Frequently Asked Questions
How do I buy your products?
We don’t sell direct to stores or to adventurous home chefs, so we can’t guarantee that your local store has our butters and fats. Look for Aux Délices des Bois 82% Fat Butters in the Dairy, Specialty Cheese, and Meat counters of these stores. And sometimes (shhh) we pack for national or regional supermarket chains under their own label.
Pork fat, pork lard, cooking fat, bacon grease and now … Bacon Fat?? Clarify, please!
One of Amy’s aha! moments in culinary school was a Gallic glare and incredulous rebuke when she uttered the words “bacon grease”. “We do not call it grease!” came the haughty response. Rather than considering rendered fat a by-product (which it is) or throwaway (it’s not), we think of it as a smoky, multi-talented ingredient. We are all the richer for it. Now, here’s a quick ID for the others. Lard = pork fat. Subsets are Leaf Lard (usually for pastry) and Fatback (think salt pork). Pork Belly= converted to bacon or guanciale.
Why are we called M.A.D. Foods?
Rhymes with “glad”??? M.A.D. is shorthand for Marché aux Délices, our initial mad dash into specialty mail order in the giddy '80s. Of course, if you'd like to speculate on other meanings, feel free to share 😊.
Provenance?
M.A.D. Foods Culinary Fats are all American and sourced from farm co-ops and bacon producers. M.A.D. Foods’ butter and mix-ins are sourced in the USA, with the exception of few terroir-dependent ingredients.
Seriously, what claims do your products make?
Aside from claiming to transform your spiritual life, M.A.D. Foods is proud to share our products' "free-froms" and "you bets". 82%+ butterfat content leaves regular butters in the dust. We don’t whip, add, alter or otherwise adulterate our butters. No rBST, no artificial growth hormones, no artificial additives, no GMO ingredients, no antibiotics, no hydrogenation. Cage-free ducks are just that. Beef Tallow and Duck Fat are simply rendered fat. They benefit from a tiny amount of natural, neutral, non-allergenic antioxidants.
Why is my jar of cooking oil liquid one day and solid the next?
It is normal for animal cooking fats like Beef Tallow, Duck Fat, and Bacon Fat to separate at room temperature. All those fatty acids doing their separating and recombining thing. Feel free to give the jar a good shake to get ‘em back together. Beef Fat and Duck Fat range in color from ivory to yellow, depending upon origin and diet. Minute traces of bacon spices may linger in the bottom of the Bacon Fat.
What about allergens?
The butters contain dairy (noooo, really??). If garlic is your bugaboo, check the Lemon Herb Garlic Butter for clues. Gluten's not an issue in any of our products.
What’s special about cage free ducks?
We harvest our duck fat from a special variety of ducks called Mulard. They basically own the farmyard and we leave them to create their own pecking order. Their heroic fitness produces the luscious, life-affirming “liquid gold” made famous by French fry aficionados and global gourmets.
What about fat storage?
Once opened, store the animal fats in the fridge. They freeze well, too, if you’re thinking it’ll be a while.
What are all those awards that crowd the pages?
Ummm.. . shameless self-promotion?
Specialty Food Association sofi awards
Startup CPG Shelfie Awards