Ok, I am convinced I must be the only one using lard to cook with now days. Every time I meantion lard to someone you would think I said I was cooking with hemlock! Now mind you, I don't deep fry with it or use it for butter on toast... but I just don't think there is any shortening type product out there that beats lard in biscuits and pie crust.

Whenever I meantion lard people either just go "ohhh yuckkk!!" or act like it is a sin -- "haven't you ever heard of cholestrol". But then again...they go home and smoke cigarettes, eat processed food, and breath dirty city air, so go figure???? Even my country friends always say "you still use that stuff"? So is it me or does pork fat still rule in the country kitchens?

-- Karen (mountains_mama2@hotmail.com), February 17, 2002

Answers

I like you , use lard for pie crusts and biscuits. I always have some around as I use it to make soap also. I use it for my nails when my cuticules get too dry from lots of handwashing or chores. I quess those who disagree, dont know how much better that apple pie tastes when its made the way grandma made it...Kristean

-- Kristean Thompson (pigalena_babe@yahoo.com), February 17, 2002.

Karen, the first time I bought a half of a pig from a friend, I got all the fat in a couple of huge bags. Never having seen the stuff before, I still managed to render it down and made beautiful clean lard which I put into molds of around a pound then froze it. Well, I used it here and there and gave some away and still had tons left in the freezer. Eventually threw it out, broke my heart but there are only two of us and I found it a bit too "piggy" to use with my pie crusts for sweet fillings but it was tops for meat pie crusts. I would love to make some again but my husband won't let me render it in the house because he says the smell makes him sick. I might try a campstove but it does take quite long. How do you render yours?

-- Kathy from BC (homefarmbc@pacificcoast.net), February 17, 2002.

My grandmother made lard biscuits and bacon grease gravy along with fried bacon and eggs nearly every morning for more than 50 years. Her lard crust pies were both many and precious. The very best fried chicken in the world was fried in lard. She was the best cook I have ever known. Seems to me there's a cooking with lard book just waiting to be written.

As far as cholestrol, she is 98 and so far has outlived everyone who told her that stuff was going to kill her.

-- paul (primrose@centex.net), February 17, 2002.

The secret ingredient to real/great Mexican cooking and tortillas?

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), February 17, 2002.

karen i use lard and bacon grease also. I wouldn't know how to cook without it. It makes the best biscuits and gravey you will ever eat.We eat like this all the time and do not have high cholesterol. I think if it was left up to the sicencetist we would not be able to eat anything that didn't come from some Lab.

-- gail akins (gakins@simplynet.net), February 17, 2002.

Kathy from BC,

You might try this method: Simply cut about ˝ cup of pork fat into small pieces and microwave it for a minute at a time in a pyrex measuring glass covered by plastic wrap–being careful not to burn yourself with the steam when you remove the plastic. As soon as the fat has melted, and before it turns brown, pour it into a sterile jar, cool and refrigerate

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), February 17, 2002.

You are not alone! I have never in my life even considered using lard until just recently. We had two pigs butchered, and being newly determined to use everything possible, and leave as little waste as I could, I decided to try my hand at rendering lard. It was so cool! Almost as much fun as making butter for the first time! It came out looking so pure and white and just lovely. I've been using it for a few months now (we froze most of it, and just moved our second container to the fridge for use) and I have to admit, I'm hooked! It's great!

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), February 17, 2002.

Karen, Yes too, I use lard here. Render the lard on the cookstove and can it. Won't use shortening here!!!! Pork fat still rules......

-- Suzanne (weir@frontiernet.net), February 17, 2002.

Lard is one of God's gift to us and yes I use it.

Lard has gotten a bum rap these past few decades like any animal fat, because big business can't process it in a factory, like they can shortening or rancid vegetable oils.

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), February 17, 2002.

I'm a lard user too! Also REAL butter, not margarine. Happy Cooking!

-- cowgirlone in OK (cowgirlone47@hotmail.com), February 17, 2002.

Homestead pig.........lard................use it. I guess the difference between homesteaders and others is we are willing to try the fruits of our labor before we fault it. In all honestly until we raised our own, I had never considered using lard. I sure enjoy using it now.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), February 17, 2002.

You are all beautiful and intelligent! If God made pie crust, He (OK, or She-am I politically correct or what!) would use lard and send Crisco to hell, which is where it belongs. I only use Crisco as an over-ball sealant when shooting black powder revolvers. There are 2 types of lard. First is leaf lard, which results from rendering the fat surrounding the kidneys, which is to say "internal lard". You can also render lard from the external fat, aka fatback. Both are good, but the leaf lard is superb, having a more delicate flavor. We usually raise 4 or 5 piggies every year. Most of our customers do not want the lard. So we wind up with most of the leaf lard, and others (ie, piggies from other raisers) don't want it either. Thus, we render all we can use, and send a lot to neighbors and friends. In return, we have had some Wonderful pies! Anyway, home rendered lard is great. As a suggestion, I run the lard through an old-fashioned meat grinder prior to rendering. Speeds up the process a bit. GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), February 17, 2002.

I did mine the way my aunt suggested, in a covered roaster in the oven. She told me to put about 1 or 2 cups of water in with the fat, put the oven on your lowest temperature, and leave several hours or overnight if the pan is fairly full. Then remove from the oven, and when the lard sets up, remove it from the roaster. All the little meat chunks sink to the bottom in the water. I did mine twice, and on the second time, took the liquid lard and poured it into sterile, hot, widemouth canning jars, and immediately screwed on hot, sterile lids. The jars seal themselves, and have stayed fresh for quite along time. Probably would be best to hot water bath them, but I haven't found ANY that have spoiled. Sure clears up a lot of freezer space, too. Jan

-- Jan in Co (Janice12@aol.com), February 17, 2002.

I use lard, bacon grease, real butter, and olive oil. I do my very best to avoid all the rest of that 'stuff'. If you want to know just how good these items are check out www.healingmatters.com ... it will tell all about how bad the other stuff really is - causes 'epidmeic' diseases. ... besides the body makes most all of the colesterol within, all but 10%. Without it you suffer.

-- Carroll (caerhuill@att.net), February 17, 2002.

I am standing up to be counted. My belief in how to feed my family has always been, pure real food. Nothing like lard for the best pie crusts. I use half lard half butter for biscuits.

-- Thrifty Sarrah (olefashion@hotmail.com), February 17, 2002.

Like Emeril says, Pork Fat Rules!!

-- Carol K (ck7951@bluefrognet.net), February 17, 2002.

Jan, how long have you kept?? That sure sounds like it would free up a bunch of space for me.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), February 17, 2002.

I already posted on this thread, But i just wanted to add, that sitting here reading all the response's makes me soooo happy. I really have trouble finding friends because of my beliefs ( ie... homesteading, sewing, cooking from scratch, homeschooling..) It is a real relief to hear some one really understands what I am trying to do for my wonderful hubby and beautiful girls. Thanks for the uplift.... Kristean

-- Kristean Thompson (pigalena_babe@yahoo.com), February 17, 2002.

You evidently don't live in the south or southwest. You don't have to be a homesteader to use lard; it's sold in the supermarkets here in various sizes up to 25 pound buckets.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2222@hotmail.com), February 18, 2002.

I am just learning to render. I tend to let it get to hot I think so it gets strong. I saved this back for the soap and the whitest for cooking. Being a city raised family, we are learning the tastes of real foods(lard, butter, real milk etc.) in place of the margerine and shortening. As we learn more about that nasty stuff we try harder to adjust our tastes back to real stuff....

-- Novina in ND (homespun@stellarnet.com), February 18, 2002.

Those who use shortening instead of old-fashioned lard havent heard the latest news on the medical front. Seems that lard is far better for your cardiovascular system, to say nothing of how much better it is for your metabolism. Shortening is fat in a form which our cells are not programmed to process. So those partially hydrogenated molecules go into a cell and get stuck. They cant be fully processed. Cant be fully used, nor can they be shuttled out, because they are stuck in the cell walls.

The newest news is that lard and real butter is even better for you than vegatable oils. Keep your ears tuned closely, and you will be hearing more about this in the very near future.

My mom is almost 77, and is in good health. Her doc said of her arteries that he was envious! Said the dye test showed the cardiovascular system was amazingly clean! I used to try to get her to use vegetable oil for her health sake... she always protested that she doesnt know HOW to use oil! But every morning, she would fry up some eggs with bacon or sausage and a few homemade hashbrowns to take up the grease. She doesnt believe in wasting any of that good grease!

Now it is I who am learning from Mom how to cook. Lard in piecrust, breads, and for frying potatoes is absolutely the BEST! I buy leaf lard from the local butcher at 20 cents a pound, and cut it into 1- inch cubes. I fill my biggets roaster with lard cubes and bake it till the fat is freed from the tissue. I ladle it into clean canning jars straight out of the oven. It seals itself, and keeps very well.

My blood pressure is doing really well, too. It's holding steady at 112 over 60.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), February 18, 2002.