Comebacks we'd like to see: #22 -- Lard in pastry
Filed under: Food
This post is part of our series ranking the top 25 bygone products and trends we'd like to see return.
Neither my husband nor my eldest son will eat pie crust. As I believe my talents in the pie department are at least an A-, it's my theory that the vast majority of today's pies have so disappointed the two that they're helplessly pessimistic, certain that every pie is encased in the same rubbery, tasteless mess. Rather than suffer through such a simpering shell, they dig out the middle.
If only the first pie they'd eaten had been made with lard.
My mother made pie crusts with lard when I was a girl, and I grew up with the firm belief that there was no better part of the pie than the crust. I can recall vividly arguing with my siblings over who would get the piece with the sloppiest-hanging-over-the-edges-iest portion of flaky pastry. Pie experts know that lard "makes the flakiest, most flavorful crust known to man." It's due to the chemistry of lard's lipids, which form unusually large crystals.
Worried about lard's unhealthy reputation? First, you shouldn't be eating enough pie so that it's an enormous portion of your diet, anyway. But second, it's a rich dietary source of Vitamin D, and is actually only 40% saturated fat; 50% is the healthy monounsaturated fat. So if you can find a good source of lard without additives, a good pie crust with lard can make a comeback in your kitchen.
And maybe mine too. Now if I can just coax my husband to try a bite...
What home cooked foods do you remember best?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-17-2008 @ 4:20AM
Rich C. said...
Lard also makes the best french fries. Any place you go now, you have to eat the fries within 30 seconds, or they turn to mush.
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5-16-2008 @ 7:49PM
Jimmie Lindsey said...
Yep, fries, chips, any "crust", well it is hardly worth the intake of calories or my time. And of course, the reduction of salt in everything... even peanuts are just bland. Doesn't seem to matter if you choose the "full strength" type of not, it just doesn't have the same flavor. Then throw in the evil sugar... if I can't have a real coke, "sweet tea", candy that tickles my taste buds, well, just forget it. I will do with out. UGH! Lord save me from desperately sensitive folks. What happened to choices? Gone the way of many enjoyable things we took for granted.
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5-17-2008 @ 10:18AM
Annette said...
I agree..it makes the BEST crust. My friend every Easter would make this fabulous 'pie'..a dozen eggs, a pound of ziti, salami, sausages and other dried meat would be mixed. Then in a huge pot the the handles had been removed from, lined with a lard crust. Baked, inverted, cooled and devoured.
When I asked her for the recipe recently, she added..it's made with lard and who needs that! I never got the recipe... but it was the absolute best ever crust!
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5-20-2008 @ 12:35PM
PeanutsFan said...
oh... lard!! not sure if it IS as bad as people make out-- after all, both sets of my grandparents used lard every day and only one died in their late 70s, the others were all close to 90 or over 90!
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6-08-2008 @ 9:53PM
Wolfster said...
Yes, lard makes the best pie crust. And tallow makes the best french fries. We were suckered by the fake food industry into discarding these healthy fats. Now when you can even find them, they've left us with only chemical- and antibiotic-laden versions of the pure fats that used to be so good for our bodies. Find the real thing and use it; your body will thank you with good health.
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6-16-2008 @ 1:10PM
mmsmarjar said...
My Mom SWORE by lard - said it was the only thing that could make crust actuaoly have layers. I just remembering it from a small child and my father saying "you've got to get rid of that lard", and my Mom professing back even louder "oh no I don't - not if you want a decent pie"... she always won out because Dad LOVED her pies... they were the ultimate.
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7-13-2008 @ 6:05AM
Delores said...
Yeah... I have to wonder how lard can be so bad for you..... my mom died last year at eighty.... and that was From Lou Gehrigs.... nothing to do with what she ate. Her mom was 101 when she died. and all her brothers and sisters died at 90 or above or still going strong in their eightys . Oh yeah and by the way... they all were raised on lard and still use it.... and all just die healthy in their sleep.
My mom bug bombed her house to much... and lived by orchards that sprayed.... even with Lou Gehrigs she lived eight years longer than the doctors said she would.... it must of been all the lard she used
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7-15-2008 @ 12:09PM
LIONEL said...
NO WONDER PASTRY TASTES LIKE CRAP ANYMORE, I DON`T BUY , ANYMORE , THOUGH !
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7-16-2008 @ 1:48AM
kate said...
lard is disgusting.besides being from a pig, which is disgusting, its bad for ur health and isnt even kosher. hope it never comes back
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7-21-2008 @ 12:36PM
Anne said...
My husband and I have been married for over 50 years, and have raised six children and have 15 grandchildren. We all have eaten very good meals made from all the best vegetables and meats and breads. I used all the "wrong" kinds of oil, lard and hydrogenated shortening. I never cut back on sugar, salt, butter or anything else which made the food TASTE BETTER. I didn't have problems getting my family to EAT THE FOOD. Today, I have a hard time getting the items I WANT TO USE, to prepare my meals, and when I use WHAT I CAN GET, the taste is not the same, and the result is that my family doesn't have the APPETITE for eating that I have seen in them in the past. I HATE BEING FORCED TO EAT WHAT ''OTHERS'' WANT TO EAT. My family is all very healthy, with no heart or cholesterol problems. Not one is ''overweight", in spite of the fact that they are not "exercise nuts'' either. We are all active, healthy and happy and I would like to keep it that way. My mother and mother-in-law lived into their late eighties and ate eggs by the dozens, salt, lard and sugar and ''white flour'', as well as a good diet of vegetables and home grown chicken, beef, and pork. Give me back the right to "choose'' what to eat!
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