Lard is Good

According to today's Slate, lard is good for you. Pretty nifty.

Ronna

I'd heard that this is true only for home-processed lard - the sticks of manteca at the grocery store are hydrogenated and might as well be trans-fat (the stuff that's good for you isn't lily-white in color.) I remember years ago, Zarelia Martinez with Julia Child talking about how the hydrogenation was what made it bad for you, that homemade contains oleic acid just like olive oil.

Once again, the most prescient words of dialogue in motion picture history:

Dr. Melik: This morning for breakfast he requested something called "wheat germ, organic honey and tiger's milk."
Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.
Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or... hot fudge?
Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy... precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.
Dr. Melik: Incredible.

—Sleeper, 1973

Mhays wrote:I'd heard that this is true only for home-processed lard - the sticks of manteca at the grocery store are hydrogenated and might as well be trans-fat (the stuff that's good for you isn't lily-white in color.) I remember years ago, Zarelia Martinez with Julia Child talking about how the hydrogenation was what made it bad for you, that homemade contains oleic acid just like olive oil.

If making lard myself outta the pig in the freezer means that I can eat it without feeling guilty, I'm game.

Ronna

Plus it's cheap. And you smell like piecrust - what's not to like?

REB wrote:According to today's Slate, lard is good for you. Pretty nifty.

Ronna

Articles like this annoy me because there really isn't anything new here. If you google "lard", the second hit is a 2005 article from Food and Wine that makes essentially the same point as the Slate article. Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen (1996) makes the exact points as well.

Lard has less saturated fat and more unsaturated fats than butter. But it has about 25 percent more total calories (100g of lard has 902 calories; 100g of butter has 717 calories). Lard that has been hydrogenated (or partially hydrogenated) to make it stable at room temperature contains transfats, which are not good for you.

So, it is best to get freshly rendered lard. Most Mexican grocery stores carry freshly rendered lard - called manteca de puerco or manteca de cerdo. Some may only have it on weekends. Ask at the meat counter. Mexican-style lard tends to have a roasted aroma that reminds me of fried chicken. This roasted flavor in Mexican-style lard means that it isn't ideal for pie crusts and other baked goods.

I agree with the sentiment above. Why is lard's moment finally here? Isn't this old news?

Slate wrote:After decades of trying, its moment is finally here.....If Mario Batali says it's good, diners everywhere listen.

(emphasis mine)
I had a lardo pizza at Otto, Mario Batali's pizzeria in New York almost a decade ago. Mario was saying lard was good for you back then. Apparently Regina Schrambling wasn't listening.

Mmmm...lard. I have my not-at-all-afraid-of-fat French mother to thank for my lifelong love and liberal use of lard. I never gave it up in the first place.

I've purchased some really lovely lard at Paulina in the past, but haven't noticed it recently. Do they still carry it?

Ursiform wrote:Mmmm...lard. I have my not-at-all-afraid-of-fat French mother to thank for my lifelong love and liberal use of lard. I never gave it up in the first place.

I've purchased some really lovely lard at Paulina in the past, but haven't noticed it recently. Do they still carry it?

Last time I asked (perhaps 6 months ago?), the only pork lard they had was the hydrogenated stuff from Armour. They did have freshly rendered duck and goose fat, if I recall. I've been meaning to ask if they ever have freshly rendered pork lard, and also ask some of the farmers market vendors who sell pork.

The thing you'd have to do is buy back fat and then render it yourself (which isn't hard*). I will say, though, that there's a big flavor difference between home-rendered commercial fat, with its industrial pork stinky flavor, and rendered naturally-raised pig fat, which is very clean in taste and smell.

* Cut into inch squares. Cover with a little water. Cook at a medium-low heat for a couple of hours; better to take longer at a lower heat than get a burnt flavor. When it's little teeny cracklings and lots of golden lard, you're done. Let cool to a temperature where you can handle it, and strain into vat with an inch or so of water in it. Let cool; most remaining impurities should sink into the water while the fat should rise. Remove block of fat, melt down and pour into jars and freeze. With leaf lard for pies, I also pour some into popsicle molds which I know hold the amount (6 tbsp) I use in a typical pie crust.

"Lard is Good for You" is also the title of an essay in the 2000 edition of Best American Travel Writing.

Mike,

Do you use fatback from Paulina or from another source? I had also heard that the fat from around the kidneys? (might have been another organ) had the least "porky" essence...any first hand knowledge or thoughts?

Yeah, a lot of firsthand experience in this thread* and this one.

Initially I bought fatback and leaf lard (the kidney fat you speak of) from Paulina, but now I get it as part of an order for pork bellies as described in the make your own bacon thread, or most recently, Vital Information gave me a bunch of backfat from the pig whose head is depicted here, which I made into lardo, mostly.

* Sorry the pics vanished, some of my earliest pics were stored on a friend's server before Flickr came along. I'll restore them over time.

I purchased a product from Canada called Tenderflake. This is a non-hydrogenated pure lard.
Wasn't sure it would make it through customs, but it seems bringing in pounds of lard is not a problem.
I plan to make pie crust with it - will report on the results.

Jyoti

Of course, immediately upon seeing this, I googled it - yes, you can only get it in Canada, but apparently tenderflake has spawned a cottage industry in vintage tins. Bummer.

I've been making my own lard for a few years now, using the procedure in Jeffrey Steingarten's "The Man Who Ate Everything." It's fantastic - makes the most amazing pastry and fried foods of all kinds; combined with an equal amount of butter, it gives you ethereally light, crispy roast potatoes. Homemade lard is nothing like the store-bought stuff - it's opalescent and creamy, not chalky white & waxy. Like Steingarten, I throw in a few cloves and a cinnamon stick, which makes it smell and taste even better. I get the pork fat at Peoria Packing, though I've been looking for an organic source.

NOTE: Don't take it out of the oven as soon as the fat is melted; let it stay in until it's light gold for better flavor. Make it at least 3 days before you plan to use it to let it settle. When you're close to the end of the batch, you'll probably find a thin layer of tiny cracklins embedded in the lard at the bottom of the container you use - this is great for soup.

nr706 wrote:I agree with the sentiment above. Why is lard's moment finally here? Isn't this old news?

Slate wrote:After decades of trying, its moment is finally here.....If Mario Batali says it's good, diners everywhere listen.

(emphasis mine)
I had a lardo pizza at Otto, Mario Batali's pizzeria in New York almost a decade ago. Mario was saying lard was good for you back then. Apparently Regina Schrambling wasn't listening.

Shocking that Batali would lack credibility in discussing issues related to health.

I purchased a product from Canada called Tenderflake. This is a non-hydrogenated pure lard.
Wasn't sure it would make it through customs, but it seems bringing in pounds of lard is not a problem.
I plan to make pie crust with it - will report on the results.

I brought 2 tubs back from Canada. Can't wait to make a pie with it, and will do so shortly. Mmmmmmmm.......lard.

Upon reading this, I walked the two short blocks to our neighborhood Marché Richelieu and sure enough! there was the stack of Tenderflake pkgs right in amongst the other baking items. TODG, who does the baking in the family, can't wait to do some biscuits.

Who knew?

Geo