I’ll never forget the day I said the L word in front of my mother.
Back when I was living home on Long Island for a few years I was actually getting a weekly farm share from Amish country.
It was so incredible. A real food lovers dream.
I’d hop online to place my weekly order and at the tip of my fingertips was all sorts of pastured meats, fermented vegetables, kefir, real butter and yogurt, bones, chicken feet, stocks, etc. I’ve never seen anything like it since.
However, this way of eating was, let’s just say, different to my family.
One week my mother asked me what I was getting in my weekly share and I wasn’t thinking when I uttered the L word. It just slipped out.
It was kinda like that scene in A Christmas Story when Ralphie says the F bomb.
Time slowed down as the L word was coming out of my mouth.
Laaaaaaaaa…
There was this little voice in my head that was saying, “What are you doing? Don’t say it!”
But my mind couldn’t catch up to my mouth.
….rrrrrrrrrrrrrdddd.
Lard.
Remember that other scene in A Christmas Story when Ralphie’s mom calls his friend’s mom to tell her that Ralphie learned the F bomb from her son? Remember her reaction?
My Mom’s reaction was kinda like that.
WHAT? WHHHAAAAAAT? WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?!!!!
After she calmed down and stopped accusing me of clogging my arteries, I tried to explain why that was not going to happen. Of course, it fell on deaf ears.
Now you may not react as strongly to the idea of eating lard as my mother but chances are, you may have some similar misconceptions and fears about eating lard. It’s not exactly something that your doctor is promoting.
But contrary to popular belief, lard is an incredible healthy fat!
Let me explain more. Here’s 7 reasons why you should eat lard.
In fact, it’s the second richest dietary source of vitamin D next to cod liver oil. Lard from pastured pigs contains anywhere from 500 - 1000 IU vitamin D per tablespoon based on the pig’s diet and exposure to sunlight. This is why finding lard from pastured pigs is essential (see #5 below).
The conventional viewpoint says to emphasize monounsaturated fats for heart health. “But isn’t lard an animal fat and thus saturated?” you say. Nope. Lard is actually classified as a monounsaturated fat. It’s true. It’s about 48% monounsaturated fat, 40% saturated fat and 12% polyunsaturated fats.
As you can see from the ratios above, lard also contains saturated fat. And cholesterol. Gasp!
Well, contrary to popular belief, heart disease is NOT caused by saturated fat and cholesterol. In fact, saturated fat and cholesterol from healthy sources can PREVENT heart disease. If you want a simple understanding of the underlying cause of heart disease, this heart surgeon explains it well.
Before we were all conditioned to believe lard is unhealthy, it was used for centuries as a cooking fat because it’s very stable at high heat. Your grandmother probably used it liberally.
Unlike more saturated fats like tallow and coconut oil, lard’s combination of monounsaturated and saturated fats makes it a perfect fat for baking as it gives things like pie crusts, cookies, biscuits and pastries a very light, flaky and soft texture.
But lard also has a high smoke point too (about 370 degrees Fahrenheit) and is thus excellent for frying as well.
You can’t get good quality lard in stores. You have to seek out a good source of pig fat and render it yourself. Before you roll your eyes about that (though you probably did already), consider #6 and #7 below.
And because you have to source it from local farms, lard leaves less of a carbon footprint than more popular cooking fats like coconut oil and olive oil. I don’t know about you but there are no coconut or olive trees where I live. Lots of farmers raising pigs though.
I paid $5 for about a pound or two of leaf lard at my local farmers market and rendered that into about 12 ounces of lard.
Compare that to a bottle of good quality, first-pressed extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil at your local health food store.
You wouldn’t believe how easy it is to make. All you need is some pig fat and a pot. Really, that’s it.
Lots of traditional food cookbooks include little tidbits of information on rendering and using lard, but I’ve never seen an entire book devoted just to lard.
That is until I found, Lard: The Lost Art of Cooking with Your Grandmother’s Secret Ingredient.
I was so excited to see this book that I ordered it right away.
It’s the only book I could find that’s completely devoted to using lard in all of the recipes. How cool is that?! Just don’t show your doctor (or perhaps, your mother).
With chapters on breads and biscuits, vegetables, main dishes, cookies and brownies, pies, cakes and desserts, you’ll never need to google “how do I use lard” ever again.
You can get read all the five star reviews, read a preview and order it here on Amazon (affiliate link).
Now I’d like to hear from you.
Are you new to cooking with lard? Is it still a four letter word in your family? Any tips you’d like to share for lard-using newbies?
Please share in the comments below.
Craig, I agree with everything you’ve said. But I just.can’t.do.it. The sight of it just makes me so nauseous, and the texture….I get the same reaction when I scoop coconut oil out of the jar!! Maybe there should be a “rehab” center for people who think that creamy white fat is gross, lol!!
Many people eschew pork for religious reasons. Is there an alternative to lard that you would recommend? For example, my grandmothers cooked with chicken fat. Is that unhealthy?
BKE, yes, chicken fat would be a great alternative as well as tallow (beef fat). There’s also a duck fat being sold in many health food stores now from a company called D’artagnan. I think Whole Foods carries it.
We started using lard after raising pastured, heritage hogs. I love it. Honestly, I think lard was framed in an orchestrated propaganda campaign for vegetable shortening. I never made great pie crusts until using lard, and don’t get me started about french fries made in lard. I am a convert.My style of cooking has changed so much since moving to the farm. It’s not about fancy recipes now. It’s all about wholesome, simple ingredients and focusing on their flavors.
The only lard that I can locate is in the supermarket in the Latino foods area. It says it contains hydrogenated lard and some kind of preservative. Is it still safe to use?
Hi Lorene, definitely not! Hydrogenation produces trans fats which are definitely not good to consume.
I wouldn’t. It needs to be humanly raised grass fed in order have the health benefits. Hydrogenated means trans fats which mean free radicals that cause accelerated aging and increased cell mutation leading to many health issues.
I have rendered down Lard from our home raised pigs for years made bread cooked with it its great makes the best pie crusts you,ll ever have just saying use the crumbles after rendering down the lard in baking is the best ever use it to grease my pans cast iron and cake pans ect our hamburger from our home raised beef is so lean have to add some lard to it for cooking My Husband and I was lucky enough to be raised on a farm and had parent and grandparents wisdom,We donot butcher our own but my butcher say Ma Malone saves everything but squeal smiles just sayin We have our hocks smoked also bacon and hams nothing better
Love lard! I’m so lucky that I’ve access to a fantastic supply directly from free range-chemical free pigs. I keep other types of oils/fats such as coconut and ghee but lard is always my go to. It just lets the food your cooking with shine. However, one of my favourite uses has to be as a moisturiser. Little bit left on the spoon? Rub it into your hands….better than anything you can buy!
Yes I like the way Lard makes the pie crusts’ totally awesome & cornbread (oh gosh, bacon drippings too) & in pancakes & yes, even my rice (Like most PR’s like it.) I Never make things “Swimming” in it, I more or less use it Sparingly the way you would use “Seasme” seed Oil.
I started collecting my bacon drippings this past summer. I am getting the bacon from a local organic pig farmer at market and I remember my family (also pig farmers)always did way back when. Anyhow I really don’t fry much so I’vee barely used it but I am so into real food that this article encourages me. I will definitely keep it in mind for pie crust since we are in pot pie season
I remember when i first got out on my own you would see lard in the stores, but now its all crisco or shortening, but not lard, and certainly never in my adult lifetime the quality you mentioned. am in process of buying a little just shy of two acres to homestead here in south carolina and both me and my daughter are looking forward to raising a couple of piglets a yr, and i like to fry in lard. then again i am highly allergic to garlic, now commonly praised highly for health benefits. so i rather follow the beat of my own drummer when it comes to what i eat or put into my body. thank you for your article
I am a dr. And certified clinical nutritionist. This articl,on lard is 100% correct.
The most frustrating part of giving this info. Is having it criticized by the uninformed especially since the cholesterol hoax was dispelled over 35 years ago, but still not totally abandoned. These are many such pieces of misinformation still being perpetrated on the public.
I will be glad to volunteer my expertise to people interested in this kind of information.,I have no relation with the sponsor but will gladly do what I can to help straighten out the tremendous amount of out right lies used to sell poor nutrition.
Sincerely,
Dan L. White (Dr, Ms, phd)! ( FB. : Dan l white)
we raise our own hogs and eat only organic grass feed/finished beef and wild game.
We are what we eat and we have continually emphasized to people to support your local farmers, grow your own and stop eating factory farmed, gmo’ed crap!
thank you for another fantastic article that we will share with many other like minded folks.
livin’ HARD & dyin’ FREE is not easy but it is our choice!
I remember as a child my parents, and our neighbor’s, always kept a can on the stove top for the old lard they had cooked with. It smelled interesting and excited my curiosity about it. If given opportunity I had a spoon in it stirring it around, checking out the bits I found congealed in it; something about it fascinated me… funny memory, I loved playing in that stuff.
[…] lard at home is so easy it’s unbelievable. In my last post I gave you seven reasons you should eat lard but in this post I’m going to show you how to make it. Because chances are, making lard at […]