Fat washing infuses liquids with melted fat flavor without retaining a fat taste or texture. It is used to create infused beverages by combining fat with alcohol. The process involves melting fat, adding it to alcohol, refrigerating, and skimming off the solid fat. Straining the fat is crucial for a smooth finish. It can be used with any type of fat and alcohol and is popular in fine restaurants and at home.
Fat washing is a process of infusing various liquids with the flavor of melted fat. When done correctly, fat washing leaves the taste of fat, but does not cause the liquid to retain a fat taste or texture. The process is often used to create various types of infused beverages by marrying a fat to a certain type of alcohol.
An example of creating a fat wash drink is combining strained bacon fat with bourbon or rum. To begin the infusion process, the bacon fat is completely melted. The melted fat is then added to rum or bourbon, which is room temperature. This combined mixture is placed in the refrigerator, where it is allowed to cool long enough for the shortening to rise and solidify at the top of the liquid. Solid fat is skimmed off the top of the liquid. What’s left is alcohol that has the slight taste of bacon, but still has the smoothness of rum or bourbon.
The same approach can also be employed with vegetable fats. For example, fat washing to create a buttered rum drink requires nothing more than melting a stick of margarine or butter. The melted butter is mixed into the room temperature rum. As with the bacon grease and bourbon, the rum and melted butter are refrigerated. Once the butter mass rises and solidifies, it is skimmed off the surface. The rum retains a slightly buttery flavor without feeling greasy to the touch.
A key factor in producing a tasty drink with the use of fat washing is to always make sure that the fat is filtered out. This means that if bacon drippings are used, the shortening should be strained to remove any small particles from the liquid shortening. The filtered fat helps maintain the smoothness of the finished product and eliminates the possibility of leaving a residue in the liquid that could lead to a greasy consistency.
Fat wash can be used with any type of animal or vegetable fat and combined with any type of alcohol. Many fine restaurants offer specialty drinks that rely on the use of fat wash to create unique and desirable flavors. Because the brewing process is so easy to do, it can also be used at home to create tasty drinks for parties or a quiet evening at home.
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