Anyone tried lard?? - Page 7

Thanks rincewind, I wanted to buy some of this but I an aversion to animal fat. I wanted to make sure there was none in it.

Well we can now all add a new flavor cake to what we sell. Mayonaise cake torted and filled with a hash brown/ketchup sauce and iced in a lovely Bacon Dripping Cream. YUMMY!

K as for the debate of "lard",
Lard is rendered pork fat, tallow is rendered beef fat. Back before crisco or vegetable shortening was invented, (something like the 20th century) lard, butter and tallow were basically the only fats available to bakers, cooks and chefs in Europe (where we get most of our food traditions).
The chef or cook would know how to render their own supply of lard or tallow.
I know it's hard to believe that less than a hundred years ago that all cakes were made with butter, all frostings were made with lard or butter, so consequently, only the richest people had access to the best ingredients and cake was a "rich people's dessert" back in the day of course.
Now with the introduction of hydrogenated fats (shortening, vegetable or animal) processed sugars, dough conditioners, and all sorts of other chemicals added to our foods we can now afford to "have our cake and eat it too".
Therefore, after saying that mouthful, cakes, before the 40's (yep that's 1940's), for the most part, were iced with lard or butter based icings. Or as in England, iced with Royal icing, then marzipan.
So it's not that far of a stretch to think that icing recipes used lard as the fat base.
As for tallow (rendered beef fat) it has a very waxy texture and was used for making candles and suet, and used for lubricating,
etc.

Sorry for the history lesson and for this being sooo long.

Ya better get a quick patent on that! I can see it hitting the Hardee's menu any day now!

Hey Amanda! I just thought I would reply that I understand your sentiments! I grew up in LA, spent my entire childhood and early adulthood in California. Grew up not eating pork much, bacon crisp, and a whole lotta avocados and sprouts and whole wheat bread.

Then, 4 years ago I moved to Memphis TN when I got married. Boy! They will fry anything up if it stands still long enough in the south! Sometimes my husband's family laughs at me for wanting to pick off the fried coating on chicken, or throwing out the bacon grease, or refusing the plate of fried okra. But sometimes I try a little since I am a "transfer-southerner" now LOL.

So... anyway I understand how you feel!

BTW- my Canadian friend says poutine is awesome. He dreams of it and says you just can't find the right kind of cheese curds here to make it! But... why is it that they eat fries with Mayo in Amsterdam, they eat fries with gravy in Canada and we eat fries with ketchup in the US? Who is really the weirdest?????

Hey Amanda! I just thought I would reply that I understand your sentiments! I grew up in LA, spent my entire childhood and early adulthood in California. Grew up not eating pork much, bacon crisp, and a whole lotta avocados and sprouts and whole wheat bread.

Then, 4 years ago I moved to Memphis TN when I got married. Boy! They will fry anything up if it stands still long enough in the south! Sometimes my husband's family laughs at me for wanting to pick off the fried coating on chicken, or throwing out the bacon grease, or refusing the plate of fried okra. But sometimes I try a little since I am a "transfer-southerner" now LOL.

So... anyway I understand how you feel!

BTW- my Canadian friend says poutine is awesome. He dreams of it and says you just can't find the right kind of cheese curds here to make it! But... why is it that they eat fries with Mayo in Amsterdam, they eat fries with gravy in Canada and we eat fries with ketchup in the US? Who is really the weirdest?????

OK, I am late to this thread, but I do know a lot about lard in the South. I grew up in North Carolina and we were definitely not poor. This was in the 50s and 60s. Being a farming community, lots of people owned hogs. We would have Hog Killings in the winter and process our own meat and make lard. The lard was cut up fat, from any part of the hog. This was put in a big cast iron pot in the back yard w/ fire under it and cooked until the fat came out of the meat. Any lean meat left on the pieces of fat were called "cracklins". These were taken out and pressed in a big old iron presser and the fat was stored in large cans called lard stands. The lean cakes that were left were cracklin cakes and were delicious salted and eaten by themselves or used in soups, cornbread, and other things. The only fat we had to cook with was lard which was kept in the stands in the smoke house.

[quote="Sionann"]The thing is using lard was not and is still not a "poor" thing or "southern" thing. "Way back in the day" when you wanted to make a pie or cook something that required grease or a little meaty seasoning then you used lard or drippings. There was no other alternative. I don't think it's a good argument to say that lard contributed to people being fat because most people "way back in the day" weren't fat because they had to work their butts off doing everyday tasks that we now have modern conveniences to take care of.

AMEN! I hate to sound overly sensitive, but I was a little offended that some people think that using lard is a "poor, southern" thing. People in the south or anywhere else in the world are fat b/c they consume more calories than burned off (unless there's thyroid issues, etc.). I grew up poor in the south, ate lots of lard, and have never been overweight. I don't make it a regular habit to eat it now, but I do enjoy an occasional biscuit or pie made from lard. Green beans that aren't seasoned with lard or fat back are not edible in my opinion.
So, please don't knock the "lard eaters". We have feelings too.
By the way, I don't think that it would be that great to use in buttercream, but I've never tried it.

Debi - Thank you so much.. Will have to make this for brunch on Sunday... I'm a "when it looks right kinda right cook too" so that's okay.

I used to be like you, when I was a vegetarian 4 years ago. I was a vegetarian for over 5 years. Since I have gotten older, my tastes have changed, and there is something oddly addictive, compelling even, about bacon (and bacon flavored food). I even have a recipe for bacon toffee. Although, I have not been daring enough to cook it yet. I also have a recipe for avocado icing. It would take me a long time to find in my recipe pile. You can look it up on the Food Network website under Alton Brown's show. It is a good for you green icing, that you don't even have to use artificial color in!