Anyone tried lard?? - Page 8

The really good news is, now you can have a glass of red wine to clear out those arteries. Woo hoo!

Thanks!! Never heard of it before. I asked my husband what it was and he thought I was asking him what putain was!!!! LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I didn't know you pronounced it (pu tsin) and I said it like putain. I looked it up on the internet and figured it out.


Thank you for telling me!!!

In my younger days, my mom and grandma would use lard. I can say one thing, lard makes the best pie crust . oooh,flaky and tasty too, especially homemade apple pie. wow As far as one post about turkey bacon. We used turkey bacon for a while, but one day, I decided to buy some real bacon and when we ate it , the taste exploded in our mouths, it was soooo good! It was hard to do back to turkey bacon.But we did, for health sake. Nothing like the taste of real bacon!!

I agree red wine is good for the arteries,

You guys all have me cracking up so hard my DD went to bed with her eyes rolling! Fried egg & cheese sandwiches with lots of mayo -- yum!! I grew up Yankee but have deep Southern roots. Sweet Tea!! Yum!! Yungen's, Y'uns and Faster Than a June Bug Sittin on a Hot Kettle! Tried to do a family history and couldn't get out of Arkansas!!!!

....I think sometime ago I wrote on another thread that I didn't even know a box of cake mix was invented until I was 22 years old!!

[quote="lecrn"]


And here is another AMEN. My granddaddy lived to be 94 years young. He died form prostate cancer last Oct. And up until he was unable to eat he enjoyed lard based biscuits, bacon sandwiches, craklin' cornbread, pig ears, feet, and tails. But as a young man before school each morning he had chores. Real chores. He and his brothers and sisters literally worked their butts off. As a family man he worked in a steel mill rolling those huge sheets of steel semi manually onto rollers. After he retired he worked in his garden religously and when he was done for the day there he would come to our house and work in ours. They were healthy and hearty bunch. This is a different time. Heck no I cant eat like that. I couldn't work like they did either.

My aunt sees a dietician weekly and this dietician said that people have to get back to using butter and lard again (within reason of course) because these fats do eventually leave the body through lifestyle changes. Unlike the hydrogenated, trans fats,that were susposed to have been better for you, stay with you forever no matter what you do.

PS I know that ham hocks and fat back are the preferred seasoning for string beans but just once please try using chicken broth and some butter.
I know, I know, I know...I have hard all the gasps and OMGs. But it really does taste good. My pressure is on the "high side of normal" and high blood pressure runs in my family so I had to modify some of my favs. String beans are my fav vegetables. So the broth with butter recipe is for everyday and the hocks with potatoes are for Christmas and Easter.

Wow! Have not been on CC since yesterday and just read all the way through this thread. As usual, opinions vary.

I, too, was raised in California. My mom always had a bacon grease dish on the stove with a pair of salt and pepper shakers to match. Fried many a skillet of potatoes in that grease. She cooked with lard and maybe it was because we were poor. Guess I was oblivious to that fact. Moved to Missouri when I was 16 and, by damn, that grease dish and shakers still sat on the stove.

If I had a dollar for every pound of lard I had rendered in my life, I could take a nice vacation. I owned a restaurant for 13 years. We bought sows from the Pork Plantation and made whole hog sausage that we served every day along with the biscuits and gravy. From those hogs, I rendered the lard that made all our pie crusts. Didn't use it for anything else, though.

For those who remember lard leaving a funny taste, I don't think the commercial lard is like that nor is home rendered lard if it is handled correctly. It must me rendered over a slow fire and strained carefully. My mom sometimes left it sit out and it would get that rancid taste.

Indydebi, I always make my sausage gravy similar to how you do but have never used cornstarch (only flour) and don't heat my milk before adding it unless I'm in a hurry. Why do you use cornstarch? Another thing, Debi, any damn time you want to give me an autobiography, I'd be glad to hear it. Theresa's comments were totally out of line.

As for lard in icing. I would think it would not hold up to heat very well. As far as mixing it with butter and shortening, I don't know what the point would be. It isn't cheaper. Someone needs to let us know how it does.

Guess that was part of my autobiography.

Diane

Fry about 1 lb of sausage. Then, add about 4 or 5 heaping Tbsp of flour. The mixture should not be too "watery" thin or too thick where it is still "floury" or thick.

Cook this mixture for about 2 minutes. (The longer you cook this mixture the darker your gravy will be. Some people like pale almost white gravy, and some like a darker brown gravy).

Then, get a big "gravy" bowl. Fill it almost full with milk and add a little water to fill to just below the top. Add this mixture to the skillet and stir. Keep stirring until it gets thick.

(Instead of milk you can also use cream and a little water. And you don't have to add the water. You can use all milk or cream. I'm assuming the water was added in the original recipe to make the milk or cream stretch farther.)

Sorry for the long post. Hope the directions were clear.

BTW, you can also make this gravy using bacon grease. (Instead of 1lb of sausage, fry 1lb of bacon).

I can't make any kind of gravy with flour. It would taste like flour and be lumpy.

Cornstarch doesn't get lumpy and it doesnt' have to "cook" as long as flour. I just have better results with it. Learned it years and years ago from a friend who worked in a restaurant.

This came from my Grandmother Englehart. I haven't made them in years, and she hasn't either, but I do remember that they DID NOT taste like bacon.

BACON GREASE COOKIES
1 c. bacon grease
4 tbsp. dark molasses
1 egg
2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 c. sugar


Mix all wet ingredients together. Sift all dry ingredients except 1/2 cup sugar into wet ingredients. Mix well Scoop into small balls and roll in sugar (use 1/2 cup). Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes

I may have to make some this weekend, once I fry up a huge pile of bacon. I suppose you could substitue the bacon grease for lard or shortening.

Ahhh! This is like a ginger snap cookie recipe. The lard makes them crispier. I've never heard of it made with lard before. Interesting .

OK, first let me apologize in advance for being an ignorant Yankee...

Why would you put bacon grease in green beans? Do you fry them?

I love ginger snaps! It's been so long ago since I made the bacon grease one, now I will have to try them this weekend.