I am convinced, Lard is the best cooking oil

fletcherfam

So in my continued pursuit of cooking experiments I bought some backfat from a local butcher ($1.09/lb). I rendered it in the crockpot over night (super easy). We have been cooking with it in our cast iron pans since then and it has made the best non-stick surface. It has a real high temp smoking temperature. It makes amazing refried beans, and it is dirt cheap.

My next adventure is to make some pie crust from the leaf lard I made in my second batch.

#Lardrules!

JT

Skiddymarker

Makes a lot of sense doesn’t it. Home rendered lard was probably one of the few oils around when everyone cooked on a wood stove and all the “pots and pans” were CI. They were made for each other. Lately have found a source for pastured pork, must ask them for some fat. How did sourcing the fat for the leaf lard go? 

nolaegghead

Different oils/fats are best for different purposes  Lard would be a little weird in salad dressing, but I appreciate your point - it tastes delicious.

DoubleEgger

A southern staple.....

Mickey

Sure as hell worked for out parents and theirs and theirs etc.  

fishlessman

nolaegghead said:

Different oils/fats are best for different purposes  Lard would be a little weird in salad dressing, but I appreciate your point - it tastes delicious.

bacon fat vinaigrette is delicous, just have to choose your lard wisely just like any cooking oil

Zmokin

Is lard, more or less the same thing as bacon fat?  I save my bacon fat from frying bacon and it is one of my "go to" cooking oils.  another one I like a lot is peanut oil, which is my "go to" oil for stir frying.

nolaegghead

fishlessman said:

nolaegghead said:

Different oils/fats are best for different purposes  Lard would be a little weird in salad dressing, but I appreciate your point - it tastes delicious.

bacon fat vinaigrette is delicous, just have to choose your lard wisely just like any cooking oil

Yes, we do a German version of that and it's delicious

Zmokin said:

Is lard, more or less the same thing as bacon fat?  I save my bacon fat from frying bacon and it is one of my "go to" cooking oils.  another one I like a lot is peanut oil, which is my "go to" oil for stir frying.

My understanding is lard is animal fat.

nolaegghead

After looking it up, it's pig fat.

DoubleEgger

Duck fat is the hot thing right now. Give it a try

tarheelmatt

Zmokin said:

Is lard, more or less the same thing as bacon fat?  I save my bacon fat from frying bacon and it is one of my "go to" cooking oils.  another one I like a lot is peanut oil, which is my "go to" oil for stir frying.

Yes and no.  Lard is un-processed fat.  Bacon has been cured/smoked, etc.  

Edit: Just noticed Nola answered.  Whoops

GATraveller

Fries cooked in duck fat..........yummmmmm!!!

blind99

the stuff in the supermarket is hydrogenated, bleached, etc to make it a nice consistent product.  kind of like pig crisco.

leaf lard is made from the fat around the kidney.  it makes even better pie crusts than the regular supermarket lard, but definitely costs more.

Zmokin

tarheelmatt said:

Zmokin said:

Is lard, more or less the same thing as bacon fat?  I save my bacon fat from frying bacon and it is one of my "go to" cooking oils.  another one I like a lot is peanut oil, which is my "go to" oil for stir frying.

Yes and no.  Lard is un-processed fat.  Bacon has been cured/smoked, etc.  

Edit: Just noticed Nola answered.  Whoops

OK, so I'm cooking with cured lard.  works for me

fletcherfam

@nolaegghead, yea I agree with you on it's uses. Overall though, frying, cooking in general it has been great. Cheaper than almost any other good cooking oil.

Lard = rendered pig fat
Tallow = rendered cow fat.

fletcherfam

Carnitas cooked in lard from "Tacolicious" cook book = amazing.

njl

I've been saving and cooking with my bacon fat for years. More recently it occurred to me, bacon is the cheapest way to light the egg. I.e. When I cook bacon, I put it on a paper towel to absorb some of the excess fat. I now save those paper towels in a ziplock in the fridge as egg lighters.  

thegooddocta

My go to fat is ghee (since I'm one of the poor souls cursed with severe lactose intolerance) - love that unadulterated butter taste! There's a great RI ghee producer called Farmers Gold that I pick up 32oz jars from. If I get to 250 posts in time, I'll see if I can get a jar into the sauce and rub swap. It's an egging and cooking in general essential for me!

Roadpuke0

Nothing like breaded rabbit or squirrel deep fried in lard. Just does something different to it.

MunchkinRedux

Roadpuke0 said:

Nothing like breaded rabbit or squirrel deep fried in lard. Just does something different to it.

I was gonna say:  try adding some lard to your fried chicken cooking oil - delicious results!

ChillyWillis

thegooddocta said:

My go to fat is ghee (since I'm one of the poor souls cursed with severe lactose intolerance) - love that unadulterated butter taste! There's a great RI ghee producer called Farmers Gold that I pick up 32oz jars from. If I get to 250 posts in time, I'll see if I can get a jar into the sauce and rub swap. It's an egging and cooking in general essential for me!

I live in southern MA but all of my family is from RI and we spend a ton of time down there (in Charlestown specifically). Where can I pick up some of this Farmers gold Ghee? I've never heard of the company but always am interested in checking out high quality local goods. 

thegooddocta

@ChillyWillis - whoops it's actually "Farm to Gold". Here's their Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/FarmtoGold?refsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FFarmtoGold . They sell it at a number of farmers markets (I usually pick it up on the weekends in North Kingstown) and they announce where they're going to be on their FB page, but they'll also ship it if you message them on FB. Nice to see that there's another relatively local egghead!

travisstrick

http://youtu.be/Rdtx4LTs10M

paqman

thegooddocta said:

My go to fat is ghee (since I'm one of the poor souls cursed with severe lactose intolerance) - love that unadulterated butter taste! There's a great RI ghee producer called Farmers Gold that I pick up 32oz jars from. If I get to 250 posts in time, I'll see if I can get a jar into the sauce and rub swap. It's an egging and cooking in general essential for me!

+1

It is commercially available here as "beurre de cuisson".  Clarified butter/cooking butter.  It is easy to make your own.

To me, that's one of the secrets of good cooking.  For those who don't know, you can cook hot and for long with it and it won't become dark like regular butter does.

Botch

njl said:

I've been saving and cooking with my bacon fat for years. More recently it occurred to me, bacon is the cheapest way to light the egg. I.e. When I cook bacon, I put it on a paper towel to absorb some of the excess fat. I now save those paper towels in a ziplock in the fridge as egg lighters.  

What a great idea!  
I too cook with saved bacon fat a lot, it makes fantastic red chile enchiladas.  
Now I'm hungry again.