Cooking with Lard

[Shooby]

I bought some and made 4 loaves of bread with it using it for the fat.  I followed a recipe that had that.  And, all 4 loaves were like dense bricks!!

[NoNamePerson]

Sept 3, 2018 23:54:29 GMT -5 kadee79 said:

I use lard for most of my frying.  I get it at Walmart in the cooking oil/shortening section.  It's not expensive at all & I never refrigerate it.  Lard shouldn't need to be refrigerated...it never was years ago.  And bacon grease is pretty much lard with a little bacon flavor.  If I want to keep some longer than normal, then I freeze it.
Pie crusts made with lard are more flaky & taste yummy!  I usually mix mine half/half with Crisco cause it can be hard to handle if it's all just lard.
I won't use canola or corn oils...too much "stuff" in them & nearly 100% of canola is GMO's & I think it's about 70-80% of corn.  If I need an oil where olive oil can't be used, I use sunflower oil....love it on my popcorn!

Just a little tidbit....someone found a tin of lard that had been stuck back some place, it was canned & had never been opened & was over 30 yrs. old...not refrigerated.  It was fine, still edible!

Brave person who taste tested it.

[NoNamePerson]

Sept 4, 2018 5:47:50 GMT -5 Shooby said:

I bought some and made 4 loaves of bread with it using it for the fat.  I followed a recipe that had that.  And, all 4 loaves were like dense bricks!!

Probably cause the lard of today isn't like the lard of yesteryear!! Heck, I'm clueless since we have some of the finest bakeries here and I use them.

But it's sorta like "real" butter. I swear it doesn't have the same distinctive taste that it used to have from margarine. Can't tell the difference so I use a brand that is a tad expensive but I don't use much.

[raeoflyte]

We make our sugar cookies with it.  I'd love to find an alternative because we have enough vegetarian friends that I can't just hand the cookies out like I'd like to.  But the taste and texture difference between lard and shortening in them is too extreme.  The ones with shortening are so not worth eating.  

[Shooby]

Sept 27, 2018 12:44:50 GMT -5 raeoflyte said:

We make our sugar cookies with it.  I'd love to find an alternative because we have enough vegetarian friends that I can't just hand the cookies out like I'd like to.  But the taste and texture difference between lard and shortening in them is too extreme.  The ones with shortening are so not worth eating.  

Well, that might be worth it to the vegetarians.  They might like them.    So you could make both.  Ones with lard for you and shortening or butter ones for them.  

[countrygirl2]

I have good lard I order but never made bread with it.  I don't know if they did way back when or not.

I know the yeast doesn't smell like what my great aunt used.  The whole house smelled like rising and baking bread back then. The aroma was wonderful.

[Shooby]

Sept 30, 2018 1:50:11 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

I have good lard I order but never made bread with it.  I don't know if they did way back when or not.

I know the yeast doesn't smell like what my great aunt used.  The whole house smelled like rising and baking bread back then. The aroma was wonderful.

I buy yeast in bulk and freeze it.  And, it seems to have a good yeasty smell versus the little packets.  I also use regular yeast and not quick rise.

[mmhmm]

Sept 30, 2018 1:50:11 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

I have good lard I order but never made bread with it.  I don't know if they did way back when or not.

I know the yeast doesn't smell like what my great aunt used.  The whole house smelled like rising and baking bread back then. The aroma was wonderful.

Some of that lack of aroma can be attributed to the weakening of the sense of smell as we age.

[Tennesseer]

Sept 30, 2018 10:23:03 GMT -5 mmhmm said:

Sept 30, 2018 1:50:11 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

I have good lard I order but never made bread with it.  I don't know if they did way back when or not.

I know the yeast doesn't smell like what my great aunt used.  The whole house smelled like rising and baking bread back then. The aroma was wonderful.

Some of that lack of aroma can be attributed to the weakening of the sense of smell as we age.

When does it finally go away so I don't have to hold my nose anymore when I clean the litter boxes.

[countrygirl2]

I buy both bulk yeast and the small packets, none of it smells like it use to.  Same with the smell of fried chicken and other foods.  

[NoNamePerson]

Sept 30, 2018 13:15:27 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Sept 30, 2018 10:23:03 GMT -5 mmhmm said:

Some of that lack of aroma can be attributed to the weakening of the sense of smell as we age.

When does it finally go away so I don't have to hold my nose anymore when I clean the litter boxes.

 my sense of smell is as strong as ever and I wish it would weaken a tad. I can tell if someone passing me uses friggin fabric softeners in the dryer - and I'm talking total stranger!!  My sense of taste hasn't diminished either - at least according to the size of my butt!!

[toomuchreality]

Sept 30, 2018 14:21:59 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

Sept 30, 2018 13:15:27 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

When does it finally go away so I don't have to hold my nose anymore when I clean the litter boxes.

 my sense of smell is as strong as ever and I wish it would weaken a tad. I can tell if someone passing me uses friggin fabric softeners in the dryer - and I'm talking total stranger!!  My sense of taste hasn't diminished either - at least according to the size of my butt!!

I was thinking the exact opposite. According to the size of my butt, my sense of taste has completely changed. Now I eat a LOT more things I didn't previously!  LOL 

[weltschmerz]

Sept 30, 2018 14:21:59 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

Sept 30, 2018 13:15:27 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

When does it finally go away so I don't have to hold my nose anymore when I clean the litter boxes.

 my sense of smell is as strong as ever and I wish it would weaken a tad. I can tell if someone passing me uses friggin fabric softeners in the dryer - and I'm talking total stranger!!  My sense of taste hasn't diminished either - at least according to the size of my butt!!

I have hyperosmia.

I WISH my sense of smell would weaken to normal levels as I age.

[Tennesseer]

Sept 30, 2018 14:21:59 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

Sept 30, 2018 13:15:27 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

When does it finally go away so I don't have to hold my nose anymore when I clean the litter boxes.

 my sense of smell is as strong as ever and I wish it would weaken a tad. I can tell if someone passing me uses friggin fabric softeners in the dryer - and I'm talking total stranger!!  My sense of taste hasn't diminished either - at least according to the size of my butt!!

I would hate not being able to smell sautéeing onions.

[countrygirl2]

My DD gets so frustrated she can't smell things. She misses so much that way, poor girl, been like that for forever, don't know why.

I just fried fish with partly lard and rest canola oil. Fried them out on the screened in porch on the little old canning stove. That thing cooks like a dream, we think its 1920's or 30's when it was made.

[mmhmm]

My mother had no sense of smell.  She said she lost it in her early twenties and always missed the smell of roses. I used to tease her that, in some ways, she was fortunate. She couldn't smell roses but she couldn't smell daddy's farts, either. 

[verrip1]

Oct 2, 2018 14:13:26 GMT -5 mmhmm said:

My mother had no sense of smell.  She said she lost it in her early twenties and always missed the smell of roses. I used to tease her that, in some ways, she was fortunate. She couldn't smell roses but she couldn't smell daddy's farts, either. 

Gee, mmhmm, I really hate to go all tangent on your fart smell reminiscences , but I saw this thread title when I came by to get some laughs from the Complaints thread.

For those who find lard hard to find, go to a mercado.  Its name in Spanish is 'manteca' and it is low priced.

Your alternative is to make your own.  My larder always contains separate jars of frozen rendered fats; pork, chicken, beef and bacon.  You can make specialty ones too (pheasant, duck).  All you have to do is keep frozen ziplock bags of trimmed off fat of each type from prepping meats (or just pour off the liquid fat into a jar after filtering from frying or roasting meat).  When you get enough trimmings in one ziplock bag, heat the contents at low heat with the lid on the pan.  The inherent water content will create steam which will help rendering start, then remove the lid to drive off remaining water.  If you heat it long enough or hot enough that it starts to fry the solid tissue, the fat will have a fried meaty taste which is good for some applications, but certainly not good for sugar cookies.

Strain through cheesecloth while warm to remove any bits of stuff.  Reheat by putting the frozen bottle into warm, then hot water for extended times; or heat in the oven at 210 deg F or less.  Do not melt it in the microwave unless you are certain there is zero retained water - otherwise it might blow out hot fat all over the inside of the microwave.

[countrygirl2]

I order lard from Tendergrass Farms when they have it on sale. I still have quite a bit in the freezer. I mix it with canola or olive oil on a lot of foods just to give the flavor and to last longer. It's not cheap.

[bookkeeper]

I have a friend that owns a butcher shop.  When he is planning a party, he often likes to deep fry sirloin tips.  Through years of parties and tasting, he has discovered beef tallow for deep frying.  My friend noticed whenever he fried in corn oil or lard, half the fat was gone after frying, it stuck to the food.  He tried using beef tallow, since he was frying beef anyway, and the fat stayed in the kettle.  Beef tallow apparently has different properties that allow it to fry nicely but not soak into the food.

The best chicken ever is fried in bacon grease. Mmmmm bacon grease!

[thyme4change]

I have several pounds of lard in my fridge now. My husband way over bought when we made fry bread. Blame the empirical measuring system for that one - go metric!! We bought it at the grocery store.

[countrygirl2]

I still have pounds of it in the freezer, was going to give it away.  I'm thinking no, will just mix with canola at times.  Or if I want REALLY good fried catfish I will use it.  It and bacon grease makes everything taste just wonderful.

[kadee79]

If you want fried chicken to taste like it used to...mix bacon grease & lard to fry it.  That was what we used when I was a kid...but the chicken was also fresh, not killed several days ago...might have been killed the day before or that morning...then scalded & picked clean, gutted & washed out, cut up...ready to go.