[Sca-cooks] Lard and making piecrusts

[Terry Decker]

It's imprecise usage.

If you are discussing animals in general, subcutaneous fat comes from under 
the skin, visceral fat from around the kidneys and loin and caul fat from 
around the organs.

Lard specifically refers to pig fat, rendered or raw.  Suet is the raw fat, 
particularly visceral fat, of cattle or sheep.  Tallow is rendered suet. 
Leaf lard is visceral pig -fat.

Functionally, lard, particular leaf lard, has a blander taste than tallow or 
suet, and, IIRC, has a slightly larger molecule that is better suited to 
making pastry.  Suet and tallow have a slightly higher melting point than 
lard.  The fats can be used interchangeably, but there are flavor and 
texture differences.

Bear


Now I'm getting confused. Maybe it's vocabulary.

To me: Lard is pork fat, from pigs, used for pie crusts, biscuits, etc. Suet 
is beef fat, from cows, used in traditional mince-MEAT and pudding recipes.

I'm not sure these are interchangeable in the traditional sense. If so, can 
someone enlighten me please.

Dagmar


From: Patricia Dunham <chimene at ravensgard.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Lard and making piecrusts

If these are animal-based, REAL suet, the stuff may also be usable in 
traditional mince-meat recipes — traditional = contains MEAT meat!...


Aruvqan <aruvqan at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I just ordered 2 8 oz boxes of Atora brand suet for making a bread pudding 
> for Thanksgiving,...


>> Here's an  article on making pie crusts with lard.
>>
>> Johnna