SC - Period fried food

[Michael F. Gunter]

> This may well be true. I've not tasted enough fried foods where I knew
> whether they were fried in lard or vegetable oils to agree or disagree
> with your statement that frying in lard tastes better.

Just about a week or two ago the Dallas Morning News ran a special about
lard. The authors went to the market and bought different types of lard, from
the Mexican lard found in buckets to specially prepared lard from the butcher
to lard they rendered themselves.

They tried various recipes using lard, butter and vegetable oil. The lard
came out as the superior fat in all but cake frosting. The article was
interesting and I need to pick some up and make my own experiments.

> I'm not aware of any period fried foods that indicate to cook them in
> a deep bath of oil.

There are a few that I recall. One that immediately comes to mind is the
recipe for cooking a spherical egg. Basically heat a deep pan of oil very hot
and then break an egg into it. With wooden spoons keep turning the egg
until it becomes a ball. Remove and drain.

I'm sure there are other recipes for deep fat frying although I do agree that
most recipes for fried foods are more like what we use for pan frying chicken.

> I'm not disputing that. There were few other choices. And some of
> these, such as olive oil, were limited to particular regions. What I
> am questioning is that lard was cheap enough to be commonly used in
> deep frying.

I would think that lard would be fairly cheap considering that in Europe pork
was one of the most common meats and a lot of fat is rendered off of most
hogs. "Cheap" of course can be relative but since the flesh was eaten so
much then people would be willing to pay for the fat as well.

> THL Stefan li Rous

Yers,

Gunthar