Curiosity Question - Anyone ever use a larding needle?

I havent used one myself. However my grandmother used one religiously for years. She referred to it as a larding iron though. Its the same thing, just a different name.

SciAggie said:

 Would addition of lard using something like this add "quality" to a lean brisket flat? Would it in effect add artificial marbling and increase one's chances of getting a difficult piece of meat to turn out well?

It would depend on a degree to what means you were trying to reach. As far as adding moisture to a brisket, this is much easier accomplished with a simple injection. Hence the reason that injecting has became so popular. Larding is usually done (that i have seen) to add vegetables to the meat, such as with roasts.  Im sure its used other ways, but here in Dixie vegetables are the main choice. In essence you are basically stuffing lets say a roast with vegetables when larding. Again, my experience with larding is just seeing what my grandmother did with roasts. I have zero hands on experience with it. So to try to answer the question pertaining to larding a brisket, if you used some type of fat it would still be basically the same as an injection. Why? Any fat that you added by larding would simply be sitting in between the muscle fibers. Unlike the natural fat that is grown in the fibers (marbling). Would it help add moisture? Im sure that it would to a degree. However my concern would be did all the little added chunks render away or is some of them still in there. This is why i feel injecting would be the superior choice for moisture over larding when it comes to brisket. The biggest difference being that with injecting you are adding a liquid and with larding you would be adding chunks that you are not sure that you have rendered away. Maybe others who have actually tried it  can offer more my friend. But i feel my guesstimation is probably reasonably accurate.

Completely agree with what SGH said.  It would probably also make for some unsightly slices.  However, you got me thinking, what if you injected some rendered beef fat into a lean brisket flat (probably best midway during the cook)?  Hmmm...  I might have to do some experimenting soon.

Someone at work today asked if I could pass the yolk separator. The what? First time I've seen a yolk separator. I clearly don't bake!