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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWho Killed Lard?
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/02/03/146356117/who-killed-lard"The word lard has become this generally derogatory term associated with fat and disgustingness," says Dan Pashman who hosts a food podcast called The Sporkful. "Think about Lard-ass, the character from the movie Stand By Me. I mean, he didn't want to be called Lard-ass."
How did this delicious, all-natural fat from a pig become an insult? Who killed lard?
Lard didn't just fall out of favor. It was pushed. It was a casualty of a battle between giant business and corporate interests.
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sinkingfeeling
(51,457 posts)
benz380
(534 posts)LawDeeDah
(1,596 posts)Never found the perfect biscuit recipoe, maybe that is why.
abelenkpe
(9,933 posts)Now I want to make some
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)Crisco.
TeeYiYi
(8,028 posts)...used to make the best fried chicken, using Crisco. Wish I had some right now...
TYY
sinkingfeeling
(51,457 posts)roguevalley
(40,656 posts)
Tsiyu
(18,186 posts)and swear by it for their biscuits. And they do make awesome biscuits.
benz380
(534 posts)ChosenUnWisely
(588 posts)I prefer a lard and butter combo, I also use buttermilk.
benz380
(534 posts)Never have tried butter in the batter. Maybe buttered batter better? lol
ChosenUnWisely
(588 posts)you can shred it too, the butter, then chill it before use.
Works very well.
ChosenUnWisely
(588 posts)Fat=Flavor!
Goose fat is great too, but I have not cooked a goose in a few years, mainly because the cats when nuts when it was cooking and I swear I had over a half gallon of fat once it was cooked.
Try frying taters in it or duck fat for some of the best taters you will ever have.
herding cats
(19,565 posts)Just guessing, but it makes sense. They pretty much created the wave of solid vegetable fat useage.
ChosenUnWisely
(588 posts)herding cats
(19,565 posts)Sounds about right to me. Nasty waxy stuff like Crisco should never be in food!
ChosenUnWisely
(588 posts)herding cats
(19,565 posts)Lestoil rubbed on the Crisco stains and washed in hot water works...Or so I've heard. 
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)One should avoid oil-based lubricants if one is using a latex condom or silicone based accoutrements.
ChosenUnWisely
(588 posts)Oh well small price to pay for fun!
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)It's been used in Southern biscuits for years.
I'm sure pig lard used to be used, but if it still was, I couldn't eat them. I'm allergic to pork (and, no, I don't mind. I really don't think bacon is the be-all end all the Food Network has brainwashed us to believe).
Here's the White Lily version:
http://www.whitelily.com/Recipes/Details.aspx?recipeID=3790
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)
fadedrose
(10,044 posts)It's a staple in Atkins diets - they push saturated fats like lard, butter, palm, olive and other oilsl and are totally against margarine, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated shortening, etc. My sister, long dead, used it years ago for pie crust.
New government guidelines are against transfats, about the same as what Atkins was against. They also want carbs limited.
I use lard, but am not as fond of it as I am of butter. Mostly I use a large can of lard, add flour & bird seed and feed it to my woodpeckers and jays. In fact all the birds like lard.
braddy
(3,585 posts)ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)braddy
(3,585 posts)him to save you some of the trimmed fat.
How to render Lard http://robbwolf.com/2013/02/21/render-lard-and-free/
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)
2naSalit
(86,646 posts) 
ladyVet
(1,587 posts)Marr
(20,317 posts)The stuff you find in the grocery store will be hydrogenated to make it last longer, so it's not as healthy.
braddy
(3,585 posts)When I seek a flavor treat, or this kind of improvement in the kitchen, I tend to learn how to trade labor for convenience.
Not that some leaf lard would cost a lot, it is just my way, which usually means that instead of spending too much to buy something (maybe $6.00 in this case?), I will spend more to make it myself the first time, and then never make it again, which of course doesn't make sense, but...........
F4lconF16
(3,747 posts)Before you eat it, no? I do the same thing 
Throd
(7,208 posts)KamaAina
(78,249 posts)There is a town named Manteca near Stockton. It happens to have a large RV dealership that advertises on Bay Area TV. The ads end with "..in MAAAAAAN-Tea-Ka!"
Throd
(7,208 posts)Now sing the Denevi Camera jingle for me.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts) melman
(7,681 posts)
femmocrat
(28,394 posts)It does make a flaky pie crust, but I can smell the lard. Yuck.
cyberswede
(26,117 posts)Cookies made with lard are heavenly.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)was it Miss Peacock, in the study, with the pipewrench?
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)One day Calvin was racing around the house, crashing into things and his mom yells
"Calvin, stop tearing around the house."
A minute later Calvin slams into the sofa, his mom yells at him.
"What did I just tell you?" Calvin replies honestly
"Beats me, weren't you listening either?"
Response to KamaAina (Original post)
Politicalboi This message was self-deleted by its author.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Period.
It's a pork fat thing.
Just like bacon grease.
JHB
(37,160 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts) braddy
(3,585 posts)"People think that cooking with lard will make everything taste of pork, but this is not true; its flavor is neutral. What it does, however, is create incredible texture and structure. With lard, you’ll fry chicken that is both moist and crisp. With lard, you’ll make a tender pie crust that flakes. With lard, you’ll make airy French fries that crunch. With lard, you’ll cook refried beans that caress your mouth like velvet. With lard, you’ll steam tamales that are soft and fluffy. And with lard, you’ll bake ginger cookies that snap."
cbayer
(146,218 posts)Nobody is ashamed of it in Mexico and the corporations haven't pushed it out of the market.
It's great stuff.
SheilaT
(23,156 posts)and I'm almost positive my mother never did, either. Crisco has been around for a very long time, since about 1912, which is partly why. Mom was born in 1916.
Crisco has quite a long shelf life. Wouldn't lard go bad after a while?
And for some completely unknown reason, I always expect lard to smell nasty. Have no idea where I picked up that notion.
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)SheilaT
(23,156 posts)It would be frozen solid when I want to use it.
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)Pretty quickly, in fact.
Ideally, you portion it out before doing so to make it easier.
SheilaT
(23,156 posts)But since I'm not in the habit of using lard, I guess I won't be buying and freezing any.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)when in fact (it is becoming clear now) there is little - if any - correlation between those two things. Same reason why butter fell out of favor in the 70's and 80's. Saturated fat in the diet, we were told, leads to weight gain, cardiovascular disease, and all kinds of other bad stuff.
SheilaT
(23,156 posts)As I said, my mother who was born in 1916 never used it when I was growing up, and I never recall being aware of any of my friends' moms using it either.
Butter actually fell out of favor much earlier, in the 1950's when margarine became cheaper. Although margarine, fortunately, never displaced butter as completely as Crisco replaced lard. I grew up mostly with margarine, and started buying butter only once I was out on my own, starting in 1967.
Yeah, there are a lot of dumb beliefs about various foods.
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)http://www.weedemandreap.com/top-reasons-eating-lard/
Let me give you a little back story on good ol’ lard.
In the early 1900s, the company Proctor & Gamble were doing pretty well growing & harvesting cotton. The cottonseed, a bothersome byproduct of cotton became so numerous, that Proctor & Gamble decided to see if there was anything–anything they could make from the cottonseed to make a profit.
They found after intense processing — which included heating & pressing — they were able to extract oil. And it cost Proctor & Gamble next to NOTHING to produce it. An easily rancid and unstable fat, the process of hydrogenation was added to make the cottonseed oil last very long. When the cottonseed oil cooled, it looked exactly like lard.
They called it Crisco.
Now, this is a crucial point in our history, folks. Proctor & Gamble’s decision to market and sell cottonseed oil (Crisco) has perhaps caused more physical sickness & suffering than we could probably number. Proctor & Gamble effectively marketed Crisco as a cheaper & “healthier” fat. Lard was touted as unhealthy or smelly. They even gave away free cookbooks with every purchase of Crisco. The cookbooks were full of common recipes, but instead of lard or butter, Crisco was listed as the ingredient. It’s sad really, how successful they were at making people turn away from the traditional use of lard.
Sadly, you probably eat cottonseed oil every single day. Why? Because cottonseed oil is in almost EVERY PACKAGED or PROCESSED food in your store. Chips, cereals, cookies, crackers, breads, salad dressings, mayonnaise, pasta sauces, fast food, soaps, shampoos, conditioners, makeup, lipstick, EVERYTHING. Why? Because it’s CHEAP and it increased their PROFIT!
According to The Atlantic:
“Never before had Procter & Gamble — or any company for that matter — put so much marketing support or advertising dollars behind a product. They hired the J. Walter Thompson Agency, America’s first full service advertising agency staffed by real artists and professional writers. Samples of Crisco were mailed to grocers, restaurants, nutritionists, and home economists. Eight alternative marketing strategies were tested in different cities and their impacts calculated and compared. Doughnuts were fried in Crisco and handed out in the streets. Women who purchased the new industrial fat got a free cookbook of Crisco recipes. It opened with the line, “The culinary world is revising its entire cookbook on account of the advent of Crisco, a new and altogether different cooking fat.” Recipes for asparagus soup, baked salmon with Colbert sauce, stuffed beets, curried cauliflower, and tomato sandwiches all called for three to four tablespoons of Crisco.”
And why is Crisco/cottonseed oil so bad for us, you ask?
Well, for starters cotton is not considered a food crop by the FDA and therefore is NOT regulated on the amount of pesticides that can be sprayed. In fact, more pesticides are sprayed on cotton THAN ANY OTHER CROP.
That explains so much. I remember my mother and grandmother both using Crisco.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)because, I was told, margarine is much healthier. 
Only when I became an adult and on my own did I eschew margarine, and stick to butter and olive oil - I now use other oils, too, like grape seed oil, but in my own kitchen, I try to stick to traditional ingredients as much as possible (butter, olive oil). Though I admit that I have never used lard per se, but I would if it were easily available. Same with goose fat, though that is not only hard to find, but REALLY expensive (which is ironic because geese are one of the staple foods of poor lands since they are very easy and cheap to raise and keep).
SheilaT
(23,156 posts)If you have an aisle with "ethnic" foods, specifically Hispanic, lard should be there.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)to what extent are the pork fed antibiotics/growth hormones? Were they healthy pigs, or is there even any way to know?
There is a specialty food brand, D'Artagnan, that claims their swine are 'heirloom', raised without antibiotics or other artificial food additives, but their products are expensive. Still, if I really want bacon or sausages, they are the only brand I'll buy.
fadedrose
(10,044 posts)complained that McDonald's delicious fries were made with palm oil, a saturated fat with lots of calories. From his complaining, lots of changes were made, McDonald's changed its oils for frying, margarines became popular, hydrogenated vegetable shortening, etc., and Atkins wrote his diet book and said to eat all the meat and fat you wanted, along with eggs. He claimed that these foods did not increase cholesterol.
He warned us about white bread instead of whole grain, and said to limit carbs - the main cause of diabetes, etc...
I used to use Crisco for years and made the best pies. Then, I think, and I am not sure, Crisco changed its ingredients and I did not like it as well. This past holiday season, I bought Crisco again because it had palm oil listed in the ingredients. Sure enough. the crust was good like it used to be. I have no idea when they went to using palm oil again...
hunter
(38,317 posts)... it was "better" living through "science." The marketing was the actual "science;" these products, not so much. The "benefits" of these product were science-y sounding crap from the mouths of shills dressed in lab coats.
Lard never went out of fashion in many ethnic communities, probably because they were not tuned into to white "consumer" culture, and didn't read "Better Housekeeping" and such.
I'm not a huge fan of lard because I avoid factory farm pork. My preferred kitchen fat is olive oil.
One of my favorite foods as a kid was fish & chips cooked in animal fat, usually beef or mutton fat.
I don't think the use of lard ever went out of style in authentic Mexican restaurants. Vegetarians best ask.
tishaLA
(14,176 posts)
mmonk
(52,589 posts)of many of its franchises. Strange since lard can be considered organic.
phylny
(8,380 posts)Maybe that's why her kitchen smelled heavenly.
djean111
(14,255 posts)And french fries fried in beef fat are heavenly.
These fats were pushed out by the chemical artificial nasty - what's the right word - crap.
Bad for you total crap.
jmowreader
(50,559 posts)Vegetable shortening is cheaper than lard and it can be kept in the pantry. Lard at least used to require refrigeration.
Throw in all the convenience foods "made with pure vegetable shortening" and all the restaurant foods "cooked in pure vegetable shortening" and the modern American housewife felt Crisco was the superior fat...never to allow lard to cross the threshold again.
KT2000
(20,583 posts)made the best biscuits and pies.
Think I'll try some in my next pie crust!
Rex
(65,616 posts)Yet 'animal shortening' is still around in some products.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)
Lex
(34,108 posts)Last edited Fri Jan 23, 2015, 08:59 PM - Edit history (1)
It is an eye opener. Most of what I've been taught about fats may very well be flat wrong.
Big Fat Surpise by Nina Teicholz
The information on the link (or non-link) between fats and heart disease is astonishing.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)It makes artery walls sticky, apparently.
Lex
(34,108 posts)I think I read that generally we consume about 29 times more sugar than our great grandparents generation.
Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)They use the real stuff, not that hydrogenated shit that will kill you.
PasadenaTrudy
(3,998 posts)
kentauros
(29,414 posts)
And even without it, I do indeed have a serious kitchen for the doubters.
Now, truly seriously, I thought this thread was going to be about the death of this Lard:
Codeine
(25,586 posts)Exactly what I thought about. Lard were fantastic.
IcyPeas
(21,889 posts)still use it in refried beans, tortilla chips and everything.
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oberliner
(58,724 posts)Down with bread, up with lard!
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)Let me give you a little back story on good ol’ lard.
In the early 1900s, the company Proctor & Gamble were doing pretty well growing & harvesting cotton. The cottonseed, a bothersome byproduct of cotton became so numerous, that Proctor & Gamble decided to see if there was anything–anything they could make from the cottonseed to make a profit.
They found after intense processing — which included heating & pressing — they were able to extract oil. And it cost Proctor & Gamble next to NOTHING to produce it. An easily rancid and unstable fat, the process of hydrogenation was added to make the cottonseed oil last very long. When the cottonseed oil cooled, it looked exactly like lard.
They called it Crisco.
Now, this is a crucial point in our history, folks. Proctor & Gamble’s decision to market and sell cottonseed oil (Crisco) has perhaps caused more physical sickness & suffering than we could probably number. Proctor & Gamble effectively marketed Crisco as a cheaper & “healthier” fat. Lard was touted as unhealthy or smelly. They even gave away free cookbooks with every purchase of Crisco. The cookbooks were full of common recipes, but instead of lard or butter, Crisco was listed as the ingredient. It’s sad really, how successful they were at making people turn away from the traditional use of lard.
Sadly, you probably eat cottonseed oil every single day. Why? Because cottonseed oil is in almost EVERY PACKAGED or PROCESSED food in your store. Chips, cereals, cookies, crackers, breads, salad dressings, mayonnaise, pasta sauces, fast food, soaps, shampoos, conditioners, makeup, lipstick, EVERYTHING. Why? Because it’s CHEAP and it increased their PROFIT!
According to The Atlantic:
“Never before had Procter & Gamble — or any company for that matter — put so much marketing support or advertising dollars behind a product. They hired the J. Walter Thompson Agency, America’s first full service advertising agency staffed by real artists and professional writers. Samples of Crisco were mailed to grocers, restaurants, nutritionists, and home economists. Eight alternative marketing strategies were tested in different cities and their impacts calculated and compared. Doughnuts were fried in Crisco and handed out in the streets. Women who purchased the new industrial fat got a free cookbook of Crisco recipes. It opened with the line, “The culinary world is revising its entire cookbook on account of the advent of Crisco, a new and altogether different cooking fat.” Recipes for asparagus soup, baked salmon with Colbert sauce, stuffed beets, curried cauliflower, and tomato sandwiches all called for three to four tablespoons of Crisco.”
And why is Crisco/cottonseed oil so bad for us, you ask?
Well, for starters cotton is not considered a food crop by the FDA and therefore is NOT regulated on the amount of pesticides that can be sprayed. In fact, more pesticides are sprayed on cotton THAN ANY OTHER CROP.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)People tell it it's pink, and it believes them.
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)Their marketing campaign was a huge success and 2 or 3 generations of Americans are now generally afraid of lard.
Silly. It's healthier than shortening.
And a must for a good pie crust (unless my vegiterian friends are eating).
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)I find olive oil and/or butter do the trick in most meals.
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)Most of my sauteed dishes are with some variation of a reduction of EVOO and sweet butter and then an addition of white wine. Minced garlic added "depending" .
I had olive oil in Florence, Italy that made me want to pour it into a glass and drink it! Dear lord, that was an experience! 
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)(and I'd add onions to boot), you've got yourself a delicious meal. 
I'm envying your Florence olive oil experience. 
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)JI7
(89,252 posts)KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)and palm oil as my alternatives to lard.
And it's hard to argue against those touting how wonderfully crusts and cookies and biscuits turn out using lard.
Coconut oil in those applications does the trick for me, personally.
JanMichael
(24,890 posts)Or people who don't want to pork up and clog their arteries. And so and so on.
Adios crap things made from the torture of animals. Adios.
haele
(12,660 posts)Down here in the SW, manteca (lard) can be purchased pretty near anywhere.
It's not quite dead, but it's not too difficult to find.
Haele
revmclaren
(2,524 posts)You get at the corner market. Most people don't read the ingredients. I like the cherry ones!
braddy
(3,585 posts)Excerpt: "But the best thing about lard is that it’s not bad for you. It has less saturated fat (the bad fat) than butter, while it also has more than twice as much monosaturated fat (the good fat) than butter. And it has none of those pesky trans fats—that is, if it hasn’t been hydrogenated to prolong its shelf life."
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)(except for olive and coconut oil) according to some sources.
daleo
(21,317 posts)Lilyhoney
(1,985 posts)This was the first time I have ever bought the stuff. Morrell Snow Cap lard with BHA. Purchased in the refrigerated section of the store. It did a good job on my old and newer set of cast iron pans.
My mom used it to cook her fried chicken in a long time ago. My friends from the south use it for their biscuits
Otherwise I use butter, olive oil and coconut oil.
yuiyoshida
(41,831 posts)Lard was used to make soap? oh my!
JVS
(61,935 posts)
Silver Swan
(1,110 posts)We raised hogs and we always had a pail of lard in the house.
My mother used it in making pie crust. (I have never attempted to make pie crust, because I know I could not duplicate the ones my mother made.)
We used it to pop popcorn. (We also grew our own popcorn, but that's another story.)
It was great for frying donuts.
There were probably lots of other things we used it for, but I was young then and I don't remember everything.
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)That was the 60s. Funny how unlikely that is these days.
Puglover
(16,380 posts)Lard. Period. Maybe a bit of butter but lard. Anything else is a waste of effort.
LOL I was at Target and asked one of the "associates" where the lard was.
"Like, what is lard like?" God.
