Shortening is any cooking fat that’s solid at room temperature. The reason it’s solid is because it has a large proportion of saturated fats (hydrogenated fat). Saturated means the fat (carbon chains) are saturated (filled as much as possible) with hydrogen. Double bonds between carbons can rotate easily and leaves fat fluid-like, but when it’s saturated, those hydrogens keep the carbons from rotating quite as freely (unless you heat it) and it’s solid at room temp.
Margarine: Let’s get this one out of the way right now. Margarine has no redeeming qualities and should never be used.
Butter: Delicious taste, but unless you’re good at keeping everything ice cold when making pie crusts, it can make a less-than-perfect crust in terms of flakiness. The taste makes up for it, though.
Lard: Really easy to use for making pie crusts, but doesn’t leave a very good taste when it’s used as the shortening in things like biscuits.
Coconut fat: Haven’t tried much with this yet. It does, however, seem really hard which means it’s going to take some elbow grease to work into things. I think it’s also going to give a pretty strong coconut flavor so it’ll most likely mask or at least overshadow other flavors (for good or ill).
Crisco: Hard to find in Germany. I hear it can be picked up in porn shops next to “Boy Butter.” (No kidding.) Much softer than lard and easier to work with, hardly any flavor (from what I remember)… Some people think it isn’t good for you because it’s got so much hydrogenated oil (saturated fat). That’s not the half of it – it IS hydrogenated oil. No worse than other hydrogenated oils, I suppose. Just a more pure form of it – less fillers like proteins and salts and things that aren’t going to be so likely to clog arteries… Doesn’t mean it should be avoided entirely. It has its uses.
Vegetable oil: This isn’t a shortening since it isn’t solid at room temp, but can sometimes be used in place of fats for recipes that aren’t going to require crumbliness.
In my opinion everyone should have 3 and only 3 oils/fats around their kitchen: Butter, Olive Oil, and unrefined coconut oil.
Vegetable shortening was used as a cheap alternative to butter for many things particularly baking, and there was a time when people thought cholesterol was the big bad evil and so they thought vegetable shortening was better for you than butter. The fact that it is indeed a good deal worse, as well as being flavorless makes butter better pretty much always.
I don’t know if you’ve used coconut oil much more since making this post, but in my experience the flavor from it doesn’t mask or overshadow anything. It gives off a strong aroma, especially if you’re heating it, to fry something for instance, but it is quickly overpowered by the other flavors and just gives a hint of coconuttiness to things that is usually quite good. It’s the same way olive oil will just give a hint of olive flavor to things but doesn’t overpower them.
If you really need a shortening that isn’t butter, try refined coconut oil. It sits somewhat more solidly in the shortening category, it is somewhat softer, and easier to work with. It does, however, have a bit lower melting point than crisco. It’s not nearly as good for you as unrefined coconut oil, but it beats out crisco by a whole hell of a lot. It also, since the coconut solids have been refined out, has a good deal less flavor so may be more suited for some things.
Also, just to rant for a second (because that above wasn’t a rant :-/ ) saturated and hydrogenated aren’t really synonyms. I mean, I see how you’re using it at the top, and it is technically correct, but then you misuse it when talking about Crisco. For common usage hydrogenated typically refers to oils that have been partially hydrogenated, like Crisco, which turns them into trans-unsaturated fats, not saturated ones. Trans-unsaturated fats behave a good deal differently and the body reacts to them differently than saturated fats.
That’s true. Hydrogenated and saturated are different. Saturated, I guess, is fully hydrogenated.
I’m so happy with myself. I’m 3/3.
Haven’t used the coconut oil much because it’s really solid. Like, I keep it in the fridge in plastic and it’s rock hard. Maybe next time I make chicken stir fry I’ll give it a shot.
Well there’s your problem, there’s no real need to keep it in the fridge it’s hard enough at room temperature but you can scoop it out with a spoon. Really though, use it for anything and everything that you’d use any other oil for, it’s much better for you than most.