Lard

[mickeyd]

My mother used lard a lot when I was a little kid, but I also recall that she later used Crisco. I guess she switched. I never asked her, nor discussed it with her. I'm feeling nostalgic. This could be all that you ever wanted to know about lard...

You rarely see lard on menus. There aren't shelves and shelves of it in every supermarket. In this country, we've sort of lost touch with the once beloved pig fat

The Friday Podcast: Who Killed Lard? : Planet Money : NPR

 

[Alan]

The town in England we lived in for 7 months this year had an award winning fish & chip shop which we frequented. One of the reasons given was that he used lard in the friers, and you could see the white congealed lard on the boxes once the food had been eaten and everything had cooled down.

Very nostalgic and very tasty.

 

[CyclingInvestor]

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[Alan]

Great poster , from 2 years after I was born. I confess that I am from the lard generation.

 

[Gumby]

My English mother told me that, during WW II, they might have streaky bacon for lunch and spread the congealed fat (which I guess is technically lard) on bread for dinner.

 

[martyb]

My mother used lard a lot when I was a little kid, but I also recall that she later used Crisco. I guess she switched. I never asked her, nor discussed it with her. I'm feeling nostalgic. This could be all that you ever wanted to know about lard...



The Friday Podcast: Who Killed Lard? : Planet Money : NPR

When I was growing up, lard was very commonly used for the stuff we ate. My aunt Viola (great-aunt) made the BEST biscuits in the universe using Crisco, and just typing this and thinking about them is making my mouth and eyes water!

 

[Major Tom]

I remember spreading warm lard on bread. I think the lard came from the pan that Mum had just finished cooking or frying something in. Maaaan, was it tasty.

 

[bbbamI]

My paternal grandfather ate lard all of his life. Dang if it didn't kill him....

He only lived to be 94 years old.

 

[Major Tom]

In fact I'm pretty sure it came from the pan after something had been cooked in it because I remember all the tasty crunchy bits that were mixed in with the lard and ended up on my bread. Mmmmm....

 

[Major Tom]

My paternal grandfather ate lard all of his life. Dang if it didn't kill him....

He only lived to be 94 years old.

You never know - he might have lived to have been 95 otherwise

 

[Alan]

My English mother told me that, during WW II, they might have streaky bacon for lunch and spread the congealed fat (which I guess is technically lard) on bread for dinner.

Never mind WW II, we did that, and more, all through the 50's and 60's. We used to love "dripping sandwiches". Enough salt and saturated fat to clog a hundred arteries by today's standards.

btw, rationing in the UK didn't end until 1955.

 

[REWahoo]

You rarely see lard on menus. There aren't shelves and shelves of it in every supermarket. In this country, we've sort of lost touch with the once beloved pig fat.

Lard does appear to have slipped off the supermarket shelf - except in locales where tamales are made. A tamale made without lard isn't really a tamale.

 

[Rustward]

In the 1960's we had a little aluminum container on the stove for the collection of bacon drippings to be used for "seasonings and flavorings" in other dishes. It had a strainer in the top with a lid over that. I guess other fat made it's way into it. That is just how it was done in that era.

 

[bbbamI]

You never know - he might have lived to have been 95 otherwise

....and the only 'medicine' he took was Geritol.

 

[14thMed]

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

 

[REWahoo]

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

If you hadn't, maybe your screen name would be only 8th or 9th med?

 

[Gumby]

Never mind WW II, we did that, and more, all through the 50's and 60's. We used to love "dripping sandwiches". Enough salt and saturated fat to clog a hundred arteries by today's standards.

btw, rationing in the UK didn't end until 1955.

Odd you should mention that. She always called it "drippings on toast"

 

[Alan]

Odd you should mention that. She always called it "drippings on toast"

My Dad was still eating dripping sandwiches and dripping on toast in his 80's. (In between his [-]fags[/-] cigarettes of course).

 

[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!

 

[skipro3]

In fact I'm pretty sure it came from the pan after something had been cooked in it because I remember all the tasty crunchy bits that were mixed in with the lard and ended up on my bread. Mmmmm....

We called those 'scrappies' excellent stuff, the scrapings from the bottom of a fry pan.

Lard is great stuff; best donuts in the world are deep fried in lard. You just haven't lived until you've eaten french fries all cooked up in lard. I raise 2 pigs a year and get my lard for 'free'. I render it down and use the skin as cracklin's. Yum!!

 

[Gumby]

My Dad was still eating dripping sandwiches and dripping on toast in his 80's. (In between his [-]fags[/-] cigarettes of course).

'
I can't count the times I heard Mum ask Dad "give us a fag, luv."

 

[audreyh1]

We have LOTS OF LARD in The Valley. Mexicans/Latinos are crazy about pork in all its forms. I've gotten used to the flavor of lard in pinto beans, so I go down to the local Mexican grocery to get me some of that fresh rendered roasted lard for my beans. They dont taste right without it. None of that purified white stuff - you've got to have that roasted pork flavor. The groceries sell little pig skin squares for beans, pig cracklings in every form. I keep discovering new pork products LOL!

At our favorite carnitas place (carnitas are Mexican-style chunks of roasted pork shoulder) they put some caramelized roasted pig fat from right under the skin called cueritos on the platter too. It's kind of soft and gelatinous. We've developed a liking for it!

I guess the Spaniards were (are) just as crazy about their pork. We had some mighty fine Jamon Serrano and some lovely Spanish cured chorizo over the holidays.

Crisco - the partially hydrogenated vegetable fat kind - is full of trans-fats and thus much less heart healthy than the original lard it replaced. I suppose they've reformulated it by now? I only use butter in my baking, but lard would probably be healthier than butter for pie crusts.

Audrey

 

[Major Tom]

Odd you should mention that. She always called it "drippings on toast"

That's it! I'd forgotten what we called it, but still remember the taste.

Oh where did we go wrong........

 

[JOHNNIE36]

All this talk about lard and bacon drippings sure brings back the memories. Best cooking in the world was done with bacon grease. I remember having breakfast with Dad in the mornings, this was in the 40's, and Mom always fixed him fried eggs in bacon grease. We didn't always have meat but he got his eggs and toast,

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?

 

[JakeBrake]

We have LOTS OF LARD in The Valley. Mexicans/Latinos are crazy about pork in all its forms. I've gotten used to the flavor of lard in pinto beans, so I go down to the local Mexican grocery to get me some of that fresh rendered roasted lard for my beans. They dont taste right without it. None of that purified white stuff - you've got to have that roasted pork flavor. The groceries sell little pig skin squares for beans, pig cracklings in every form. I keep discovering new pork products LOL!

At our favorite carnitas place (carnitas are Mexican-style chunks of roasted pork shoulder) they put some caramelized roasted pig fat from right under the skin called cueritos on the platter too. It's kind of soft and gelatinous. We've developed a liking for it!

I guess the Spaniards were (are) just as crazy about their pork. We had some mighty fine Jamon Serrano and some lovely Spanish cured chorizo over the holidays.

Crisco - the partially hydrogenated vegetable fat kind - is full of trans-fats and thus much less heart healthy than the original lard it replaced. I suppose they've reformulated it by now? I only use butter in my baking, but lard would probably be healthier than butter for pie crusts.

Audrey

I was watching the local farm show on public TV this evening. They said Southeast USA farmers are exporting lots of pork to Mexico (over a billion $ worth this year) and the average Mexican eats 5 times as much pork as the average American.

However, I think I'm above average.