Types of cooking fat and how much?

[kk.]

Many of the recipes in the whole30 book call for "cooking fat."  What are the different types and when would you use which one?  The only cooking fat I have used so far is olive oil and I know that's not always correct because the recipe says to melt the cooking fat but olive oil is already liquid.  Also, I'm confused on how much fat I should be putting in my meals.  They recommend two tables spoons per meal, but when I combine recipes it turns out as more fat, for example: The recipes direct me to use cooking fat to cook the meat, and then use cooking fat to cook the vegetables.  Overall it would be more than two tablespoons.  Is this too much fat?  I've never added fat to my diet before so this is very new.  Thank you!

[GFChris]

Possible cooking fats include ghee, clarified butter, coconut oil, duck fat, compliant bacon fat, tallow, etc.

What you'd use depends on what you're cooking and the flavor profile you want.

Cooking fat might be more or less than two tbsps. When you saute, much of the fat stays behind in the pan, so you may need to add more fat after cooking to compensate. The various recommended amounts are in the meal template, which is in the Whole30 book and here:http://whole30.com/downloads/whole30-meal-planning.pdf

Let satiety be your guide: you want to build meals of protein, veg and fat that satiate you for 4-5 hours.

Embrace the fat! :-)