Any reason to use lard instead of other oils.

[Jade Emperor]

@pictonguy is spot on. Confit is a beautiful method for cooking, and the oil/fat is a very important ingredient here.
I use lard in my pastry, mostly, but there are English dishes like scouse where I think it is needed to get the authentic flavour.
I think of lard the same way I think of ghee. I need ghee to come across in my Indian dishes just like I need lard to come across when I am going for traditional UK food. Brushing my joint of lamb with olive oil is not going to happen.

 

[taxlady]

Not something I would suggest you do. I do strain it and keep bacon fat in a container in the fridge for times where I want a bacon flavor.

I make a bean dish where I saute onion and garlic in bacon fat, add chopped rosemary then smoked whole plum tomatoes and let that breakdown for a few minutes, add a little white wine and reduce that then add white beans and simmer and I'll smash about a 1/3 for added texture. For vegetarian ghee or butter works well and for vegan, extra virgin olive oil.

Is there a reason you wouldn't suggest toasting bread in bacon fat?

 

[pictonguy]

Is there a reason you wouldn't suggest toasting bread in bacon fat?

No, nothing specifically wrong with it. Calories mostly.

 

[georgevan]

Yeah, but my grandma on my dad's side used it daily in all of her cooking. She lived to be nearly 90. Maybe she could have added 5-10 years to her life if she had a more heart-healthy diet, but she loved cooking and eating delicious food!

Also, they worked their buns off back then from sunrise to sunset.

 

[Jusa]

Also, they worked their buns off back then from sunrise to sunset.

True, she had an organic garden out in her backyard and free range chickens. She would take egg shells and coffee grinds out there and bury them.

 

[JustinJames]

Lard is often recommended in recipes due to its unique ability to impart a rich flavor and excellent texture to dishes. It has a high smoke point, making it great for frying and baking, and it adds a distinct savory taste that enhances the overall flavor profile of various foods.

 

[medtran49]

You can confit with sous vide as well. Uses less oil or duck fat or lard, and comes with built in storage, the sous vide bag.

 

[Jade Emperor]

I think lard is the victim of the margarine campaign.
For those of us who are old enough to remember, margarine was the superpower product! Guaranteed to lower cholesterol, downright so healthy and tasted just like butter!!! Everyone wins!
Except it wasn’t.
Margarine is a complex chemical compound which has a sickly pinkish colour and has a shirtload of other compounds added to it before it arrives as an acceptable substitute for butter, which is just really cow’s milk churned.
Over the years, studies have shown that butter is not such the bad guy, and margarine is definitely not the answer.
To me, lard is brought along here.

 

[pictonguy]

I think lard is the victim of the margarine campaign.
For those of us who are old enough to remember, margarine was the superpower product! Guaranteed to lower cholesterol, downright so healthy and tasted just like butter!!! Everyone wins!
Except it wasn’t.
Margarine is a complex chemical compound which has a sickly pinkish colour and has a shirtload of other compounds added to it before it arrives as an acceptable substitute for butter, which is just really cow’s milk churned.
Over the years, studies have shown that butter is not such the bad guy, and margarine is definitely not the answer.
To me, lard is brought along here.

While your sentiment is shared by many people, especially ones that have done research on nutrition I think timeline is important. Crisco was a commodity that was to replace the more expensive products of lard and butter, which both were in short supply and expensive after the war. Originally, hydrogenation was invented for candle making and cosmetics but because it resembled lard P&G (proctor & gamble) thought they might do well selling it as a food and had no idea about cholesterol, nobody did, or how it may effect human physiology, or at least that is what is thought and I'd say that's probably for the most part, true.

Ansel Keys lipid hypothesis of the 50's is still believed till this day and many organizations have supported it from the beginning and it wouldn't now be in their best interest to tell people they've been wrong for over 60 years so they try and maintain the status quo in spite of the research that's been in direct conflict from the very beginning. The other hypothesis at the time was sugar by Dr. John Ludkin. Keys won over the McGovern committee and already had his foot in the door with Keys instrumental in the WW2 K-ration and was very politically influential and could sell sand in the middle east apparently, lol, which all spawned the first USDA food pyramid. Fortunately it's not up to anyone in particular to judge because absolutely everything comes out in the wash, which it has and will continue to do and sugar, refined carbs and the low carb and low fat diet isn't aging very well as purposed by the USDA along with the American population and any population that comes into contact with that diet. The tale will continue to unfold without the rhetoric in the long run. imo

 

[Jade Emperor]

@pictonguy - thank you for your reply, which hits me right on the fascination button.
It is very true that cost had a huge impact on the upswing of margarine consumption. I kind of think of it in a similar way as the all-encompassing microwave cookbooks of the early eighties, where they gushed about how you could do an entire family roast dinner in your brand new $1000 microwave oven!
I truly hope nobody here has attempted this.
Likewise, as you pointed out, the miracle low-fat, low-carb, low-fun diets that have ruined people’s lives for decades.
The truth will out.
Embrace the lard! Roasted potatoes with lashings of bacon and lard on your Christmas table, dear DC’ers!!!

 

[dragnlaw]

Well Jade, when I first got my microwave back in the late 70's/early 80's, I did exactly that!
From Roast to vegies, don't remember if I did a dessert or not, probably not. It actually was quite a success! The timing was crucial of course. Don't think I ever did it again. But it was fun at the time! Although I may rethink that due to circumstance of my kitchen availabilities.

pictonguy said...
"... -I think timeline is important. .... -was to replace the more expensive products of lard and butter, which both were in short supply and expensive after the war. ..."

People really have a tendency to forget that and I also, personally, believe that some seem to think it was a conspiracy to dupe the public. In later years, when facts were becoming known, it may well have been, as it was now a huge and lucrative business.