Lard

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I used some when I was playing around trying to learn to fry chicken. I ended up using 50/50 lard and crisco.

 

I have friends who swear that lard is best for pie crusts.

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However.......

Armour's and Morrell's lards are partially hydrogenated, which means they have trans fats, which are the worst kind humans can eat. Try to get truly natural lard that has NOT been partially hydrogenated. It can (sometimes) be found at butcher shops, sometimes at Whole Foods (Paycheck) and similar.

Pure lard is wonderful stuff, great for pie crust, (I can make decent pie dough, it's just rolling it out that gives me nightmares and migraines,) fries well.....

Lawrence/Myatagbear
 
Calling That Stuff Lard

Is insulting to pigs! *LOL*

With the advent of supermarkets and the demise of local butchers finding real lard has been a problem for years. That and persons swore off the stuff in droves thanks to "Crisco" and other such fats making a better advertising case to housewives.

Because so much pork production is done on modern factory farms and slaughter houses and demand was weak, hardly anyone bothers to save the real stuff anymore for rendering. That process known for the whiff it produces also has put the kabosh on local buther's in urban areas getting any ideas.
 
The problem with lard...

If commercially packed is, ....And this is a old fashioned idea, but I believe it! If a hog is killed in the wrong sign of the moon, you dont get as good of a product, all the older folks would not think of killing livestock or planting a garden without checking the Almanac first..It really is true, if you have ever bought bacon that shrivels up to nothing when fried, then the next package you buy cooks nicely with very little shrinkage, you can be assured the first hog was killed in the wrong sign..likewise when making things like sauerkraut, if you make it in the wrong sign, it just wont work as well, lard is sometimes strong and has a rancid taste, where as what you used to get when you did it yourself was mild,well...the difference is all in when it was processed...I know it sounds silly, but if you were raised around older folks and saw it demonstrated,you would believe...for instance,I would not THINK about having dental work done in the wrong sign!! if you want to be in misery, just have a tooth pulled when the sign is in the head or neck!!! DRY SOCKET here you are!!!!
 
The reason why I brought this topic up, I've made biscuit this morning and the taste was awesome and very light and tender on the inside.
I know the side effects of this product but from what I have read, it is best for frying because food does not absorb oil because of the higher heating temps. If this the case,
I will go back to using pork fat over Vegetable/Canola oils.

What do you think?

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Good old Lard

They would never work up a hog on our farm either unless it was in the right sign by the Almanac.  Grandma said when she was a little girl they would build a fire under the lard pot to render it and would pitch in some sweet potatoes, she said nothing was better than when those cracklin's and sweet potatoes would come rolling up to the top of the pot.  Good old fashioned country eating!
 
I've never bought or used lard and mom didn't either. She made pie crust with butter--just as saturated but NOT hydrogenated.

I have however eaten lard. Until lately it was what Mcdonalds made fries with.
 
Hog Killing Time

Varied and or varies around the USA but for most part is was when the weather turned cold and after the first hard frost.

Until modern refrigeration and supermarkets people needed to put up stores of food for the coming winter months. If one lived on a farm this was "easy" in sense as one had the "food" at hand (veggies, meats,etc...) from one's labours, now one had to translate some of that into food.

Pork has an advantage it can be salted, smoked and or otherwise cured and stay safe for eating for months. There is a saying that if one has pigs or at least access to them (as in wild )one will never go hungry. Ham, bacon, sausage, pickled pigs feet, and so forth all can be put up safely if one knows how to go about it, and of course could keep vermin away.

 
I agree with Keith. There is no substitute for lard for making tasty, flaky pie crusts that don't crumble or fall apart.
 

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