Goose Fat

Many people wrongly think animal fat is 100% saturated fat. Regardless of whether you think saturated fats are "bad" or mononsaturated fats are "good", the breakdown of various fats is pretty interesting. Lard, for example is nearly half monounsaturated. Goose fat, which is a culinary gift from nature, has more than twice as much mononsaturated fat as saturated (by weight, less than 28% saturated, more than 56% monounsaturated; and it's less than 10% omega-6 to boot). Almost all of that monounsaturated fat is oleic acid, the same magical stuff in olive oil that makes everyone near the mediterranean live to the age of 300 without heart disease. Having some extra goose fat from the confit session of the christmas geese, I let some cool to room temperature in a spare jar, and the solids settled out at the bottom, leaving most of it a golden liquid at room temperature. I used a little for eggs this morning, and it had picked up a bit of the garlic, bay, and thyme from the confit process. Aromatic and satisfying.