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There is some movement (backed with some literature) that using animal fats and oils are nutritionally superior to packaged oil (e.g., vegetable, canola).
What is the expert perspective on using oil rendered from pork fat, say, from the fat cap of a cut of pork shoulder? I think it has some off-taste, however upon simmering in a dish that I used it for, it became unnoticeable.
I wouldn't describe it as an "off taste", for me it is the tasty flavor of pork fat, commonly known as lard. But yes, it is certainly not taste neutral. It only gives a slight to moderate hint in baking (e.g. in pie crust) and gets really strong when you heat it more, e.g. when you fry in it or baste a roast.
For a comparison of the smell, think bacon.
I do that all the time, I don't do it because it's healthier, I do it because I prefer the taste.
Ultimately, though, the answer of if it is "good" is subjective.
It sounds like to me that you are looking for a neutral tasting fat on the saturated fat side of the spectrum (though maybe you are specific to animal fats). Unfortunately, I don't think there is one (at least to my knowledge) that doesn't impart some flavor.
Animal fats I have personally tried are lard/leaf-lard, tallow, buffalo, chicken fat, and duck (duck is really good!). Though not an animal fat, coconut oil falls into this category of saturated fats (actually more saturated than those above with tallow being next in line). If you get virgin coconut oil (not expeller pressed) the flavor imparted onto the food can be pretty minimal. Oh, and there's also MCT oil which is made from coconut oil which is flavorless but large amounts of this I feel make the food taste like it comes from a health food store ;P
I usually like to cook meats in their corresponding fats. Pork in lard, Beef in tallow, etc.
As for other things, I usually use tallow (from grass-fed cows) and lard (from pasture raised pigs)
I use it for savoury dishes that need high heat because rendered fat is, I think, fairly heat-stable, easier to track down here than peanut oil, and cheaper in the case of pork lard. (The heat stability might have an impact on health, because burned vegetable oils may be detrimental; but that in itself is inconclusive of whether or not it’s healthier in general to consume one over the other.)
Since the supermarket stores both pork, chicken, and duck fat, I usually just use the same source of fat as the meat I’m using, and the match should prevent an off flavour being noticeable. As far as I understand, it’s fat that holds most of the specific flavour of a meat, so the “off” flavour you heard of is probably that pork fat make something taste like pork etc.
