[Sca-cooks] suet Vs. fat

[Philip Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Tue, 2011-02-01 at 23:33 -0600, Stefan li Rous wrote:
> Alizaundre answered my questions of suet vs. fat with:
> <<< The very best suet is found around the kidneys. Lard is pork suet, and the kidney sections are called "leaf lard" and have always been considered the best quality. >>>
> 
> Oh! Part of my question was where would I even find "suet". But I have seen packages of lard in my local grocery store. Does this mean that in most cases if a recipe calls for "suet" that I can use lard?  This could make things easier since I'm not even sure where to find a specialty butcher shop here locally.

Suet is mostly valued for its unrendered state; it has a tissue
structure that rendered lard doesn't. It's a solid fat that can be used
for pastry and such that lard can't really duplicate. The rendered beef
or mutton fat that is analogous to American or English lard would
normally be called "dripping" in English recipes. In France larde or
lardons would be more like the fatty part of bacon.

The product called for when lard is mentioned is usually evident in the
specific usage. If it is to be grated into a pastry or layered with meat
(as in Taillevent's aloyaulx recipe for meat rolls with a piece of
marrow or fat inside to keep it moist), it's generally unrendered kidney
fat. If you're frying in it, it's rendered, and analogous to American
lard.

Adamantius