ats such as butter, and
hard fats such as tallow. While all fats have practically the same
energy-value, they differ widely from each other in their melting
point, and the difference in digestibility seems to correspond to the
difference in melting point. Butter burns at 240 degrees Fahrenheit,
while vegetable oils can be heated as high as 600 degrees Fahrenheit,
furnishing a very high temperature for cooking purposes before they
begin to burn. The scorching of fat not only wastes the product, but
renders it indigestible, even dangerous to some people, and for this
reason butter should never be used for frying, as frying temperature
is usually higher than 240 degrees. It is well to choose for cooking
only those fats which have the highest heat-resisting qualities
because they do not burn so easily.

Beginning with the lowest burning point, fats include genuine butter,
substitute butters, lard and its substitutes, and end with tallow and
vegetable oils. Of the latter, there is a varied selection from the
expensive olive oil to the cheaper cottonseed, peanut, cocoanut and
corn oils and their compounds and the hydrogenated oils.

The economy of fat, therefore, depends on the choice of the fat used
for the various cooking processes as well as the conservation of
all fatty residue, such as crackling, leftover frying fats and soup
fat. For cooking processes, such as sauteing (pan frying), or deep
fat frying, it is best to use the vegetable and nut oils. These are
more plentiful, and hence cheaper than the animal fats; the latter,
however, can be produced in the home from the fats of meats and
leftover pan fats, which should not be overlooked as frying mediums.
Butter and butter substitutes are best kept for table use and for
flavoring. The hydrogenated oils, home-rendered fats, lard and beef
and mutton suet can be used for shortening fats.

In the purchase of meats, the careful housewife should see that
the butcher gives her all the fat she pays for, as all fats can be
rendered very easily at home and can be used for cooking purposes.
Butchers usually leave as large a proportion of fat as possible on
all cuts of meat which, when paid for at meat prices, are quite an
expensive item. All good clear fat should, therefore, be carefully
trimmed from meats before cooking. Few people either like or find
digestible greasy, fat meats, and the fat paid for at meat prices,
which could have been rendered and used for cooking, is waste