It’s hard to make a case for another way to get fat into our diet. But doing it in liquid
form results in one of the more innovative ways of experiencing a flavour.

The fat-washing technique has been gaining ground for almost 10 years. Please Don’t Tell – a New York cocktail bar hidden behind a hot dog stand – has been lauded as the bar that put fat washing on the map. It first used the technique to infuse bacon grease supplied by nearby restaurant Momofuku into bourbon, for use in its Maple Bacon Old Fashioned.

Fat washing involves taking a liquid with a high fat content and adding it to alcohol. After shaking the ingredients vigorously, the mixture is placed in the freezer. Because alcohol doesn’t freeze before -40 degrees, it allows the fat to solidify and separate from the alcohol. The liquid strained from the resulting solid fat is now thoroughly infused with its flavours. The outcome is a beautifully silky
spirit base that is full of flavor and can’t be recreated by any other technique.

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Bad Frankie, the small bar on Greeves Street in Fitzroy, takes the concept and applies it to the pinnacle of Australian home cooking with its Sunday Roast Old Fashioned. The result is a distinct, slow-cooked lamb flavour, balanced by the freshness of mint. The rosemary garnish heightens the aroma, making for a well-rounded drink that will, for some, evoke memories of family feasts past.

For more fat-washed cocktails, try Nieuw Amsterdam or Eau de Vie.

Bad Frankie

141 Greeves Street, Fitzroy

Nieuw Amsterdam

106–112 Hardware Street, Melbourne

Eau de Vie

1 Malthouse Lane, Melbourne