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Nancy Young

<Alan > wrote

> On Sat, 16 Dec 2006 08:22:12 -0500, "Nancy Young"
> > wrote:

>>I will say that I did know about lard and piecrusts. I don't know if
>>from here, or from my ex mil? I forget. The concept seemed strange
>>to me, animal products in, say, an apple pie, but I have heard that.

> Remember that it is only in the last century that there was
> any substitute for naturally occurring fats. Lard was the
> only pure fat available to most people. And butter was the
> only, er, butter that was available to most people.

By the time I came along, no lard, and there was that margarine.

Here's what I grew up knowing about lard. Someone fat was
a lardass or a tub of lard. No, I didn't call anyone that, I just
mean those were the uses of the word lard I'd heard of.

> Farmers always used lard and butter because that's all there
> was. And they were sold in cities for the same reason.
>
> Margarine only began to be popular after/during WW II, and
> faced lots of resistance from the dairy lobby. I remember
> that, for example, you couldn't sell margarine that was
> colored yellow. You got a transparent pouch of white
> margarine, with a little yellow "pill" of yellow dye that
> you could break, and then knead through the margarine to
> make it yellow!

I have heard of that. Dairy lobby must have been overruled
at some point, because I don't remember any white margarine.

> Vegetable fats are a fairly recent invention, but in the few
> generations that they have been used, most people have
> forgotten (or never learned about) lard.

It's true.

> It is a classic truth that pastries made with lard are the
> flakiest and tenderest of all. Considering that this would
> only make up a small part of a person's fat intake, perhaps
> we should return to using lard -- it is probably healthier
> than trans fats, and it certainly makes better pastries!

I am with you on that, though perhaps not for bread.

(sorry, I didn't realize this thread was crossposted until just now)

nancy