Many long years ago… In the dinosaur age of Fast Food, McDonald’s forged an unassailable reputation for ‘the best tasting fries. The secret was cooking them in beef tallow. But the burger giant had to stop that…
Back in the 1960s and 70s, when only half a dozen or so national Fast Food chains roamed the North American continent, McDonald’s fried its potatoes in a blend of beef tallow and vegetable oil – just like the eponymous founders of the brand did at their original stand in San Bernardino, Cali.
And that was generally acknowledged as the secret to their flavour and crispiness, which fans raved about.
But along came mass health consciousness, and the beginnings of a drive for healthier food from medical and nutritional professionals. And in 1990, the then-global chain stopped using tallow in favour of straight, unsaturated vegetable oil.
The Week recounts: “That blend had given the fries a ‘perfect crunchy exterior, pillowy interior and a rich and distinctive flavor’, said Chowhound. Moving away from that recipe would diminish the taste, but it was a ‘time of real hysteria about saturated fat’, and many thought fast food would be ‘doomed unless it donned the cloak of good nutrition’, said Malcolm Gladwell at The Ringer.”
Fast Food survived…
But recent scientific findings have at least made a start to reforming the image of Beef Tallow.
Conventional wisdom tells us that any fat that’s solid at room temperature is saturated. And, as such, bad specifically for heart health, and human health in general.
But no less an authority than the Mayo Clinic now advises: “In tallow, some of the saturated fat is a specific type known as stearic acid. Stearic acid appears to not raise cholesterol in the same way as other saturated fats,” Mayo explains. “Tallow also contains monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which are considered healthier. Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is one polyunsaturated omega-6 fat found in animal fats and linked to potential health benefits such as preventing plaque buildup in the arteries (atherosclerosis).”
Given that encouragement, McD’s competitor Shake Shack announced it was changing its fry oil to tallow. A blatant swipe at the original tallow proponent, and a ‘scoop’, of sorts, designed to draw fry fans away from ‘Big Brother’.
Fast forward…
A year later, we’re told tallow is taking the processed food industry by storm.
Food Dive reports that tallow is definitely making a comeback across the board, entering the main-stream as major companies such as Utz and Conagra incorporate it into their products.
“It’s definitely making sort of a significant comeback right now in terms of its popularity,” said Whitney Linsenmeyer, an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Saint Louis University. “People are paying attention.”
Sales of food products incorporating beef tallow surged to $1.1 billion for the 52 weeks ended March 22, up 275 percent from the same period three years ago, according to data firm Spins.
US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has promoted beef tallow over other cooking oils. He even created a media event by deep frying a turkey in a vat of beef tallow to show how, “we cook the MAHA way.”
And official government agencies have updated their recommendations to add tallow to their lists of healthy fats, along with olive oil and butter.
My take
Beef Tallow may be back to stay. But in a reduced role. And no matter what they say about it, I’m not going to use it. I don’t need it to make my fries – or anything else – crispy and flavourful!
~ Maggie J.