Quote:Lard: The New Health Food?
Startled by news about the dangers of trans fats, writer Pete Wells happily contemplates the return of good old-fashioned lard.
By Pete Wells
When I turn to the Op-Ed page of the New York Times, I more or less know what I'll find. Paul Krugman will be preaching to the choir and David Brooks will be gamely hiding the strain of being the conservative that liberals can almost imagine having lunch with. On very special days, the paper may issue some rumblings about the UN's Oil-for-Food affair. The last thing I expect to see is an engraved invitation to eat french fries and fried chicken, yet that is roughly what I got one day last summer.
Extending this astonishing offer was the food writer Corby Kummer. In response to the news that New York City's health commissioner had asked local restaurants to stop using cooking oils containing trans fats, comparing them to such hazards as lead and asbestos, Kummer proposed that we bring back lard, "the great misunderstood fat." Lard, he cheerfully reported, contains just 40 percent saturated fat (compared with nearly 60 percent for butter). Its level of monounsaturated fat (the "good" fat) is "a very respectable 45 percent," he noted, "double butter's paltry 23 or so percent." Kummer hinted that if I wanted to appreciate the virtues of this health food, I needed to fry shoestring potatoes or a chicken drumstick.
see for complete article :
LARD - THE NEW HEALTH FOOD ?
Maybe I can find some Mexican-made pork fat/lard on ebay? I'll have to check that out. Unless there's an ethnic group in the Lower Mainland that's known for lard-making... I really don't want to have to go to Manitoba, where I suspect there's a bustling lard industry, to get me some homemade lard.
Corby Kummer's explanation was far better than my effort, thanks, Hamburger..
I just found a nice lardy recipe I'm going to have to try (waves to Dys) -
from About.com -
From Kyle Phillips,
Your Guide to Italian Food.
Sicilian Cheese Pie, or Scacciata: This is a Sicilian specialty that Fernanda Gosetti presents in discussing Caciocavallo in her Grande Libro dei Formaggi; since Caciocavallo and Provolone are quite similar either cheese will work in preparing the recipe. To serve 6 you will need:
INGREDIENTS:
About 2 pounds (800 g) fresh bread dough (either make your own or buy it from your baker)
1/2 pound (250 g) mild Caciocavallo or Provolone, cut into thin strips
1/4 pound (100 g) very fresh rendered lard
3 ounces (75 g) salted anchovy filets, rinsed and boned
3 ripe plum tomatoes, blached, peeled, seeded, and cut into strips
An onion, thinly sliced
10 black olives, pitted
Salt and pepper to taste
A 10-inch (25 cm) diameter cake or pie pan
PREPARATION:
Preheat your oven to 380 F (190 C).
Briefly knead the dough and divide it into two pieces, one somewhat larger than the other. Roll the larger one out and use it to line the pan. Lay the strips of cheese over the dough, followed by the tomatoes, anchovies, and olives.
Lay the sliced onion over all, dot it with half the lard, and season lightly with salt and pepper.
Roll out the second piece of dough and use it to cover the pie, tamping down the edges with a fork so they stick. Dot the top of the pie with the remaining lard, make a few holes in the crust with a fork to let the steam escape, and bake the scacciata for about 40 minutes. Serve it hot.
(Note to self, I bet this is similar to how they made that great pizza vesuviano at that restaurant in Rome... it had scrambled eggs and lots of other stuff in the filling, and let steam out of one hole in the top crust instead of many....)
Quote:What if you don't know any Mexicans? What are we Cdns supposed to do? Why are we always left out of the good stuff?
mame :
if you still have a regular butcher shop - we have several in our city - , you should be able to buy some "pig fat" from him and render your own lard . when rendering you will likely get some nice crisp pieces that taste real good (in germany we called them "grieben") .
you might be able to buy schmalz in a european deli .
hbg
GRIEBENSCHMALZ
Don't know about the antler soup, but I'm sure it's good with lots of lard in it. Lard can make a tag sammich taste great too.
Thanks hamburger. Should I ever get a craving for lard, I'll know where to go and what to do.
Mame wrote:What if you don't know any Mexicans? What are we Cdns supposed to do? Why are we always left out of the good stuff?
I have made a call to my contact Hilario, and you should be receiving 2 Mexicans in tomorrows overnight.
Chuy is partial to the worm in the tequila, but is otherwise a hard worker.
Lupe will ask to use your car, but she doesn't have a license, so loan it at your peril.
Phoenix, from my past reading and who knows about the lastest bits, but there is a genetic (or other static) basis to one's cholesterol level. Some portion of the population can lose some goodly percentage of the number by means of diet, but in memory, that portion of the population wasn't all that large. (Perhaps that's been disproven since.) That the failure to bring it down past a certain amount past a certain point was, for most, related to some metabolic set point, or similar explanation. Thus it's not only diet failure, but other reasons that make drugs necessary to bring down the LDL numbers. But, as I said before, plaque formation is complex and other stuff besides presence of cholesterol in the circulating blood is a factor. (The usual cautions apply, I'm no expert, etc.)
Chai wrote:Mame wrote:What if you don't know any Mexicans? What are we Cdns supposed to do? Why are we always left out of the good stuff?
I have made a call to my contact Hilario, and you should be receiving 2 Mexicans in tomorrows overnight.
Chuy is partial to the worm in the tequila, but is otherwise a hard worker.
Lupe will ask to use your car, but she doesn't have a license, so loan it at your peril.
Gracias, amiga. I'm grateful that you have time to help me since you're going to be so busy the next three days. Post some pics, if you have time. I've never seen a decent one of gus.
It never ceases to amaze me that europeans continually criticize the American diet while putting gallons of mayonaise on their "chips/fries".
Catsup has no fat.
cjhsa wrote:It never ceases to amaze me that europeans continually criticize the American diet while putting gallons of mayonaise on their "chips/fries".
Did you ever meet one (European)?
I never put mayonnaise on my fries, which I very seldom eat...
Good for you Francis.
I'm only parroting what I've read here on A2K and elsewhere. My wife learned the habit of putting mayo on fries when she spent some time in France.
Also my good friend (recently deceased) from Germany did this. No catsup for him.
Quote:It never ceases to amaze me that europeans continually criticize the American diet while putting gallons of mayonaise on their "chips/fries".
Catsup has no fat.
when i lived in germany fries/chips were practically unknown - they were served in french style restaurants WITHOUT mayo or ketchup .
the dutch and belgians seem to like their fries with mayo , but they also drink some gin (genever) thereafter "to aid the digestion" . :wink:
and the british prefer their chips with a touch of malt vinegar - no mayo , i understand .
btw catsup/ketchup contains plenty of salt , so a bit of it should go a long way (i do like some ketchup with my scrambled egg for breakfast - about twice a week) .
hbg
I like LOTS of catsup on my fries. The more salt the better. Delish.
One of the main ingredients in ketchup is sugar, so you, cjhsa, are eating loads of sugar, salt and oil... sounds very healthy.
And I rarely eat catsup, haven't had it in the house for, oh, thirty years. Do use it in restaurants sometimes.
I have one weird old recipe that calls for it, and I'd go buy some if I ever made that recipe again - it's for, ha ha, oriental pan fried noodles.
Y'just can't trust everyone to march in lines, eh?
Phoenix32890 wrote:Mayo on fries???? Aargh!
Good stuff, Maynard . . .
RECIPE FOR BELGIAN MAYO (TO GO WITH BELGIAN FRIES)
Quote:Home made Mayonaise
Ingredients
1 eggyolk
1 spoon of mustard
oil
vinegar or lemonjuice
pepper and salt
How to perform a miracle
Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature! Mix together the eggyolk and the mustard, add a little bit of vinegar (or lemonjuice) and whisk well. Keep on whisking the mixture and add little drops of oil. The mixture should be thickening slowly. Keep on doing this until it thickens to your taste. Finally add pepper and salt (be careful with this).
and enjoy with your FRITES !
