I was talking to my dad the other day about our blueberry harvest, and how I planned to can up all the blueberries (currently in the freezer) when the harvest is complete. I also mentioned how we're going to have to aggressively start using more canned blueberries, since we have so many in the pantry.
"Hmmm, pie," my dad said. "With the piecrust made of lard."
I chuckled over this because I'm a fairly recent convert to lard pie crusts. I had been making pie crusts for decades, but because lard had such a bad reputation, I always used margarine (like that's any healthier?) for the crusts.
But almost exactly ten years ago, I tried using lard for literally the first time, and never looked back. I've used lard for pie crusts ever since.
The lard wars harken back to the attacks on natural fats (lard, butter, tallow, etc.) as being "unhealthy," while their vegetable counterparts were given the green light. However since vegetable fats aren't solid in their natural state, they had to be hydrogenated to create margarine and shortening. Despite this chemical intervention, they were still touted as being healthier than animal fats.
"Lard tragically fell from public favor during the Great War on Monounsaturated Fats in the 20th century," notes this article. "Progressive trans-fats activists launched a bombardment of bad publicity against animal fats starting in the 1950s, often culled from inaccurate sources. Everybody loved lard in the 1960s – yet by the 1980s, nobody dared mention it. Humanity's staple foodstuffs were soon caught in the crossfire: Salt, sugar, eggs, butter and wheat were all savaged as unhealthy over the years. But the times they are a changin'. ... Lard has enjoyed a rebirth in recent years thanks largely to a heroic
band of pig-fat patriots who withstood the bad-news blitzkrieg."
Let's hear it for the "heroic band of pig-fat patriots." They make pie crusts SO much better.
As Chef Emril says, "Pork fat rules!"
ReplyDeleteMargarine isn't even food, is it? It's a strange, yellow dyed "edible" plastic. I'll stick with butter, though, since it is kosher.
ReplyDeleteI use butter also. I have not used, but have heard that bear fat makes better crust than pig fat. If you know anyone that hunts bear, it is a possibility.
DeleteYep! My country lady MIL swore by bear fat for the best pie crusts!
DeleteLard makes an excellent piecrust. But lard fell from favor much earlier, when Crisco was first invented in 1911. In just five years, Americans were annually buying more than 60 million cans of Crisco, the equivalent of three cans for every family in the country. Within a generation, lard went from being a major part of American diets to an old-fashioned ingredient.
ReplyDeleteNot just pie crusts, biscuits also! I buy the leaf fat from a couple that raise pastured pork and render it myself. Then I pig (haha) out on the cracklings.
ReplyDeleteKathy
In regards to pie crusts and such, leaf lard is considered the “ultimate” lard. Of course leaf lard is more expensive and harder to come by than regular lard. Fatworks is a brand of high quality animal fats. We haven’t tried either as we use butter for our crust, but I’ll admit butter doesn’t make the best textured crust. Tasty, but kind of hard.
ReplyDeleteGrew up on piecrusts made with half Crisco half margarine. In high school I switched to half Crisco half butter. After living overseas, I made my final switch to half lard half butter - best texture and taste.
ReplyDeleteCheck the label of lard sold in the grocery stores. The one I looked at had hydrogenated fat in it. Best to buy from a local meat market or farmer.
ReplyDeleteI make my pastry from 50/50 lard and butter, lard gives texture and butter flavour, I try to avoid products with a chemistry shelf of ingredients.
ReplyDeleteI’m really trying to master pie crusts…..my mother could knock them out so quick….she told me I didn’t have “the touch!”. Would you mind sharing your pie crust recipe with us…..I have just found lard…..was told 1/2 lard and 1/2 butter is best but not sure of amounts for a double crust ( or a single thick crust)….i would really appreciate it. My mother used crisco and a tablespoon of sugar….not sure of other amounts.thank you so much if you would share……Karen
ReplyDeleteKaren, see this post for a pie-making tutorial:
Deletehttp://www.rural-revolution.com/2016/11/a-two-crust-pie-making-tutorial.html
- Patrice
My grandmother was known to have the best biscuits around, keeping a big ol' tin of lard handy for just that purpose. She couldn't give you the recipe; she prepared them by "feel".
ReplyDeleteWilliam Smith,
Tennessee
Well I’m curious about this subject, is lard a substitute for shortening and or butter ? If anyone can direct me to a primer about lard it would be greatly appreciated!
ReplyDeleteMy mother kept a ceramic jar on the back of the stove. When she fried bacon she poured the fat in the jar, where it accumulated. This was her source of fat to make pie crusts. She received many compliments over the years on her delicious crusts.
ReplyDeleteDuane
I've been wondering if bacon fat works. I keep mine too, but don't use it as fast as it gets made so I jar it up and keep in the fridge. So nice for cooking steaks and so much more!
DeleteI grew up on lard and tallow and smaltz. I never bought into the seed oil craze. Although unwhitingly, I have consumed my share doing a lot of ambulatory, eat and run, work a day life. That's over now.
ReplyDeleteMy husband makes all the pie crusts for our pies, and he always uses lard. SO MUCH BETTER!
ReplyDeleteXaLynn
Ate pancakes cooked with mountain lion fat last May. Very good. Was very hard . High melting point
ReplyDeleteBackwoods Okie