A culinary question

[gallahadesquire]

Moderators, please move this as necessary.

 

I'm wondering how many of you have ever cooked with lard, as in frying chicken in it. Also, whether you've ever used it for pie crusts, etc.

 

I understand it makes an incredible substitute for Crisco, and I have no qualms about animal fat in my diet.

 

Input, please?

[mike carey]

I don't do much deep frying in any sort of fat or oil, and I'm more inclined to use oil (olive or peanut oil) for stir frying, but I do use the fat that comes from roasting meat to cook vegetables like potatoes. Lard is just that sort of fat produced commercially, and without the roast meat flavour that you get from that residual fat. Lard works well for making pastry, but I'd be more inclined to use butter for sweet pastry (for fruit pies for example) but for savoury pies lard (or dripping) is great. Saving the fat from cooking roast meat or from frying bacon and using that to cook other things (or making pastry) adds to the flavour of whatever else you are cooking!

 

Long way of saying that yes, lard is good for frying or pie crusts!

[+ purplekow]

I carry lard with me wherever I go.

[rvwnsd]

Moderators, please move this as necessary.

 

I'm wondering how many of you have ever cooked with lard, as in frying chicken in it. Also, whether you've ever used it for pie crusts, etc.

 

I understand it makes an incredible substitute for Crisco, and I have no qualms about animal fat in my diet.

 

Input, please?

On the rare occasions I made fried chicken (using my aunt's secret batter recipe) I used canola oil. It came up great.

[TruHart1]

...

 

I'm wondering how many of you have ever cooked with lard, as in frying chicken in it. Also, whether you've ever used it for pie crusts, etc.

 

I understand it makes an incredible substitute for Crisco, and I have no qualms about animal fat in my diet.

 

Input, please?

 

This reminded me of the pies my college roommate's mom baked. She made the most delicious pie crust I have ever tasted in my life, and yes, she used lard! No pie crust since those she made have even come close to how wonderful her crusts, and because of it, her pies tasted!!!

 

I knew it was not healthy at the time but the flakiness and melt-in-your mouth deliciousness made it worth all the health danger!!! :D:D

 

My departed mother was an expert at frying the best tasting chicken but she never used anything but corn oil, usually Mazola, if I remember correctly. The only fried chicken I've ever tasted that even comes close to my mother's is at Babe's Chicken restaurants in Dallas!

 

I'm getting hungry! LOL! :D:D

 

TruHart1

[Guest]

Gaack! Lard has some of the highest quantities of saturated fat of any oil! Just thinking about it gives me a heart attack! Go with the canola oil. Or better yet, grill, bake, or barbeque it!

[Phil_musc]

I've used it (more than once!) and I'm still here. There is a faction that always pooh-poohs using lard, but it really does add a wonderful taste to some things. There are times when you just have to throw caution to the wind and accept the consequences - like great tasting food.

 

In the old days, I believe McDonald's did their french fries in lard. Then they caved in to the demands of the healthy food nazis with the result that their fries have never been quite as good. Really now, are we all better off as a nation because of this?

[whipped guy]

Gaack! Lard has some of the highest quantities of saturated fat of any oil! Just thinking about it gives me a heart attack! Go with the canola oil. Or better yet, grill, bake, or barbeque it!

Ditto to Gaack!!!!! as in YUCK!!!!

 

Actually the only oil that I have in the house is Extra Virgin Olive Oil and you really can't fry with that at all! So problem solved!

 

This from a guy who has literally not eaten a French fry in twenty years. Yes! I know! I'm no fun! Not at all!

[Rudynate]

Moderators, please move this as necessary.

 

I'm wondering how many of you have ever cooked with lard, as in frying chicken in it. Also, whether you've ever used it for pie crusts, etc.

 

I understand it makes an incredible substitute for Crisco, and I have no qualms about animal fat in my diet.

 

Input, please?

 

 

Chicken fried in lard may be one of the wonders of the world. I tried and tried to make good fried chicken and couldn't get the hang of it. Then I saw a recipe in Woman's Day magazine that explained everything you would ever want to know about the proper technique for frying chicken. I followed the instructions and.... success! The Woman's day recipe called for one pound of lard and a stick of butter. I hardly ever cook that way anymore. Mostly, when I cook chicken, I roast a whole chicken.

 

While lard does make an excellent pie crust, I think butter makes a much tastier crust. Either butter or lard will produce an extremely flaky crust.

[rvwnsd]

I've used it (more than once!) and I'm still here. There is a faction that always pooh-poohs using lard, but it really does add a wonderful taste to some things. There are times when you just have to throw caution to the wind and accept the consequences - like great tasting food.

 

In the old days, I believe McDonald's did their french fries in lard. Then they caved in to the demands of the healthy food nazis with the result that their fries have never been quite as good. Really now, are we all better off as a nation because of this?

McDonald's used shortening to cook its french fries, but coated the potatoes with a beef-derived solution to add flavor.

[Rudynate]

I've used it (more than once!) and I'm still here. There is a faction that always pooh-poohs using lard, but it really does add a wonderful taste to some things. There are times when you just have to throw caution to the wind and accept the consequences - like great tasting food.

 

In the old days, I believe McDonald's did their french fries in lard. Then they caved in to the demands of the healthy food nazis with the result that their fries have never been quite as good. Really now, are we all better off as a nation because of this?

 

 

It's difficult to find lard anymore that hasn't been hydrogenated. Paleo practitioners are very bullish on lard, but they emphasize that it must be non-hydrogenated lard. The stuff stored on the shelves in stores at room temperature is all hydrogenated.

[Rudynate]

Ditto to Gaack!!!!! as in YUCK!!!!

 

Actually the only oil that I have in the house is Extra Virgin Olive Oil and you really can't fry with that at all! So problem solved!

 

This from a guy who has literally not eaten a French fry in twenty years. Yes! I know! I'm no fun! Not at all!

 

 

Come on WG, live a little. During the low-fat craze of the 80s - 90s, I pretty much lost my taste for very fatty food. But now and again, a few french fries, a dollop of sour cream or a big glob of butter keep life interesting.

[AdamSmith]

These shrieks of alarm are surely a bit much. Like Julia said, 'I don't use too much butter -- I use enough butter.'

 

Which is to say, the three or four times a year that I fry chicken, I use lard.

 

Regrettably it is the devil's chase to find lard that's fit to use these days, even here in the mid-South. There is a commercial brand widely available, can't recall the brand name, but it sits in the distribution system so long that it verges on rancid by the time you buy it.

 

There is one little independent grocer out in the country from Raleigh where the owners cure their own country hams etc., and they will sell me lard if I ask, but even they have so little demand these days that they don't put it on the shelf. When the 80-something proprietress goes to her heavenly reward, I think this little time capsule will be no more.

[Rudynate]

McDonald's used shortening to cook its french fries, but coated the potatoes with a beef-derived solution to add flavor.

 

 

Originally, they cooked them in beef tallow. When it came to light that that's how they achieved their signature taste, there was a huge public outcry in the fat-phobic 80s. They changed their recipe.

[+ purplekow]

Oh we are talking about cooking with lard!! I use it for slip sliding away.

[Epigonos]

I love to cook and I entertain a great deal. Right up front I need to state that I have no patience what-so-ever with the whole “organic” and “healthy cooking” craze we are currently experiencing. I’m convinced it is a great marketing tool for producers and manufacturers who want to charge more for their products. Cooking has more than its share of ridiculous fads. Twenty plus years ago we were told that even looking at an egg was deadly – today that is no longer the cry of the cooking Nazis. Twenty plus years ago we were told that even looking at butter was deadly – today that is no longer the cry of the cooking Nazis. Twenty plus years ago we were told that even looking at salt was deadly – today that is no longer the cry of the cooking Nazis, and many researchers have concluded that the harm from too little salt in the diet is worse than that of too much. The cooking Nazis are currently insisting that “organic” and gluten free foods are the only healthy way to live - bullshit.

 

I’m convinced that common sense and moderation should be the guide NOT the latest dogmatic pronouncement of some crazy nutritionist. Lard in pie crust isn’t going to kill anybody unless they plan to consume two or three pies a day. Lard in tamales isn’t going to kill anybody unless they plan to consume a dozen or more a day. Lard used to fry chicken isn’t going to kill anybody unless they plan to eat fried chicken every day. After all the hoopla regarding the evils of butter it is now believed that margarine is less even less healthy. The key here should be moderation NOT abstinence.

 

Enough for my diatribe!!!!! I fry chicken in Crisco because my mother did and I like it that way. I use lard in my tamale masa. I cook string beans with sliced bacon because it adds flavor. I add a moderate amount of salt to nearly EVERYTHING I cook because it enhances flavor. I use flour in my cooking and believe that only a very small number of people need to be concerned about the gluten content.

 

PEOPLE USE COMMON SENSE AND LEAVE FADS TO THE CRAZIES!!!!!

[Odinochka]

Saturated fat is not of the Devil. Some saturated fat is good for you--i.e. EV coconut & olive oils, and avocado hexane-free oil. The building block of the human brain is saturated fats. Just do not go overboard on them. Your real enemy in Life is processed sugars...not fats. Just read up and make smart food choices.

[gp0560]

Moderators, please move this as necessary.

 

I'm wondering how many of you have ever cooked with lard, as in frying chicken in it. Also, whether you've ever used it for pie crusts, etc.

 

I understand it makes an incredible substitute for Crisco, and I have no qualms about animal fat in my diet.

 

Input, please?

There is no substitute for Crisco. Just ask the Count.

[AdamSmith]

There is no substitute for Crisco. Just ask the Count.

 

(Actually there is but Compte de Lardons lacks a certain je ne sais quoi. )

[Lookin]

I fry a couple strips of bacon before adding oil to make very tasty fried chicken. When crisp, and before the chicken goes in, I extract the bacon strips themselves for what AdamSmith refers to as an amuse bouche while mashing the potatoes.

 

Haven't made pie crust in a long time but, next time I do, it will be with half butter and half lard.

 

I grew up near the Pennsylvania Dutch country, where animal fats were all the rage. In those days, lard was much more common than Crisco, and no one keeled over. The offset was exercise, and lots of it.

 

Going back there now, where there are still several brands of potato chips made with lard and long days in the field have been replaced by long days in front of the TV, there's a lot of obesity. Back in the day, when everyone was bustling around all day, there was almost none.

 

It always amazes me when folks focus almost entirely on what they put into their bodies, and rarely on how they burn it off. http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/dogkids-wiki-of-wonder/images/3/3f/Smiley_running.gif

 

I have fried chicken a couple times a year, pie about the same, and on those rare occasions when I do, it's going to be the best-tasting fried chicken and pie I can manage, calories be damned. I'll burn them off walking to the cardiologist. http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif

[Rudynate]

These shrieks of alarm are surely a bit much. Like Julia said, 'I don't use too much butter -- I use enough butter.'

 

Which is to say, the three or four times a year that I fry chicken, I use lard.

 

Regrettably it is the devil's chase to find lard that's fit to use these days, even here in the mid-South. There is a commercial brand widely available, can't recall the brand name, but it sits in the distribution system so long that it verges on rancid by the time you buy it.

 

There is one little independent grocer out in the country from Raleigh where the owners cure their own country hams etc., and they will sell me lard if I ask, but even they have so little demand these days that they don't put it on the shelf. When the 80-something proprietress goes to her heavenly reward, I think this little time capsule will be no more.

 

I used to have my office in a cool, light-industrial building with all kinds of interesting businesses. One of them was a meat packer that produced all sort of artisan sausages. They sold lard that they had rendered themselves from their pork scraps. Of course, as with any food product that is "artisan" produced, the lard cost at least twice what it should have.

[+ Funguy]

Ditto to Gaack!!!!! as in YUCK!!!!

 

Actually the only oil that I have in the house is Extra Virgin Olive Oil and you really can't fry with that at all! So problem solved!

 

This from a guy who has literally not eaten a French fry in twenty years. Yes! I know! I'm no fun! Not at all!

 

OMG!! You are retired now! so you can eat the french fries! Esp. the steak fries - those great big, thick ones! Yum!!!!!

[+ Funguy]

Oh we are talking about cooking with lard!! I use it for slip sliding away.

 

OH, God! Yummmmmmmmm

[Rudynate]

On the rare occasions I made fried chicken (using my aunt's secret batter recipe) I used canola oil. It came up great.

 

 

A lot of holistic health experts think that there are far better fat choices than canola oil. The chief objection is that it is a highly-refined oil, having been treated with various chemicals and containing additives that prolong it's shelf life and eliminate its natural tendency to smell unpleasant when heated to high temperature. Without preservatives it becomes rancid fairly quickly and consuming rancid oils, containing high levels of oxidated fats are supposed to be a significant health risk.

[whipped guy]

Come on WG, live a little. During the low-fat craze of the 80s - 90s, I pretty much lost my taste for very fatty food. But now and again, a few french fries, a dollop of sour cream or a big glob of butter keep life interesting.

Well, I have come to hate the taste of fried foods and butter as well. However, for some reason the only fried food that I indulge in is fried calamari... and especially the tentacles! Si! Calamari fritti! Il cibo degli dei! The food of the gods! There is no way that I'm giving that up!

 

Even then it is not exactly something that one has the opportunity to have on a regular basis. Perhaps it is because it is something that is usually offered only in better restaurants and also due to the fact that the calamari don't absorb much oil when fried. At any rate, when done properly there's not much that is better on this earth!

 

Incidentally we agree about canola oil!!!!