Duck Fat Trivia

Long overdue promise, here's what I found:

1) Duck fat is the healthiest animal fat out there. The fat composition is said to be closer to Olive oil, than butter or worse, pork lard.

2) Research claims that duck fat is high in unsaturated fat, the good fat that's supposedly help you lower your cholesterol level.

3) 40% of duck fat content is oleic acid, which is a monounsaturated fat, that is often abundant in OO.

4) Many like to use duck fat as a substitute to butter when frying or sautéing. Not only because it's claimed to be healthier, but it gives another layer of flavor that butter cannot emulate.

5) In Gascogne region, South West of France, where D'Artagnan of Les Trois Mousquetaires (The 3 Musketeers) was originated from, it is said that people slab on duck fat on their bread, the way we often spread butter on our bread.

6) In fact, Gascogne-ian snacks on fried duck skin. But this is not a surprise knowing that the Japanese munch of deep fried fish skin, the Vietnamese chicken skin, the Chinese Peking duck and crispy pork belly.

7) Despite the diet in high fats (duck fat, foie gras, butter), heart attack occurrences amongst the french are relatively lower than say Americans, resulting in confusion among medical scientists, also known as Le Paradoxe Francais.

Having said that, it is imperative to remember that duck fat is still FAT. There is a lot of downside when consuming food high in fat content. Though many drawn similarities between OO and duck fat, it is no where near OO. In case you didn't know yet, the benefits of OO are rendered useless, even harmful, the moment you heat the oil up above a certain degree. Hence if you notice, one never deep fry with OO.

Duck fat is certainly tasty, but it is far (more like never) from making it to the healthy food list.

Health is important, living dangerously is fun.

But living dangerously everyday is reckless.