PrintLard, shortening, and other fats?
In the recent thread about the Cooks Illustrated pie crust recipe, someone noted that they replaced the shortening with lard, to great success. I was wondering if other fats could also be used in lieu of shortening. Could duck fat or goose fat be used for example?
Thanks!
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15 Comments:
Why yes it can! In fact I recently made a 17th century recipe for an apple tart using goose fat instead of lard (I had goose fat sitting around) and it was great. Remember though that duck/goose fat both has a flavor (as does fresh lard) and melts at a far lower temperature than hydrogenated lard or Crisco. What does this mean? You need to work fast and cold and you will be able to pick up an "I don't know what" in the finished pie crust.
Can you use beef or lamb tallow? You bet, but they are even stronger tasting and are far harder than regular shortening. I've only seen it done with lamb fat in a savory meat pie. Never tried it myself.
HunterAnglerGardenerCook at 2:18PM on 01/26/08
Technically, yes, but your pastry might taste a bit foul.
KarynMC at 2:32PM on 01/26/08
Hunter, regarding lard having a flavor, leaf lard is virtually flavorless. It's my understanding that this is much the preferred type of lard for pastries and baking.
Poultry fat (e.g., goose, chicken, duck, etc.) should probably be reserved for savories, or very strongly-flavored fillings like mince. Also, realize that bird fats are much less saturated than lard, and therefore not as solid at room temperature.
LoCo at 3:29PM on 01/26/08
Yep, LoCo, you are right - but I render out all my own lard, so I only have a little leaf lard at any one time; I use what's handy. And I actually like that little hint of birdy flavor in my pastry crust sometimes, but overall I agree - if you are making a delicate or refined dish, use leaf lard or butter.
HunterAnglerGardenerCook at 4:03PM on 01/26/08
Thanks guys, very helpful and informative. I was definitely thinking of this for savory applications. Although the goose and apples does sound delicious. I was disappointed to learn that my local butcher doesnt sell lard, but there is a specialty shop that has pure and clear rendered goose and duck fat. Anyone have tips on where to find leaf lard in NYC?
seyo at 1:21AM on 01/27/08
Go to a Mexican market and look for "Manteca." Get the fresh kind, which should be refigerated. It may or may not be pure leaf lard, however. Other than that, try any Italian pork store.
HunterAnglerGardenerCook at 10:25AM on 01/27/08
If you can't find leaf lard, have you considered asking any of the farmers at the farmer's market? The might not be willing to take the time to render it and so on, but they could supply you with the unprocessed lard, and you could render it yourself. It takes a while, but you just have to sort of keep an eye on it, it isn't a labour-intensive process.
I've done this with suet, since I simply cannot find it here (it's all exported to the UK, apparently). It had to be picked up at the local slaughter house, and when my boyfriend handed it to me, it was still warm, which was a bit disturbing. It was rather large, too. I just bunged it into the back of the fridge and left it until the next day, then sliced the now-hardened blob, and melted it the over the lowest heat. Then I filtered it through a cloth, and was set with about a kilo of pure white, odourless, and very well-behaved fat, way more than I ne3eded for the Christmas pudding recipe for which I got it. This sort of fat keeps for a long time, so you don't have to worry about using all your suet or lard in a hurry, to prevent spoilage.
mongoose at 2:14PM on 01/27/08
seyo, i think that was my comment about lard in the cooks pie crust. i used leaf lard from the farmer's market, which they were marketing specifically for making pie crusts. it had a noticeably gamy taste in the finished product, which worked well with the strong tasting pecan pie filling. i don't think i would have liked it in a delicately flavored pie, like lemon or chocolate.
i'm fairly certain that goose fat, in addition to tasting "fowl," would only make the finished product greasy. it doesn't have the same structural properties as lard and wouldn't behave the same way in pastry.
i do love to cook potatoes in duck fat, though.
cybercita at 2:27PM on 01/27/08
Hunter, what do you use to render your lard? My 85-year-old FIL renders it from hog for frying chicken and hush puppies. He's in TN, so it's readily available. Out here is So Calif, a request for hog jowl would probably be met with a blank stare...
LoCo at 2:35PM on 01/27/08
I just wanted to second cybercita's last remark; if you use goose fat in a pie crust, you'll almost certainly end up with a frustrating greasy mess.
You might try freezing it, and chilling everything (not forgetting your hands), and working very very quickly, but goose fat is quite liquid at room temperature, and instead of forming tiny particles around which the flour sticks (to later melt, leaving tiny, airy pockets), it will soak into the flour. The harder the fat, generally, the lighter the pie crust.
mongoose at 2:39PM on 01/27/08
Hunter, that was supposed to say he uses hog JOWL to render lard. (Proofread, loco, proofread!)
LoCo at 2:50PM on 01/27/08
unfortunately, the lard marketed in supermarkets is mostly for frying things and isn't suitable for pie crust.
cybercita at 3:05PM on 01/27/08
Thank you all so much! I saw some lard at the supermarket but it had some preservatives in fine print on the box that didn't inspire me with much confidence, so I didn't buy it. I will definitely look for it at the farmer's market. Mexican, Italian, and also Polish shops, I'm liking that too. Thanks again!
seyo at 10:59PM on 01/27/08
cybercita is correct. The lard you find on the shelf with the vegetable shortenings and oils is hydrogenated for shelf life. The best lard is the "real" stuff, which requires refrigeration to prevent rancidity.
Among solid fats, lard has really gotten an undeserved bad health rap in recent years. Its nutritional profile is actually superior to butter -- 5g of saturated fat and 5.8g of mono-unsaturated vs. butter's 7.3g saturated and 3g mono (per tablespoon).
Also, foods fried in lard tend to crust more quickly, and absorb less total fat than those fried in vegetable fats. French fries and fried chicken cooked in lard really can't be beat!
LoCo at 11:30AM on 01/28/08
Melissa Clark wrote an informative article a while ago in which she described experimenting with various fats for pie crust. You can find it here: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B01E6DC173EF936A25752C1A9609C8B63&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink Good luck!
emmab at 12:48AM on 01/29/08