Caul Fat

[zeitoun]

What are your experiences cooking with Caul Fat?

I used it for the first time last week, I consider myself lucky enough to have a butcher who can supply it to me, he gives it to me frozen, so I kept it in water for 24 hours to bring it back to its original condition and texture. Although I was skeptical at first, I pretty much succeeded in doing this without undermining the integrity of the “net”.

I was initially quite nauseated by the strong smell which I would qualify as rancid. Cooking went fine and it cooked beautifully, the problem I had was with the taste of it once I cooked it with my wrapped ingredients (chicken thighs and vegetables). It tasted just as it smelled…rancid!!!

Is that normal with Caul Fat? Does it usually have that kind of taste and smell even after it is soaked in water? Should it be prepped and handled differently?

Your help and expertise is much appreciated!!!

[dans]

With the exception of one fruit, my general opinion is that if it smells bad, it is bad. That isn't to say, if I don't like the smell of something, I won't eat it. If it smells like it has spoiled, I treat it as spoiled.

Having worked with caul fat before, I can say that it shouldn't smell rancid nor should the taste. I think that your butcher sold you some bad product. I would try and find another source.

Caul fat is used as a wrap to hold things together while it cooks. If it adds it's own flavor to what you are cooking it wouldn't be right for the job. It should be fairly neutral in flavor and pretty much disappear when it is cooked - although you may see some traces of the caul, it should blend with the product.

Dan

[iriee]

caul fat does have a little oder before cooking due to where it comes from. but after its cooked and crisped up it should be a neautral flavor as dan says.

[carswell]

The stuff I get sometimes smells a little high but never rancid. That goes double for the taste. My standard prep is to soak it a couple of hours in cool water spiked with white vinegar or lemon juice.

edit: Store any unused fat in the freezer, not the fridge. It can be refrozen repeatedly.

Edited February 8, 2005 by carswell (log)

[chefdg]

Ditto the fact that it was bad, there should'nt be any smell. Secondly, caul fat is used mostly as a barding ingredient, something added to the outside of otherwise dry meat to give it a little more fat/moisture. Chicken thighs are not the best choice for usage, go with something like pork tenderloin, or fillet mignon.

[carswell]

Chicken thighs are not the best choice for usage, go with something like pork tenderloin, or fillet mignon.

←

Agreed. I often use it to bard dry-fleshed birds (pheasant, guinea fowl) and even fish before roasting or braising. Another use, though, is to hold flavourings (herbs, ham, mustard, etc.) against the flesh. Maybe that's what zeitoun was doing with the chicken?

[zeitoun]

Chicken thighs are not the best choice for usage, go with something like pork tenderloin, or fillet mignon.

←

Agreed. I often use it to bard dry-fleshed birds (pheasant, guinea fowl) and even fish before roasting or braising. Another use, though, is to hold flavourings (herbs, ham, mustard, etc.) against the flesh. Maybe that's what zeitoun was doing with the chicken?

←

I was actually using it to hold a type of ratatouille (a byaldi) against my piece of chicken. I used one of Thomas Keller's recipes which indeed calls for guinea hen. The chicken worked fine and the dish turned out fine overall except for the caul fat. It did not dissolve as much as I thought it would and still had an unpleasant flavor. Looking at everyone's posts, it seems that I was sold a piece of fat of questionable quality.

[budrichard]

Your caul fat was NOT fresh. It should not be rancid instead it should smell very clean with a slight odor such as pork. Find a supplier that will sell it to you fresh. We freeze ours and do not thaw in water and it works fine. An indespensible ingrediant for game birds and larding exterior surfaces of meat. -Dick

[chef koo]

i sue it quite frequently at the restaurant. it should have an odor but it shouldn't knock you out. basically use it to hold the shape of anything. a roled item, a roast that you do'nt want to faltten in the roasting process, or a soft item you want to give a crisp outside to.