[Sca-cooks] Lard and making piecrusts

[Johnna Holloway]

The Bon Appetit article that I cited earlier noted
"Tenderflake lard in an instant: It’s a square pound of snow-white lard in a bright yellow box in the local grocery store’s baking aisle. Moms and grandmas have been stockpiling this lard—rendered pig fat, the highest grade from near the loin and kidneys—in pantries for generations." and "Unlike an 8-ounce artisanal farmer’s market version, with what Skurnick calls “a distinctive porkiness to it,” Tenderflake is standardized, cleaner and neutral-tasting. “Tenderflake is more processed—and I don’t mean that in a bad way,” he says."

website here: http://tenderflake.ca/product/pure-lard/

Johnnae

On Nov 27, 2016, at 8:16 PM, Terry Decker <t.d.decker at att.net> wrote:

> 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