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Barbecue (alt.food.barbecue) Discuss barbecue and grilling--southern style "low and slow" smoking of ribs, shoulders and briskets, as well as direct heat grilling of everything from burgers to salmon to vegetables. |
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In praise of lard...
Amen and Amen. Have said for years all this artificial stuff is not good
for you, when you put a sick of Butter and a stick of margarine on the same plate and the butter melts but the other stays in it's shape, how can that be good for you. "piedmont" > wrote in message ... > Great article about lard, > michael (piedmont) > > August 12, 2005 > High on the Hog > By CORBY KUMMER > Boston > > WHEN the New York City health department asked restaurants to stop serving > food containing trans fats this week, it aroused anxiety in some diners > but joyful anticipation in me. The stage might be set at last for the > comeback of the great misunderstood fat: lard. > > Every baker knows that despite lard's heavy reputation (it is pig fat, > after all), nothing makes a flakier or better-tasting pie crust. Lard also > makes the lightest and tastiest fried chicken: buttermilk, secret spices > and ancient cast-iron skillets are all well and good, but the key to fried > chicken greatness is lard. > > Dainty eaters who pay dearly for prosciutto but leave the ivory-colored > ribbon of fat on the plate infuriate Italians, who know that's where the > flavor and succulence are. Italian food lovers now live for the recently > revived lardo - salt-and-pepper-cured fatback, heaven on bread. > > In the United States though, lard has long been demonized. Whenever I > enter a bakery (and I enter every one I find), I ask if anything is made > with lard. Even in Mexican and Latin American bakeries with > Spanish-spoken-only signs, where the bakers surely know that in their > native countries the most savory empanadas and the airiest tamales rely on > lard, my hopes are usually dashed. > > I recently got lucky at the wonderfully antiquated LeJeune's Bakery in > Jeanerette, La. LeJeune's is famous for its French bread, which in > Louisiana means a puffy white loaf particularly suited to muffalettas - > the Louisiana version of the hero sandwich whose bread is soaked with > olive salad and layered with provolone and meats like salami and ham. I > wasn't surprised to hear the secret of LeJeune's exceptional flavor and > soft but pliant crumb, but I was delighted: lard. The baker proudly led me > to a tub of golden lard he had bought from the farm down the road. I was > looking at a tub of joy. > > But when I went deeper into Cajun country, to bakeries down the highway > from LeJeune's, or asked at restaurants where cooks once swore by lard for > the lightest biscuits and fried catfish, I was met with the same > misbegotten pride: "We only use vegetable fat, it's so much healthier." > > Vegetable shortening, of course, tastes like greasy nothing. And there is > ample evidence, as the city health department knows, that it is anything > but good for you. Vegetable shortening (vegetable oil that is partially > hydrogenated to make it solid - the "trans" in "trans fat") did seem like > a miracle in the early days of industrialized food. Indeed, early in my > mother's marriage when she spent a month making a pie a day to perfect her > crust-making skills, she used the fat she grew up on: Crisco, developed by > industry to mimic the virtues of lard but relieve housewives of the burden > of rendering their own fat. It was useful not just to kosher-keeping cooks > like my mother but to city dwellers, who lived far from a reliable source > of lard (any Italian cook will still tell you that the only trustworthy > lard comes from a pig you know). Crisco could be used solid for baking, or > melted for frying. It didn't need refrigeration, and it was inexpensive. > > Then came the damning conclusions of the first long-range studies of the > national postwar epidemic of heart disease, and the countrywide fear of > saturated fats. Butter, cream and egg yolks were the first to go, to the > heartbreak of cooks just learning the glories of French cuisine, and lard > soon followed. Besides, lard seemed old-fashioned - redolent of poverty > and its companion cuisines. > > Now trans fats are considered the devil, and vegetable shortening is worse > than butter could ever dream of being. After prodding by nutrition > advocates, the Food and Drug Administration has taken the stand that there > is no healthy level of trans fat in the diet, and as of January will > require manufacturers to state the presence of trans fats on every food > label. Now comes the call from Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, New York's health > commissioner, for restaurants to "voluntarily make an oil change and > remove artificial trans fat from their kitchens." What are beleaguered > manufacturers and cooks to do? The loss of trans fats makes things tough. > It makes pastry tough too. > > I have a suggestion for those Old World cooks who are wrestling with New > World advice: take another look at the fat profile of lard. It has half > the level of saturated fat of palm kernel oil (about 80 percent saturated > fat) or coconut oil (about 85 percent) and its approximately 40 percent > saturated fat is lower than butter's nearly 60 percent. Today's miracle, > olive oil, is much lower in saturated fat, as everyone knows, but it does > have some: about 13 percent. As for monounsaturated fat, the current > savior, olive oil contains a saintly 74 percent, yes. But scorned lard > contains a very respectable 45 percent monounsaturated fat - double > butter's paltry 23 or so percent. > > As with all dietary advice, the fat of the day will change. But eternal > truths will remain: food is always best with little or no processing and > eaten as close as possible to where it is grown. This goes for lard, too. > The artisan pig farmers whose fortunes have been revived by a new market > for pork with real flavor should look into selling lard because the > supermarket kind is processed and dismal. And Dr. Frieden's request may > produce a burgeoning metropolitan market. > > The health department is suggesting alternative oils including olive oil > and neutral oils like peanut, sunflower and cottonseed. Olive oil is a > true gift of nature, of course, and good for anything on a grill or from > the garden. But when it comes to cherry pie or fried chicken or French > fries, excessive reliance on these oils has the potential to clear both > arteries and restaurants. Chefs and short-order cooks can do everyone a > favor - even the guardians of the public health - by reaching for the fat > that everyone knows tastes the best: lard. > > Corby Kummer is a senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly. |
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In praise of lard...
"Granby" > wrote:
> Amen and Amen. Have said for years all this artificial stuff is not good > for you, when you put a sick of Butter and a stick of margarine on the > same plate and the butter melts but the other stays in it's shape, how > can that be good for you. > "piedmont" > wrote in message > [ . . . ] Apparently, the best pig lard is from Bob & Ginger's in GA. Big Jim can tell ya more. Sheep suet (surrounds the kidneys) for the Haggis. For Fish & Chips, I quote Graeme Walker: "The only advice I can pass on is this. Fry everything in beef dripping [Nick note: fat]. "Just dripping? Only dripping!" Beef dripping is everything, in terms of both chemistry and gastronomy. Only animal fat burns hot enough to seal the batter instantly into a light crisp coat. Inside, the fish doesn't fry - it steams itself in its own hermetic juiciness." Someone highly recommended horse tallow for something, but I don't remember who or for what. I like pan frying in bacon fat or in EVOO and butter, about 2:1. -- Nick, KI6VAV. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families: https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/ Thank a Veteran! Support Our Troops: http://anymarine.com/ You are not forgotten. Thanks ! ! ~Semper Fi~ USMC 1365061 |
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In praise of lard...
On 11-Jul-2009, Nick Cramer > wrote: > "Granby" > wrote: > > Amen and Amen. > > "piedmont" > wrote in message > > [ . . . ] > > Apparently, the best pig lard is from Bob & Ginger's in GA. Big Jim can > tell ya more. Bob and Ginger produce raw pure hog lard as a natural result of hog butchering. Their business is high end retail pork production on a limited scale. Their lard is pure filtered (only) pork fat. It's as good as it gets. .. . . > > I like pan frying in bacon fat or in EVOO and butter, about 2:1. > > -- > Nick, I too favor bacon fat when I have enough or EVOO and butter. If it's going to kill me, it better hurry up because I'm already past 72. -- Brick (Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people's money. Magaret Thatcher, 5 Feb 1976) |
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