Sorry, Alibey. I guess you are definitely in a lard-free zone there. It’s hard to imagine fried foods prepared in goat fat. [And yes, I do realize that most frying/sauteing is probably done in olive or palm oil over there, but where I come from if it’s fried in vegatable oil, it would be better fried in animal fat.]
That’s one thing I just don’t comprehend about Islam. I can see where one would find pigs unclean, but have you ever smelled a goat?
I think it has to do with the Socialist tendencies in society and government in Western Europe and California(Northern CA and LA County, anyway).
Must be a California thing. In the south, it’s right next to the shortening and cooking oil. It’s usually not as prominently displayed, since no major brand that I know of markets lard anymore, but it’s there all the same.
Oooh Athena… no offense intended there.
But, I’ve heard them talk about it as a real treat when they were growing up. Both sides of the wife’s family are Yoopers in origin and both were/are LARGE families. St. Ignace and Stephenson, specifically.
The thought of a lard sandwich just frightens me though. However I agree a Pastie w/o lard is just wrong! Falls along the line of not using an all-beef dog for a Chicago Style Hot Dog.
Note to the Lard-Curious in New York:
I found it refrigerated, in the meat section (up above the pork). This would be necessary, no? Wouldn’t it melt at room temperature, like butter?
It was packaged by the fine folks at Armour. Did you know that the patriarch of the Armour clan is buried in high style up in Woodlawn Cemetery, the grand necropolis in the Bronx? The tomb features a dome of an odd pinkish-brownish stone, which some have compared to the color of liverwurst.
So, post number one by yous truely is about lard. How’s that for a promising intro?
So, the deal here, Ike, is not to hide your illegal pork products from your wife’s attention, but to change your surreptitious fat use into a selfless act of devotion.
Answer: make her soap from the leftovers. pretty soap with lavender in it or something. this might help you out: http://users.silverlink.net/~timer/soapinfo.html
You made me cry. I’m a former Okie in South Carolina–which you’d think would be the heart of southern cooking–and I can’t get a good chicken-fry to save my life. Honest to goodness, the closest thing is at Chili’s. Ain’t that a shame? I used to eat at Ann’s 3 or 4 times a week. Take a short drive to Edmond, just north of 2nd and Broadway, and try Around the Corner, but do it twice; sometimes they have a new cook. But the waitresses are great, and you don’t have to ask to have your tea unsweetened (another southern thing–they put about 14 lbs. of sugar in tea here). There also (used to be? It’s been 4 years) a good drive in at Britton and Western.
See my soon-to-be-posted mexican food thread.
…about a girl I once dated whose father and brothers loved to eat the coagulated bacon grease left over from Sunday breakfasts. They’d scoop it up and lick it off a spoon, much the way same people might eat peanut butter.
Ugh
Yer killin’ me! Having moved from Oklahoma City 4 years ago to the deep south, I’m dying for some Tex-mex–even El Chico sucks worse than normal here. Does Little Flower Cathedral still do its booth at the fair? I haven’t had a tamale worth crapping on since 1996.
I’ll give Chicago it’s props for steak. But here in the South, they think that “aged beef” is old and rancid. If it ain’t fresh off the cow, it must be bad. I’d kiss anyone who sent me a steak from Cattleman’s or Eddie’s. Oh, god, for Eddie’s prime rib and hummus…
Damn, now I have to go masturbate 
If you go camping, and have lard, a campfire, a tin can, and a bit of water, you can make quite a fire hazard.
You put the lard in a tin can, put it into the fire (open end up), and wait until it is flaming. From a safe distance (this is the tricky bit) get some water in the can. The water flashes into steam, and sends a plume of flaming lard into the air. I hear it is quite spectacular.
Try coating various chocolate snack bars in batter and deep frying them in lard.
This is done quite a lot in Scotland with Mars bars(I think you call them Milky Way - and these are totally differant to our Milky Ways)
They are very popular but then so are heart attacks too, Glasgow is reckoned to be the heart attack capitol of the world.
Thank you, sewalk, for mentioning that the South includes most of Texas (Houston doesn’t count either).
Lard is quite, quite solid at room temperature. Back home (San Antonio) it is sold in 5 gallon buckets. Seriously.
Lard is good. Proof: Salma Hayek.
Nothing is superior to lard for seasoning a frying pan. The high smoking temperature of lard ensures that the grain of the cast iron will be opened as far as possible during the seasoning process.
I’ll probably get lambasted (now there’s a perfect cooking reference!) for it, but I’m gonna post a chicken fried steak recipe over at my Ultimate Recipe Thread. Feel free to critique it as needed. Just don’t get all pitty on me.
It’s very simple where I live: aside from the beans, you need the lard to make your Christmas biscochitos. I’m a vegetarian for the rest of the year, but the only way to make an honest-to-goodness, authentic, RIGHT biscochito is with lard, so I’m in the store buying it every December. Around here, you have several brands to choose from, and none of them are hidden in any way.
Here’s a recipe for New Mexico’s official (yes, official - we also have an official state QUESTION, God help us) cookie:
6 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1 lb. (2 cups) lard
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp anise seeds
2 eggs
1/4 c brandy
1/4 c sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon (I use slightly more cinnamon, but then I like cinnamon a lot)
Sift flour with baking powder & salt. Cream lard with sugar and anise seeds until fluffy (if you’re at high altitude, make it VERY fluffy). Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix in flour and brandy until well blended. Turn dough out on floured board and pat or roll to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into shapes, dust with mixture of sugar and cinnamon. Bake 10 minutes at 350 F or until browned.
Give one to your wife without telling her what kind of shortening you used. You’ll have a lard convert in no time.
Oy, stofsky, I feel your pain! I long ago realized that I can’t move anywhere without Mexican food. Even in this fairly small city, there’s at least a half-dozen good Mexican restaurants. Tex-Mex, SantaFe-Mex, Mexican-Mex. And even the mediocre restaurants (El Chico, shudder, you poor thing) are edible.
I went to Tampa once. A friend from OK developed serious Mex cravings (we used to eat Mex together once or twice a week) and took me to the best Mex restaurant in Tampa. I swear they’d opened a Patio TV dinner and microwaved it on a plate. For $10!!! (At the time, I could get a LARGE Mexican dinner plus drink and tip for $5-$6 in Okla.) That’s when I learned the ghastly truth - there are places in this country that stumble along without Mexican food!!!
Maybe you could get relatives to send you care packages of ingredients and make your own? FedEx runs refrigerated shipping cartons overnight…
It’s a little hard to tell from the photo, but I think Mr. Armour’s tomb is faced with granite. If I get the chance sometime soon, I’ll go take a look. (I grew up just a few blocks away. )
Zenster, I remember all too well my German dad telling me of his glory days eating bacon fat sandwiches. The closest he gets to that these days is the very occasional sandwich made with “paprika speck” (essentially, smoked bacon with a very low meat:fat ratio, coated with paprika); he only gets it after a long, hard campaign to wear down my mother’s resolve not to have it in the house. 
Actually, beef suet makes the VERY best french fries, by far.
You jest, yet in point of fact, the lightest, flakiest, most delicious pie crust possible will be made from lard, or lard and butter combined.
Lard just seems gross when you think about it. As you will discover, it is no more offensive than any solid fat. ANyone who would find Crisco disgusting is justified in finding lard disgusting, but if you can handle Crisco, then it’s merely psychological.
I have read and laughed and enjoyed this thread thoroughly. Especially the Happy lard Eater links. Oh, and the Emily Latella style Praise The Lard post.
What I have noticed, though, is that there are no raging vegans yelling at anyone about porcine rights.
Not one.
Not that this is a baaad thing… I just find it interesting.
As others have mentioned, lard is solid at room temperature. It melts at about 110°F. Unlike ordinary butter, lard is almost pure fat and will not go bad even after long storage. (Butter contains a small amount of protein and other things that shorten shelf life). BTW, in New England, I find lard next to the Crisco.
If Lard was bad would Jello Biafra have had a band named after the aforementioned product?
Aside from that glowing endorsment anything that makes you happy upon consumption is good. Happieness and healthiness are linked, so one contributes to the other. Being miserable and eating Vegies is worse for you than being happy and greasing your palate with Lard.
Please note that this has little scientific backing and the happieness equals health comment was based upon equally nutritous foodstuffs where one was enjoyed and the other not. This should only be used to win arguements with health nuts.
Another point- in most cases you crave food that contains the nutrients you need provided you have had that food frequently in the past. If you crave lard obviously you must require the energy and long term warmth that is its gift.
Sweet Jesus I love fried food…