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Is anyone else using lard now that butter is so expensive?

(108 Posts)
Romola Fri 01-Jul-22 21:37:27

I now make pastry with half butter, half lard (37p for 250 grams) like my mother used to in the 40s and 50s. Results are fine.
Has anyone else gone back to lard? I gether that it is no longer considered unhealthy compared with vegetable fat.

Ladyleftfieldlover Tue 05-Jul-22 18:00:59

I was taught at school (O-level Nutrition and Cookery)) to make pastry with margarine and lard. Now I use all butter with an egg yolk.

Fennel Tue 05-Jul-22 17:40:06

Lamb fat used to be used to make candles (I think).
And lard - pig fat. My Mum used half lard and half butter .
for pastry. But we don't eat pork now so my pastry isn't good,
I buy jusrol puff pastry which is made from veg. oil and is delicious.
When I first read this thread I was thinking spreading lard on toast - YUK!

M0nica Mon 04-Jul-22 18:00:59

Yes, lard, the commercial kind is pigs fat, but dripping produced in the home from the Sunday joint can be beef or lamb, but oddly, I think, not from pork. Others may have come across pig's dripping. I haven't.

JackyB Sun 03-Jul-22 23:54:11

Oh yes, one of the best things about a Sunday roast (chicken or beef) is dripping on toast for breakfast on Monday.

Teacheranne Sun 03-Jul-22 23:46:58

M0nica

But nadaturbe. The lard you have on bread, is not the block lard you buy from a supermarket - it is dripping, which means you first roast a good well fatted joint, preferably beef or lamb and once it is cooked you drain off the fat and meat juices at the bottom of the pan and leave it to cool.

This is what you spread on bread, this mix of a flavoursome fat off a joint with the cooked meat juices. It is not remotely like the lard from a supermarket, which has been processed and purified to remove any hint of how it started.

Lard spread on bread, I agree is revolting. Dripping spread on bread is delectable. bread fried in dripping is equally delectable, much better than any other fried bread.

Don’t forgot to add salt to the dripping, especially on hot toast! I love to spread a bit of the jelly on the sandwich as well!

Mollygo Sun 03-Jul-22 23:22:11

We used to have bread and dripping-bacon was the cheapest, beef dripping next and lamb dripping was so rare it was a treat. Now ??.

Witzend Sun 03-Jul-22 22:54:24

I thought lard was only from pigs, dripping from beef. I never heard of lamb dripping - not commercially available, anyway.

A grandmother of mine - who was never overweight and lived into her late 80s - loved all meat fat - she preferred it to the lean, and once told me that when she was a child, melted lamb fat in hot milk was considered ‘good for your chest’!
I can’t imagine anything more utterly ?!

MissAdventure Sun 03-Jul-22 22:45:43

It all tastes much the same to me.
As long as it helps my sarnie slide down, I'm happy.

Pantglas2 Sun 03-Jul-22 22:44:13

I don’t understand why anyone uses margarine? The list of ingredients is the most off putting thing and the taste isn’t any better.

I prefer a scraping of butter on my toast to a slathering of marg and hang the consequences!

nadateturbe Sun 03-Jul-22 22:31:38

I know it seems irrational Monica when I eat meat, but the thought of eating animal fat turns my stomach.
I would never make gravy with the fat from meat either.

Mollygo Sun 03-Jul-22 22:00:31

I eat the same diet as DH. We have butter just for toast. He has high cholesterol, I don’t. I’m interested in the idea that it is hereditary.

M0nica Sun 03-Jul-22 21:43:02

But nadaturbe. The lard you have on bread, is not the block lard you buy from a supermarket - it is dripping, which means you first roast a good well fatted joint, preferably beef or lamb and once it is cooked you drain off the fat and meat juices at the bottom of the pan and leave it to cool.

This is what you spread on bread, this mix of a flavoursome fat off a joint with the cooked meat juices. It is not remotely like the lard from a supermarket, which has been processed and purified to remove any hint of how it started.

Lard spread on bread, I agree is revolting. Dripping spread on bread is delectable. bread fried in dripping is equally delectable, much better than any other fried bread.

nadateturbe Sun 03-Jul-22 14:08:59

Lard spread on bread?! I can't think of anything more revolting.

JackyB Sun 03-Jul-22 11:16:41

Lard is just not a thing here in Germany. Nor is suet. Nor, come to that, is home made shortcrust pastry. I have to use margarine for my pastry.

(You can get lard, mainly for spreading on bread, very often with bits of roast onion in it, and certainly not suitable for baking)

twiglet77 Sat 02-Jul-22 22:34:10

I’ve only ever made shortcrust pastry with half butter and half lard.

Callistemon21 Sat 02-Jul-22 20:05:20

Who ate all the pies?

MissAdventure Sat 02-Jul-22 18:09:57

Don't look!
Stay away from the pies!

Callistemon21 Sat 02-Jul-22 17:54:21

Anyone else getting adverts at the top of the page for savoury pies?

?

nadateturbe Sat 02-Jul-22 17:32:41

merlotgran

High cholesterol runs in my family and my mother, grandmother and aunt all lived to be 96!

They all had diets that were high in fat and enjoyed drink or six. My aunt also had type 2 diabetes.

?

I might be doing all that for nothing then ☹

merlotgran Sat 02-Jul-22 16:13:54

High cholesterol runs in my family and my mother, grandmother and aunt all lived to be 96!

They all had diets that were high in fat and enjoyed drink or six. My aunt also had type 2 diabetes.

?

merlotgran Sat 02-Jul-22 16:08:58

I have high cholesterol and agree with your comment about exercise, Meryl but following a low fat, low carb, low salt, low sugar diet, cutting right down on alcohol, remembering to drink plenty of water and walking my legs off (some days) can made getting old feel like a geriatric boot camp. ?.

Lazing in bed after a late night (and a few glasses of ?) and enjoying a full English followed by a day binge watching Netflix would send my guilt levels through the roof these days.

I never used to give a whatsit! ?

AreWeThereYet Sat 02-Jul-22 15:40:49

I've always used lard. And butter. Wouldn't touch with a barge pole.

MerylStreep Sat 02-Jul-22 15:02:07

If you are consistently eating more energy than you burn, overtime it is likely that you will have high triglycerides ( an energy fat)
High triglycerides can lower high levels of hdl ( good cholesterol) which can increase the risk of heart disease.
Doctors don’t tell you that, do they, no, just pop a pill.

M0nica Sat 02-Jul-22 14:48:08

My GP has suggested that my high cholesterol is hereditary, because in 15 years the figure hasn't once varied in its value.

I have always had a very good diet, because of a medical condition I had as a child - and may well still have, but I have become so adept at managing through diet, hydration and exercise, that it no longer impinges on my life.

Callistemon21 Sat 02-Jul-22 14:27:18

nadateturbe

Hope you get better soon Callistemon ?

Thank you, it's just very frustrating!!