I'm talking about pure, unrefined, non-hydrogenated lard? I'd be happy to travel far and wide for pork fat. I can just taste the wonderful dishes I can make.
jcattles
Jul 17, 2008 02:34PM
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CHOW Pick, posted October 10, 2008
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Where are you located? I buy it in NYC from Flying Pigs Farm - I think they may do mail order.
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I'm in Wyoming
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Here's their website, just in case:
https://protected.accountsupport.com/...
They do do mail order. I've not bought leaf lard, just rendered lard (they also sell unrendered. If you want to render lard yourself I believe there is an instructive, though old, thread on Home Cooking.
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I've purchased their leaf lard, they are an excellent source (is it weird that I ordered it for my husband as part of his birthday present?)
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No, it's thoughtful. Or at least, it is if you knew it was something he really wanted -- that's what makes a perfect gift, since it reflects the fact that you know him intimately enough to buy him something he specifically desires, not some more traditional but also generic gift. You know, one of the nicest (and also chow-related) gifts I received recently was when I came home one day and my "handyman" had made a window box for my kitchen window and transplanted my herbs into it. I'd wanted a window box for that window ever since we remodelled that kitchen over 15 years ago, but it was never high enough on the priority list to actually get done. I don't think I had ever mentioned to him that I wanted one, he just did it because he knew it would please me (or because he was tired of tiptoeing around the herbs in an area he was working in -- LOL).
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I just checked prices at Flying Pigs, it should be called Flying GUNS. I can buy everything they sell for a fraction of the cost. Fresh pigs feet/knuckles $1.10lb.
I go to the New Chinatown in Flushing Queens. Amazing prices and terrible parking. Look for private pay parking, muni parking is overcrowded and metermaids are always there.
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Many Hands Organic Farm in MA will ship organic lard to you. It smells very "piggy" but after cooking it doesn't taste nearly as "piggy" as it smells out of the container. I haven't purchased from her in a couple of years, but last time it was $12 per quart plus shipping.
http://www.mhof.net/ Oops, just checked their website and they are sold out for 2008. You can get on the mailing list for the future.
The Boston Globe ran an article about the farm a few years ago.
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If you have access to a Mexican market with a meat counter, they usually have house-rendered lard.
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http://www.localharvest.org/store/ite...
That was about the only one I could find.
Best Regards,
STeven Garsson
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Sorry to do this, I know it isn't quite on topic. But we just recently rendered our own lard using Edna Lewis's instructions from "The Taste of Country Cooking". We ordered pork fat (Fresh lard) from a local butcher and rendered it down on the stove. We then used the resultant lard to fry chicken (along with butter, bits of presunto and smoked ham as we could not get Virginia Country Ham easily.) We got 2 kg of fresh lard for $5, and had about half of it left after rendering. I think it would be the cheapest option.
Dang! Lard is good! It is worth the effort to render it! But it may kill my diet completely.
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no no moh! properly rendered lard is actually better than many fats.
granted don't make a meal of it, but still...
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Oh hill food, I absolutely agree that properly rendered lard is a very good fat. That being said, it probably still isn't as healthy as a plate of steamed veggies... Also, using a pound of it to fry chicken just looks scary...
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Obviously, you don't eat a pound of lard when you fry chicken in a pound of lard. But as much as I like using lard, let's face it, it's less healthy than most vegetable oils. I find a 50/50 blend of lard with peanut or canola oil gives you most of the crispyness and flavor of pure lard. The trade off is it doesn't last as long.
Yep, I render my own and never touch the prepackaged stuff. If your local market sells pork fat, that's the way to go.
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well not much is healthier than a plate of steamed veggies.
and frying chicken is indeed scary (well the clean-up anyway)
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I noticed last weekend that one of the vendors at our local farmer's market sells lard.
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Where is that?
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In my case, the California Ave. farmer's market in Palo Alto -- which I realize isn't necessarily useful to many of you! But seeing it there just made me think that farmer's markets, in general, might be a good place to look.
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Make it yourself. Go to the supermarket and ask the butcher for pork fat. If he doesn't have it, he'll save it for you. It's real cheap if not free. Put it in a pan on the stove at a real low temprature and it will render out nicely. Or do it in the oven at about 300 or so. Pour it off into a sealable container, and put it in the fridge.
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I know what leaf lard is, but why is it so special--what is it that it does that regular (good) lard from fat elsewhere on the pig doesn't, and is the difference really a big deal? Putting it another way, is it really worth the effort to go out there and get this stuff? Obviously most folks get through life without it, since it's so hard to find.
I remember my momma using lard as her regular cooking fat in the old days (before she switched to Crisco--ugh), and I have always used it for chicken and pie crusts, and have been on a hyper-lard-kick lately--I deep fried yellow squash slices in lard last evening---mmmmm good. But I've never had leaf lard, and am curious to know more about the practical advantages of it.
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I think leaf lard is used specifically for pastry -- presumably because the thin sheets are easier to break down into small fragments and incorporate without overworking or overheating the dough.
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Actually, since the leaf fat is rendered, there are no thin sheets. The difference with leaf lard is that it's purer, milder tasting and a bit softer than other lards, all of which can be counted an advantage for pastry, especially sweet pastry, baked goods and certain other uses. If you haven't been turned off by pork/bacon flavours in your lard cookery, there's really not much need to seek out leaf lard.
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Just a quick addition to carswell's comment, 'mild' REALLY means mild. Good leaf lard, has none of the 'pigginess' that many of the the other posters have mentioned. I really thought the difference was night and day flavor-wise...well, it might have been smell-wise...but that's almost the same...
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Both the type of fat rendered and the rendering method used affect the smell/taste of the final product. Leaf fat rendered using the wet method produces the mildest lard; fat from the leg, shoulder, etc. rendered using the dry method produces the porkiest.
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Here's another online source found for me by my father (I was hoping he could find some for me in Iowa and bring it to Wisconsin on our summer vacation):
http://www.prairiepridefarm.com/produ...
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Any good Latino or Brittish market should have lard packaged already. Or ask your local butcher.....the fat lining a beef heart is great.
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