[Sca-cooks] lard vs. olive oil vs. butter

Stefan li Rous StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
Fri Nov 21 22:52:52 PST 2008


Bear said:
<<< From what I've read, the local fats of southern Europe tended to  
be lard
rather than butter and I'm curious as to how extensively butter was  
used in
the Moslem cultures of the period. >>>

Yes, we've discussed butter use in southern Europe previously. But I  
thought the alternative was olive oil, although lard is also likely.

Butter being used less because it doesn't keep as well in warmer  
climates. But when was olive oil used vs. lard? Why would each be  
used? I might at first say lard was cheaper than olive oil, but that  
might not have been the case in the Middle Ages.

Like butter, lard wouldn't have been used on fish days, right? And  
lard, typically (always?) from pigs wouldn't have been used in the  
Moslem parts of southern Europe.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****





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