[2] A quality tallow made from grass-feed cows. You can buy it directly from Fatworks Foods. They also sell duck fat, lard and leaf lard, which is the highest grade of lard.

[3] Threestone Hearth recommends adding a bit of beef tallow to bone broth, and for making homemade potato chips.

The popularity of the Paleo Diet has brought more animal fats to the table. The movement endorses minimally processed, unrefined fats and oils, including animal fats (THE NIBBLE takes no position on the merit of any particular eating plan).

In the tradition of dairy- and beef-centric countries, the cooking fats were butter and beef tallow, plus lard from pigs. Beef tallow and lard are made from the rendered fat trimmed from the butchered carcass.

Along with pure lard, duck fat, goose fat and other animal fats, beef tallow is enjoying a resurgence within America’s food culture. The movement was first led by chefs seeking new punches of flavor, before Paleo and related diets emerged.

An organization called The Healthy Fats Coalition (HFC) has proclaimed July 13th the first annual National Beef Tallow Day, a celebration of beef tallow, rendered beef fat, as a cooking fat.

HFC is especially committed to raising awareness about the health benefits of natural animal fats like beef tallow. Their home page quotes family physician Dr. Cate Shanahan:

“Nature doesn’t make bad fats—factories do.”

[Editor’s note: If you have any questions about the best fats for you, don’t hesitate to contact your healthcare provider.]
 
BEEF TALLOW & FRENCH FRIES

July 13th is also National French Fry Day, and the message from HFC is clear: Fry those fries in beef tallow, duck fat or goose fat. All get very high marks from top chefs.

Browsing online, we found listserve comments that Outback Steakhouse makes beef tallow fries; and on the high end, Peter Luger in Brooklyn fries in beef tallow.

A 1985 article in The New York Times noted that eight of the country’s largest fast-food chains used beef tallow to fry their fries.

At that point, healthy fats like olive oil were beginning to get press. McDonald’s and others moved to vegetable oil beginning in 1990, when the press began to slam saturated fats as cardio-hostile. The word “hostile” might be better applied to fans who didn’t like the change.
 
FRESH BEEF TALLOW

The best tallow is fresh from the farm, with absolutely nothing added—no preservatives, no hydrogenation (which produces trans fats).

After the cows are butchered, the fat is rendered into pure tallow. The rendering process slowly heats the beef fat in a large kettle. Any solids, like bits of meat, are removed, and the pure tallow is packaged.

At room temperature, lard looks like butter or other dense animal fat. When heated, it has the appearance of oil.

Rendered fat will keep for about 12 months in the freezer, 6-8 months in the fridge and several weeks at room temperature.

Not all beef tallow is created equal.

You may have come across the word suet in older books. It is a special type of fat.

Suet is the hard white mass of fat surrounding the kidneys and loins of cattle (plus sheep and other animals). It has long been used in European cooking to make puddings, pastry and mincemeat.

Suet has the the cleanest and mildest taste of all the animal’s fat, and is what is sold by quality brands. Fat from grassfed beef fat is the best (although in the suet-loving past, all beef was grassfed!).
 
 
RENDER YOUR OWN BEEF TALLOW

It’s very easy in a stock pot or slow cooker (here’s how). The biggest challenge is to get hold of the fat.

Before you start saving up your steak trimmings, note that the best-tasting tallow comes from the suet.

July 9th is National Sugar Cookie Day.

Don’t all cookies have sugar? Yes.

They’re all are made with sugar (or a sugar substitute), plus fat (butter, margarine, oil) and flour. Yet, there are distinct differences.

It’s the ratio of ingredients and the preparation instructions that determine the cookie’s texture (chewy, crunchy, etc.) and butteriness—and whether it’s a butter cookie, shortbread, or a sugar cookie.

We’ll take a look at these types, but first:
 
> The different types of cookies, a photo glossary.

> The 10 basic cookie types.

> The history of cookies.

> The year’s 44 cookie holidays.
 
 
BUTTER COOKIES, SHORTBREAD COOKIES, SUGAR COOKIES: THE DIFFERENCE

 
The easiest way to tell them apart is to bite into them, of course. For example, although chewy chocolate chip cookies are typically butter cookies, the harder, crunchy variety may be sugar cookies.

But there are also chocolate chip shortbread cookies! With a bit of focus, you can learn to tell the difference upon sight.

Note that many published recipes get the names wrong, calling butter cookies sugar cookies, and vice versa. But who cares, if you’re enjoying the cookie recipe.
 
 
NOW TO COMPLICATE THE ISSUE…

Here are the 10 basic types of cookies:

Bar, drop, filled, fried, molded, no-bake, pressed, refrigerated, rolled, and sandwich.

Take a bite!

[2] Butter cookies can be flavored in many ways. Check out these Coco-Ancho Chile Butter Cookies. Here’s the recipe from Cook’s Recipes.

[3] The most buttery cookie is shortbread (photo © Lark Fine Foods).

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

[2] Want something more substantial? Fill an avocado half: Here’s the recipe (photo © Avocados From Mexico).

[3] Want something more elegant? Get out your Martini glasses (photo © Elegant Affairs Caterers).

[4] Ceviche with a fried plantain garnish from Chef Todd English (photo © MXDC Cocina Restaurant | D.C.).

Originally made as a “vegan ceviche” recipe from The Chalkboard Magazine, we adapted the concept to a mix of fresh fish and shellfish (the mix is up to you).

 
> The recipe for ceviche lettuce cups is below.

> Ceviche vs. tiradito.

> Why ceviche is good for you.

> What to drink with ceviche.

> More ceviche recipes.
 
 
WHAT IS CEVICHE?

Ceviche (pronounced say-VEE-chay, also spelled cebiche, seviche, and sebiche based on region—the Spanish pronounced a “v” as “b”) is a dish of fish and/or shellfish cured by acidic citrus juice—typically lime juice. It includes onions and other vegetables.

It has been popular in Latin America for many centuries: It’s one of the national dishes of Peru, and its roots go back for millennia.

In the early 1500s, the Spanish conquistadors wrote of an Inca dish of raw fish marinated in chicha, a fermented maize beer. That recipe dates back some 2,000 years.

Other curing methods used tumbo (Passiflora tarminina, a relative of passionfruit), or salt and fermented corn.

The concept evolved into ceviche: raw fish or shellfish cured with citrus juice. Over time, fruits were incorporated; most popularly, tomatoes (native to Peru) and mango.

A chemical process occurs when the fish/shellfish is marinated in the highly acidic citrus juice, which denatures the protein. The result is similar to what happens when the fish is cooked with heat. Instead of “cooking,” however, the fish is cured in the marinade, which adds its own delicious flavors.

Both Ecuador and Peru claim to have originated ceviche; both were part of the Incan Empire. But why quibble: Today, ceviche—or seviche or sebiche—is so popular that there are cevicherias, restaurants that specialize in ceviche.

The Spanish brought to Peru the limes, onions, and bell peppers that are integral to modern ceviche. In fact, the term “ceviche” is thought to come from the Spanish escabeche, meaning marinade. Others argue that the word comes from the Quechua (Incan) word siwichi [source].

Ceviche is found in almost all restaurants on the coast of Peru, typically served with camote (sweet potato, which originated in Peru). It has been called “the flagship dish of coastal cuisine,” and is one of the most popular dishes in Peru [source].

June 28th is National Ceviche Day.
 
 
TYPES OF RAW FISH DISHES

Ceviche is part of a group of refreshing raw or cured fish dishes, including:

 
Mix & Match

As with the other dishes, ceviche welcomes almost every type of fish and shellfish. You can also vary the:

 
> Here’s the master template for how to create your ideal ceviche recipe.

> Here are more ways to present ceviche.

Bibb and butter lettuces turn into natural “cups,” while baby romaine leaves are sturdy and can be picked up to eat by hand (the different types of lettuce).

Ingredients

 
Garnishes

 
Preparation

1. PREPARE the ceviche and keep it in the fridge. You can do this a day in advance. When ready to serve…

2. PREPARE the lettuce leaves: wash and pat dry. Fill each leaf with a scoop of ceviche.

3. GARNISH as desired.
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

All you need is a sharp knife and a peeler or mandoline to decorate goat cheese logs the way John Karangis does.

Karangis is the executive chef at Union Square Events, and his job is to present dazzling foods.

Yet, this particular dazzler does not require culinary school. Here’s all you need.

August is National Goat Cheese Month.

> The year’s 30 goat cheese holidays.

> The history of cheese.

> The different types of cheese: a photo glossary.
 
 
RECIPE: DECORATED GOAT CHEESE LOGS

Ingredients

 
If your crowd likes hot and spicy, add narrow red chiles like birds-eye or cayenne; or sprinkle some red pepper flakes.

For the holidays, you can create a seasonal look with strips of pimento or minced peppadew, rosemary leaves, golden raisins (sultanas) and pink and green peppercorns.
 
Preparation

1. SLICE the vegetables as thinly as possible, ideally using a mandoline. The zucchini or summer squash should be sliced into vertical ribbons; leave the skin on. Everything else in horizontal circles.

2. SNIP the herbs as shown in the photo. Pull petals off the flowers.

Decorated goat cheese logs, shown in full and close-up (photos © Chef John Karangis).

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

[2] Lovers of white chocolate will especially appreciate this excellent bar. Both milk and white chocolate were invented in Switzerland.

[3] Milkboy’s semisweet bar is 60% cacao. In the industry, bittersweet chocolate begins with 70% cacao. Both semisweet and bittersweet are grouped into what consumers call “dark” chocolate.

[4] This 85% cacao bar is for those who want to enjoy deeper chocolate flavor with much less sugar.

[5] Where it all begins: in the pods (called cabosses in the industry) that hold the precious beans that get ground into chocolate. You’ll note that the cabosse (kuh-BAHS) motif is on each square of MilkBoy chocolate.

Over the past 15 years, THE NIBBLE has reviewed some of the world’s great chocolates. Almost all of them are made in Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the U.S.—even though all the beans are imported from the warmer climes.

Theobroma cacao, the tree that bears the pods that contain the beans that get made into chocolate, was originally cultivated from the wild in Central America. The first cacao farmers were the Olmecs, beginning around 1500 B.C.E. They taught the Maya, who taught the Aztecs who conquered them (the history of chocolate).

Today, cacao trees are planted in three major sub-tropical regions: Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia (among other countries, a boutique industry has recently spring up in Vietnam). Each region and sub-region has its own terroir, environmental factors which, as with coffee beans, gives the cacao beans their unique flavor nuances.
 
WHERE CHOCOLATE IS GROWN

The world’s major cacao-growing regions are, in alphabetical order:

 
When you’re biting into that bar or bonbon, silently thank the agricultural workers who toil under the hot sun for your pleasure.
 
 
ABOUT MILKBOY SWISS CHOCOLATE

MilkBoy Swiss Chocolates, a premium chocolate bar company that was founded in 2014, is actually based in Brooklyn, New York. The chocolate bars themselves are produced in Switzerland; the manufacturing is overseen in Zurich.

The bars, 3.5-ounces each, ($5.00), include:

Milk Chocolate

 
Dark Chocolate

 
White Chocolate

 
Snack-size bars, 1.4 ounces (10 for $24.99 on Amazon), are available in Alpine Milk, Alpine Milk With Crunchy Caramel And Sea Salt, and 85% Extra Dark Chocolate.

All are delectable, of course; smooth, silky, melt-in-your-mouth. Our personal favorites are the Alpine Chocolate With Refreshing Lemon And Ginger, Crunchy Caramel and Sea Salt milk Chocolate and the White Chocolate With Bourbon Vanilla. (We haven’t get gotten a bar of Potato Chip.)

The 60% Cocoa With Pine Tree Oil should definitely be tried. It is not “piney,” as the title might imply; but has slight notes of pine and mint that compliment the chocolate. It’s a gourmet’s milk chocolate treat.

The line is sustainably-produced, using only UTZ certified cocoa and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper for its packaging.

The chocolate is available on the company website, from Amazon, and at specialty chocolate shops. You can order by phone at by phone 718.221.5540.
 
THE MILKBOY HERITAGE

MilkBoy is a bean-to-bar manufacturer that sources its cacao from sustainable farms in West Africa.

The time spent grazing high up in the Alps created superior milk, to be made into distinctively delicious Swiss cheese and chocolate.

Every spring at Alpaufzug time, processions of local dairy farmers and their cows leave villages at the foot of the Alps to climb way up to the pastureland that will be their home in the spring and summer. Their departure is marked by festivities: The villagers give them a rousing send-off, some dressing up in traditional garb.

 
In the fall, the return of the herds occasions another festivity, with music and dancing.

In a tribute to this history, the founders of MilkBoy Swiss Chocolates commissioned their package art from a famous Swiss paper artist. Depicting Swiss Alpine motifs, the designs employ the ancient folk art of paper-cut silhouettes.
 
 
WHAT IS SWISS CHOCOLATE

Swiss chocolate is simply that produced in Switzerland. While cacao beans and other ingredients such as sugar can originate from outside Switzerland, the actual production of the chocolate must take place in the country.

Switzerland’s milk chocolate earned an international reputation for high quality, based on its famous Alpine milk.

Swiss producers began to import beans and manufacture chocolates beginning in the 17th century. By the 19th century, family business established brands that continue today. The brands more familiar in the U.S. include:

 
Up through the 1960s, Swiss milk chocolate was the chocolate of choice among Americans who wanted something better than a Hershey Bar. More than a few towns across the country had mom-and-pop chocolatiers who created fine chocolate using traditional methods. But often those chocolates were special-occasion purchases.

With the beginning of the artisan chocolate movement in the U.S., around 1980, kick-started by young American culinary school graduates who had studied chocolate-making from European masters—Americans became aware of higher-quality chocolate. Local and national periodicals gave them lots of press. American chocolate-lovers took note.

To meet the new quality-chocolate consciousness, top chocolate bar brands were imported from Belgium and France: Callebaut, El Rey, Michel Cluizel Pralus, Valrhona and others (see the world’s greatest chocolate producers).

The first domestic premium chocolatiers that gathered a larger-than-local reputation were Ghirardelli (1852) and Guittard (1868). It took 128 years for the next major American bar brand, Scharffen Berger (founded 1996, owned by Hershey since 2005), to appear. All three companies are from the San Francisco Bay area. However, they were little-known outside their region until the evolution of America’s artisan chocolate movement.

Prior to then, Americans who wanted something better looked to Swiss Chocolate—or later, to a gold ballotin (box) of Godiva bonbons, which were first imported from Belgium in 1972. They became the rage, the national vision of “the best.”†
 
FOOD TRIVIA: Switzerland has the highest per capita rate of chocolate consumption worldwide: 25.6 pounds/11.6 kg per capita per annum. In the U.S., it’s “just” 9.5 pounds.

________________

*The global term is cacao. Cocoa is an error, a result in a transposition of letters on an English ship’s manifest about 300 years ago.

†The following year, Godiva was purchased by the Campbell Soup Company, and the chocolates transitioned to being made in the U.S. The quality went down, featuring more sweet milk chocolate preferred by Americans than Belgium’s quality dark chocolate. The chocolate made in Belgium for the European market continued to uphold the original standards.