Lard

[Dreamer]

I made my Baked Beans recipe within the last 2 weeks and I fry up a pound of bacon and put in them. I saved out 4 pieces and fried them the next morning and then fried our eggs in the bacon grease. It tasted so good. We only have bacon 4-5 times per year and I really like it. I really enjoy it when we do have it though.

[mickeyd]

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Originally Posted by 14thMed I can't believe I am the only person that took bacon fat and sugar sandwichs to school for lunch.

We only had those on special days.

[Alan]

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Originally Posted by nun I grew up in the Uk in the 1960s and lard was the cooking fat of choice....we'd never heard of olive oil. We had a "chip pan" for frying and you'd put it on the heat and wait for the white lard to melt. Lard was also used in all pie crusts. I use lard quite often as it's easily available in the supermarket. The harder thing to find is beef suet, but if I ask the butcher at Wholefoods I can usually get some to make suet pastry or really tasty dumplings.

+1

Except that we did also use olive oil. Mother kept a small bottle of it in the medicine tin. It came with a small dropper and was used for treating ear ache. She'd put the bottle in a small pan of water and warm it up, then put some drops into the ear.

[Ronstar]

DW's uncle told us that his parents used to store pork chops in a vat of lard, and that the kids would sneak gobs of lard from the vat and eat it by itself. My grandmother was also a big lard to Cisco convert.

I used to eat at the Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, Az - they would fry their fries in lard. It's a shame that they closed.

[Moemg]

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Originally Posted by JOHNNIE36 Mom also made a tossed salad and the dressing was fried up little pieces of bacon and the drippings. She called it wilted lettuce. Anyone ever hear of this type salad?

Yes, We used to have it in Pennsylvania in the 50's . I loved that dressing !

[RAE]

Grandma and mom were right on this one - lard is good for you.

Cooking with Edible Animal Fats | Mark's Daily Apple

[braumeister]

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Originally Posted by veremchuka The best pie crust is made with lard not vegetable shortening, so the great pie crust people have told me.

Absolutely true, according to DW who makes the best pie crust for three states around.

It's also absolutely essential for making that fantastic Belgian dish called Carbonnade Flamande. I tried it once with Crisco, just as an experiment, and was appalled. Back to good old lard the next time.

[Khan]

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Originally Posted by Goonie My grandma had a gallon tin bucket of rendered lard in her kitchen until the day she died in the late 1960's. She also had a tin can on the stove for bacon grease. If she made something fried, it was definitely fried in either lard or bacon grease!!! Also, my Mom always had a pan of bacon grease sitting on the stove, ready and waiting to be used for nearly every meal. She always had a can of lard handy too. Eventually she switched over to Crisco shortening to replace the lard sometime in the mid-70's. However, she has never given up on bacon grease! Both grandma and Mom swore that you couldn't possibly make decent pie crust without real lard, and that 'shortening' just couldn't match it!

They were right.

[Khan]

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Originally Posted by haha I never thought I would see a thread on lard on this board, but it just goes to show. Here's a funny tidbit about someone's interactions with Armour, a major commercial lard producer. How Much is Inside Success story: Lard In places where people have way more money than sense it has become trendy to buy "artisanal lard" at $15+/#, from a couple of holdover hippies at modern farmer's markets in expensive neighborhoods. Was I ever surprised when a few years ago I visited my first urban Farmers' Market. When I was a boy I sometimes tended my grandparent's farm roadside stand. Tomatoes, "15 cents/#, 2 # for 25 cents." This was both better and cheaper than in the grocery store. That is not the way with today's farmers' market. Perhaps better, perhaps not, but a long way from cheaper. But of course it is 'artisanal". Sir, I would like a dozen eggs and a large dose of fantasy, please. Ha

Several years ago I bought a hog (freezer ready) and part of the deal was several buckets of lard. Can't beat it for sauteing or deep frying.

[Nova]

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Originally Posted by Alan +1 Except that we did also use olive oil. Mother kept a small bottle of it in the medicine tin. It came with a small dropper and was used for treating ear ache. She'd put the bottle in a small pan of water and warm it up, then put some drops into the ear.

That was my first introduction to olive oil, too. Dr. called it sweet olive oil.

Good pie crust is wonderful and there's not much worse than bad pie crust. I'm the world's worst pie crust maker. This thread has inspired me to buy some lard and give it another try.

[NW-Bound]

We use vegetable oil (no Crisco!) in our cooking, but I do save the fat rendered from bacon for some types of cooking.

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Originally Posted by skipro3 ... You just haven't lived until you've eaten french fries all cooked up in lard...

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Originally Posted by Ronstar ...I used to eat at the Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, Az - they would fry their fries in lard. It's a shame that they closed...

I have never had fries in lard, but supposedly if it is leaf lard, it does not have a porky flavor.

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Originally Posted by RAE Grandma and mom were right on this one - lard is good for you. Cooking with Edible Animal Fats | Mark's Daily Apple

Recently, I read about fries in duck fat. Did not see duck fat mentioned in the above link.

[kyounge1956]

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Originally Posted by Goonie (snip)Also, my Mom always had a pan of bacon grease sitting on the stove, ready and waiting to be used for nearly every meal. (snip)

My Mom did too, except I think hers is from sausage rather than bacon. She kept it in one of those little ceramic crocks used by Hickory Farms and similar vendors for cheese spreads and the like. I don't think she saves the fat any more. I wonder why—was it health concerns or switching to cooking bacon in the microwave rather than a frypan?

[Khan]

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Originally Posted by NW-Bound Recently, I read about fries in duck fat. Did not see duck fat mentioned in the above link.

Goose or duck fat is great for potatoes.

[kyounge1956]

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Originally Posted by JOHNNIE36 Mom also made a tossed salad and the dressing was fried up little pieces of bacon and the drippings. She called it wilted lettuce. Anyone ever hear of this type salad?

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Originally Posted by Goonie As for the bacon drippings over salads, we like it over fresh spinach instead of lettuce. There are a couple of 'up-scale' restaurants around here that serve the wilted spinach salads that way. They think it's something new! Haha!

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Originally Posted by bbbamI Absolutely. My momma would make that with all different types of greens.

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Originally Posted by ERD50 DW started making that some years ago. Spinach, the bacon, hard boiled eggs, and some almonds or walnuts or pecans - probably a few other bits in there I don't recall. Delicious and very 'upscale' with the right things in it. IIRC, there was some vinegar in there, which gave a nice bite with the bacon. Hmmmmm!

Speaking of salads, there is also a potato salad dressed with bacon-&-dripping, which I believe is made something like this: boil the potatoes and cut them into cubes, then fry the bacon until it is crisp and crumble it into small pieces. In the same pan fry chopped onion, then add vinegar, a little sugar, and celery seed to make the dressing. Mix the cubed potatoes, bacon bits and dressing. Serve warm.

[ERD50]

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Originally Posted by NW-Bound Recently, I read about fries in duck fat. Did not see duck fat mentioned in the above link.

Hot Doug's

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DUCK FAT FRIES ..... $3.50 (Friday & Saturday only)

I need to get down there and try them. I've heard they aren't really as different as you might think. Hot Dougs is a 'hot dog joint', with a gourmet touch -

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Welcome to Hot Doug's! The Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium 3324 North California, Chicago, IL 60618

Here's a few of their daily specials:

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Ginger-Spiked Rabbit Sausage with Pumpkin Creme Fraiche and Goat Cheese $7.50 The Cheesy Atomic: Damn Spicy Jack Cheese-Stuffed Pork Sausage with Spicy Passion Fruit Mayonnaise and Habanero-Jack Cheese $7.50 Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Aioli, Foie Gras Mousse and Fleur de Sel $9.00

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Originally Posted by kyounge1956 Speaking of salads, there is also a potato salad dressed with bacon-&-dripping, which I believe is made something like this: boil the potatoes and cut them into cubes, then fry the bacon until it is crisp and crumble it into small pieces. In the same pan fry chopped onion, then add vinegar, a little sugar, and celery seed to make the dressing. Mix the cubed potatoes, bacon bits and dressing. Serve warm.

Sounds like what I know as warm German-style potato salad. De-lish!

-ERD50

[FIREd]

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Originally Posted by Khan Goose or duck fat is great for potatoes.

I love frying potatoes in duck fat. I usually keep a jar of rendered duck fat in the fridge. Duck cracklings are awesome too.

[haha]

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Originally Posted by ERD50 Sounds like what I know as warm German-style potato salad. De-lish! -ERD50

Me too. It's what I grew up on. Similar hot cole slaw, either with white cabbage or red.

Mike

[audreyh1]

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Originally Posted by kyounge1956 Speaking of salads, there is also a potato salad dressed with bacon-&-dripping, which I believe is made something like this: boil the potatoes and cut them into cubes, then fry the bacon until it is crisp and crumble it into small pieces. In the same pan fry chopped onion, then add vinegar, a little sugar, and celery seed to make the dressing. Mix the cubed potatoes, bacon bits and dressing. Serve warm.

Sounds like German potatoes, or German potato salad to me. Good stuff!!!

I sometimes make wilted spinach salad with hot bacon dressing. Awesome stuff!

[Sue J]

My maternal grandparents moved to the USA from Budapest, Hungary. They were Jewish and kept kosher so there was always chicken fat, called schmaltz, kept in a jar or tin to be used for frying.

My mother told me that before mayonnaise was sold in jars they used to use chicken schmaltz as a spread on sandwiches.

Schmaltz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[haha]

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Originally Posted by Sue J My maternal grandparents moved to the USA from Budapest, Hungary. They were Jewish and kept kosher so there was always chicken fat, called schmaltz, kept in a jar or tin to be used for frying. My mother told me that before mayonnaise was sold in jars they used to use chicken schmaltz as a spread on sandwiches. Schmaltz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's funny, these fats are supposed to be bad for us. But the Jews living in Eastern and Central Europe eating shmaltz seem to have done pretty well, as did the people in SW France who ate duck and goose fat, and Scandinavians and Germans and northern French who ate lard and tallow and butter.

The only healthy people in the world did not live on Crete and use olive oil exclusively. They just didn't have doctors with lipid panels to annoy them.

My own grandparents never heard of olive oil, they liberally used butter and lard and when available, beef tallow. I can remmber from boyhood those November days when hogs were killed, and one huge kettle would be on a wood fire to scald the hogs for scraping, and another on another wood fire to render lard (and provide the kids with cracklins).

Another thing from those days that is largely lost in Anglo populations is the skill to use and liking for all the organ meats, which were quite perishable and had to be used quickly. I shop in an IGA with a very diverse clientele- some Africans, some Asians, some American blacks, some Islanders and Mexicans, so I can get and am slowly getting back to cooking various organ meats. Coming up-menudo!

Ha