, but pastry cannot be called a hygienic form of food. It should be reserved for occasional use and not presented in daily bills of fare.

DIGESTIBILITY OF FATS AND OILS In health all forms of fat, in moderation, are usually well digested, but they produce satiety earlier in a meal than do other food compounds. Good butter, cream and cod liver oil are the forms of fat most easily digested. All fats heated to a certain temperature (i.e., to the smoking point), which varies with the kind of fat, become decomposed, and some of the products evolved, when the fat is ingested, occasion irritation of the mucous membrane throughout the digestive tract, and, consequently, in-digestion. Hence, the greatest care must be taken that fats be not overcooked. This is one reason why fried foods may be harmful, and why butter, which is quickly affected by heat, is more wholesome when uncooked than when cooked. Used with steak, vegetables, etc., the heat of the article, upon which it is spread, is all that should be applied to it.

EFFECT OF HEAT ON FATS Melt butter or drippings over the fire and they will foam and bubble, as if boiling; continue the heating, and the bubbling ceases, the fat becoming still. If we tested the fat with a thermometer we should find that, when it was still, the temperature was considerably above the boiling point of water (212 deg F.), and that, when it was bubbling, the temperature was about that of boiling water. When fat bubbles, as if boiling, it is because their is boiling water in it; when the boiling ceases, water is no longer present. Fat or oil will burn before the boiling point is reached. When all the water present in fat or oil has evaporated and the fat is still, it grows hot very fat, rising to 300 deg or 400 deg F. Olive oil may be heated even to 600 deg F. It we put a piece of dough into fat that is bubbling, we find that it absorbs fat and does not take on any color; but, if we put the dough into fat that is still, it becomes brown in a few moments, and, if properly mixed, does not absorb fat. In reality, the higher the temperature to which we can raise the fat without its burning, the more quickly will the exterior of the article to be cooked be browned and hardened so as to exclude the fat. Olive oil can be heated to a temperature of about 600 deg F. before it burns, and thus it is the ideal fat for frying purposes. On account of the cost it is not generally used for this purpose. Lard is the fat that is next best for frying, then comes drippings from meat, then suet, while butter is the least desirable medium for frying.