Self-sufficient cooking oil

[u/constantly_grumbling]

How do you fulfill your cooking oil needs in a self-sufficient manner? Seems like there really isn't an easy way if you want it to be self-sufficient.

• This year I don't have many meat animals
• Vegetable oil is so much gottdamn work
• Butter isn't year-round for me, plus it's a lot of gottdamn work
• I'd rather not rely on bartering for oil since I want it to become a staple and not a luxury

What do you do for your cooking oil? What animals are fattiest, which vegetables produce the best, what tips or tricks have you accumulated along the way?

[u/el_salvadore]

Chicken fat it is. Every time I make chicken broth I use two chickens (stripped off the breast, legs and wings) to make approx 6 L (~6 qt) of broth in my pressure cooker. After it's all cooled down to room temp I skim about 1 dl (~0,1 qt) of fat from the top with big spoon and put it into small sealed container then straight into the freezer to get solid form out of it. If broth is considered in your household as staple like it is in mine (I do lot of cooking and meal prep for 2 adults since we rarely eat out) you will definitely end up with good amount of fat as side product. Amount of fat of course also varies on type of poultry used (turkey/chicken/rooster) and way it was raised (supermarket buy e.g. caged or free range/homestead) etc. It also has pretty high smoking point so browning onions or sauteing veggies works like charm. Bonus point it has that when making soup or sauce and you run out of broth to add to your dish, making your base using chicken fat will work just like when using broth since it has all flavors from your broth already in it but in pretty concentrated form (fat in general is great flavor absorber).

TIP: Frying your chips or potato pancakes in chicken fat is next level cooking.

Hope this helps, for more questions, just ask.

[u/constantly_grumbling → u/el_salvadore]

I love cooking with chicken fat-- how big of a flock do you need for self-sufficiency?

I thought about this before, but plucking is a hellish time sink even with a device, so if I do broilers again, I'm going to try rendering with the feathers on. Anyone know if there's a noticeable taste difference?

[u/el_salvadore → u/constantly_grumbling]

Good question. But answer relies a lot on your eating habits (among other options and possibilities). For me flock of around 50 hens is suitable for self-sufficiency of 2 adults. Hens are great universal source of protein, besides of meat u have an eggs as bonus. But I believe the key is to always spread your food sources to not rely only at one type of animal/veg. So diversity is the key here. Lots of good hints already mentioned above, key is to make decision based on your personal situation.

You're right about plucking, it's a hell of a job. But again, it's a matter of how u look at it. If you're only looking for the way to render fat, it doesn't worth it. (Even with feathers on, it doesn't worth the risk due obvious sanitary reasons). But if you make it as a side product of something u will be necessarily doing anyway (e.g. cooking broth) it's definitely worth to consider.

[u/constantly_grumbling → u/el_salvadore]

obvious sanitary reasons

Wait what are the obvious sanitary reasons? I'm picturing that I skin the birds with feathers on, give it a quick soak in cold water to get rid of debris, and then it's going straight into boiling water. Am I missing something?