The Great Cooking Oil Debate: Should We Bring Back Tallow?

In recent years, the health and wellness space has been buzzing with a growing interest in traditional foods and ancestral wisdom. One of the most polarizing discussions revolves around the fat we use for cooking—especially deep frying. The creative above makes a bold statement: “Let’s get tallow back in deep fryers instead of this engine oil,” juxtaposing natural beef tallow with rows of processed seed oils. It’s a provocative message, but one grounded in valid concerns over modern dietary fat choices. So let’s unpack it.

In this blog, we’re diving deep into the world of cooking fats, exploring the history of tallow, why it fell out of favor, the rise of industrial seed oils, their health implications, and whether bringing back tallow is a step toward reclaiming real nutrition.

The History of Tallow in Cooking

Before canola, corn, and soybean oils filled our grocery store shelves, kitchens around the world used natural animal fats. Tallow—rendered beef fat—was a staple in traditional diets for centuries. It was used for frying, roasting, baking, and preserving. Tallow was even the original fat used by McDonald’s to cook their famous fries until the early 1990s.

Why? Because it works. Tallow is shelf-stable, has a high smoke point (400°F+), and delivers unmatched flavor. More importantly, it’s packed with saturated and monounsaturated fats that remain stable under high heat, making it ideal for deep frying.

The Rise of Seed Oils (a.k.a. “Engine Oil” in the Meme)

So, what happened? Why did tallow get replaced?

In the early 20th century, industrial processing made seed oils like soybean, cottonseed, corn, and canola cheap to produce. These oils were marketed as “heart-healthy” alternatives to traditional animal fats, largely due to the influence of Ancel Keys’ flawed research demonizing saturated fat. This sparked the low-fat craze of the 1980s and 90s.

Fast forward to today: most restaurant deep fryers and processed foods rely on vegetable oils. They’re inexpensive, odorless, and blend easily. But they come with a serious cost to human health.

What’s Wrong With Industrial Seed Oils?

Modern seed oils are highly refined and chemically processed using hexane, bleach, and deodorizers. They’re extracted from genetically modified crops and subjected to intense heat and pressure—conditions that damage the delicate polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) within.

This leads to several issues:

1. Oxidative Stress
   PUFAs are unstable when heated. When used for frying, they break down into toxic compounds like aldehydes and lipid peroxides. These promote inflammation and cellular damage, increasing the risk of chronic diseases.
2. Imbalanced Omega-6:Omega-3 Ratio
   Seed oils are loaded with omega-6 fatty acids, which, in excess, fuel inflammation. The ideal omega-6 to omega-3 ratio is around 2:1 or 4:1. The average American’s ratio is closer to 20:1, thanks to the ubiquity of vegetable oils.
3. Links to Chronic Disease
   Numerous studies connect high intake of seed oils to conditions like heart disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver, and even mental health disorders. The inflammatory burden these oils place on the body is now a major public health concern.
4. Poor Cooking Performance
   Ironically, the oils marketed as suitable for cooking are some of the worst under heat. They degrade quickly, go rancid, and impart a greasy taste. Many fast food restaurants reuse fry oils for days, further oxidizing the already unstable fats.

The Case for Tallow and Traditional Fats

Now that we’ve addressed the downside of industrial oils, let’s revisit why tallow—and similar fats like lard, ghee, and duck fat—are making a comeback.

1. Heat Stability
   Tallow is predominantly made of saturated and monounsaturated fats—both of which are resistant to oxidation. This makes it far superior for high-heat applications like frying and roasting.
2. Nutrient Density
   Tallow is rich in fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E, and K2, especially when sourced from grass-fed animals. These nutrients are essential for hormone balance, immune health, and strong bones.
3. No Additives or Chemicals
   Unlike seed oils, which are chemically refined and bleached, traditional fats can be made at home with minimal processing. It’s as simple as rendering beef fat in a pan.
4. Ancestral Wisdom
   Our ancestors didn’t suffer from modern diseases at the rates we do today—and they weren’t cooking with canola oil. Traditional diets relied on whole foods, including natural animal fats, without fear or confusion.
5. Better Taste
   Let’s be real—French fries cooked in tallow taste phenomenal. There’s a richness and depth of flavor that seed oils simply can’t replicate.

Common Objections: “But Isn’t Saturated Fat Bad?”

This is the elephant in the room, and it deserves honest exploration.

For decades, saturated fat was blamed for heart disease. But modern science has largely overturned that narrative. A 2010 meta-analysis published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found no significant evidence that saturated fat is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Similarly, a large review in the British Medical Journal in 2020 concluded that replacing saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats made little to no difference in heart disease risk.

The culprit? It’s not saturated fat. It’s sugar, refined carbs, and ultra-processed foods—often made with seed oils.

How to Make the Switch Back to Tallow

Thinking of ditching seed oils and returning to traditional fats? Here are some practical tips.

1. Start Small
   You don’t need to overhaul your pantry overnight. Begin by replacing your frying oil with tallow or ghee. Use butter or coconut oil for baking. Avoid margarine and shortenings altogether.
2. Read Labels
   Vegetable oil is hidden in many packaged foods—salad dressings, granola bars, chips, dips, sauces, frozen meals, and even “health” products like plant-based milk. Watch for ingredients like:

• Soybean oil

• Canola oil

• Cottonseed oil

• Corn oil

• Safflower oil

• Sunflower oil (unless it’s high-oleic)

3. Cook at Home
   Restaurants almost always use industrial oils because they’re cheap. Cooking at home lets you control your ingredients. Use cast iron pans, slow cookers, and air fryers to experiment with healthy fats.
4. Render Your Own Tallow
   You can ask your local butcher for beef fat trimmings, then slowly melt it down at home to create your own tallow. It’s economical and satisfying to make.
5. Seek Grass-Fed Sources
   Grass-fed tallow has a better nutrient profile and lower toxin load than conventionally raised beef. Look for trusted sources or small-scale farms.

Other Healthy Traditional Fats to Explore

While tallow is fantastic, it’s not your only option. Here are other time-tested fats worth incorporating:

• Lard (pork fat): great for frying and baking, especially from pasture-raised pigs

• Duck fat: rich and flavorful, perfect for potatoes or roasting

• Butter: best from grass-fed cows, provides butyrate for gut health

• Ghee: clarified butter, lactose-free, shelf-stable, and delicious

• Coconut oil: rich in medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), antimicrobial

• Olive oil: excellent for low-heat cooking and dressings, loaded with polyphenols

When It’s OK to Use Seed Oils

To be fair, not all seed oils are evil. If you’re using cold-pressed, organic versions in small amounts (like sesame oil or flaxseed oil for dressings), there’s likely little harm. The real issue arises with chronic overconsumption, especially of refined, oxidized oils used in deep frying and mass-produced foods.

The Bigger Picture: Reducing Inflammation

At the heart of this debate is inflammation. Chronic low-grade inflammation is the root of nearly every modern illness—from heart disease and diabetes to arthritis, obesity, and cancer. Reducing your intake of inflammatory seed oils is a powerful step toward healing.

Other inflammation-reducing practices include:

• Eating more vegetables, especially leafy greens

• Cutting back on sugar and refined carbs

• Prioritizing sleep and stress management

• Moving daily (even gentle walking helps)

• Taking omega-3s (fish oil or flax oil) to balance omega-6s

What About the Environment?

Some critics argue that animal fats are less sustainable than vegetable oils. While this is a valid concern in factory farming models, regenerative agriculture and nose-to-tail butchery flip that script.

Rendering fat from animals you’re already consuming is far less wasteful than relying on monocropped soy fields, which destroy soil and biodiversity. Plus, grass-fed cows raised on rotational grazing can improve soil health and sequester carbon.

Final Thoughts: A Return to Real Food Wisdom

The message in the image—replacing industrial oils with tallow—might feel like a radical suggestion in today’s health landscape, but it’s actually a return to something ancient and wise. Our great-grandparents cooked with tallow, lard, and butter. They didn’t suffer from the chronic disease epidemics we see now. Maybe they were onto something.

In the end, cooking fat is not just a nutritional choice—it’s a cultural one. When we reconnect with traditional fats, we’re also reconnecting with slower, simpler, more intentional ways of living.

So don’t fear the fat. Understand it, respect it, and use it wisely.

Your taste buds—and your mitochondria—will thank you.