Let’s face it, traditional food rocks.
I’m looking at you, butter. Or lard, or tallow. Basically all traditional kinds of fat.
You’ve got a bad wrap over the last 100 years. But for thousands of years previous, you’ve been providing families everywhere with flaky pies, flavorful veggies, and of course, beloved crispy, homestyle fried chicken.
So where did we go wrong? And why did we vilify you in the first place?
Crisco can go to hell.
In the late 1800s, the company Procter & Gamble was doin’ mighty fine growing and harvesting cotton. The cottonseed, a bothersome byproduct of cotton, became so numerous that Procter & Gamble decided to see if there was anything –anything- they could make from the cottonseed to increase their profit. It seemed awfully wasteful to throw pounds and pounds of that cottonseed away.
They found after intense processing — which included heating & pressing that pesky cotton seed – that they were able to extract oil. And it cost Procter & Gamble next to NOTHING to produce it. An easily rancid and unstable fat, cottonseed oil was rendered stable and long lasting by adding the process of hydrogenation.
The result was a fat that had over 50% polyunsaturated oils or what we refer to as PUFA’s.
When the cottonseed oil cooled, it looked exactly like lard.
They called it Crisco.
“Before processing, cottonseed oil is cloudy red and bitter to the taste because of a natural phytochemical called gossypol… and is toxic to most animals, causing dangerous spikes in the body’s potassium levels, organ damage, and paralysis. An issue of Popular Science from the era sums up the evolution of cottonseed nicely: “What was garbage in 1860 was fertilizer in 1870, cattle feed in 1880, and table food and many things else in 1890.”
– The Happiness Project
It smells like plastic, it tastes like plastic, and your body treats it like the unnatural thing it is, resulting in all sorts of inflammation, hormone disruption, neurological disorders,and heart disease.
As far as I’m concerned Crisco can go to hell.
Yep. Take your greasy, fake little butt and walk yerself down to the corner. ‘Cause I don’t wanna see your face in our house ever again.
Traditional fats that replace Crisco
All of the following can cook at high heats and can be used in place of Crisco. A smoke point is what you want to avoid when cooking with fats.
- Avocado oil (where to buy) – 520°F/271°C smoke point
- Ghee (where to buy) – 470°F/252°C smoke point
- Palm oil (where to buy) – 450°F/232°C smoke point
- Tallow (where to buy) – 400°F/250°C smoke point
- Lard (where to buy) – 370°F/185°C smoke point
- Coconut oil (where to buy) – 350°F/177°C smoke point
- Butter (where to buy) – 350°F/177°C smoke point
FYI, olive oil and other nut oils are okay for salad dressings, just not great for cooking as they aren’t quite as heat-tolerant.
And just say no to canola, vegetable, corn, soybean, cottonseed, safflower, sunflower, or peanut oil. They all contain high PUFAs, or are just generally unstable too soon after pressing/packaging.
Homestyle Fried Chicken [made with real ingredients]
Homestyle Fried Chicken
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 Tbs hot sauce
- 2 cups white flour or sprouted wheat flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 whole chicken cut into pieces
- 2 c of traditional fat of choice (see links above on where to buy)
Instructions
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In a medium size bowl, whisk together eggs, water, & hot sauce.
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In another bowl, combine the flour and spices.
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Dip the chicken in the egg, and then coat it in the flour/spice mixture.
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Heat the oil to 350 degrees F in a deep pot.
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Fry the chicken in the oil until brown and crisp.
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(Dark meat takes about 14 minutes, while white meat takes about 10 minutes)
I am so excited to make this recipe tomorrow night with some beef tallow. This Fried Chicken will be phenomenal aside some leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving!
So happy to hear good ‘ol Southern Fried Chicken being honored the way it should be! I was born and raised in Georgia. My mom cooked with lard until the 60’s when the PTB (powers that be) behind Crisco took over the market and made all think it was family abuse to use anything but. I am so grateful for your article and recipe! Thanks!
So I’m confused. White flour? Is this just part of the 20%?
Yep! We also use organic, unbleached flour so it’s a bit better.
Thank you so much for such great recipes! I’m not much for hot foots (I know, I’m a wimp! 😉 so I just leave out the hot sauce and it’s lovely! My family always cooked with Crisco. So far, every one on my mother’s side of the family has died from cancer except me. (Sad but true.) I’m sure it wasn’t *just* the Crisco but the fact that they ate all the things that they were told was “good for them” and I’m sure that didn’t help. They all thought I was nuts for wanting to eat natural foods. Moral of the story is: don’t let anyone convince you that whole, real foods are not the way to go. Let them make their own decisions, if they won’t listen, but stick to your guns!
Mmmm, homemade fried chicken, nothing else comes close. That’s right, KFC can go to hell too, lol.
yes, ma’am, Crisco can definitely go to hell. a few years ago I went to a private school & was in Home Ec. I HAD to use
Crisco. it was horrible. stay outta my sight, ya faker!! I think I’ll make this for my family next week! along with a broccoli salad. yes yes. thanks for sharing! your posts are always so insightful!