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Lard is the
secret ingredient for delicious pie crusts.
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Before there
was Crisco, there was lard.
Before there
was talk of good fats, bad fats, trans fats, cholesterol and
lipids, there was lard.
Rendered on
the farm, stored in a crock or jar in a cool place and used
in cooking - morning, noon and night. And like so many other
foodstuffs that were considered old-timey and passe, lard is
getting a new look.
But this time
we're talking the fresh stuff, from local butchers and sold
without additives and preservatives.
In Kansas
City, Kan., Bichelmeyer Meats is a source of pure back fat
lard.
The
family-run business renders lard once a week, generally on a
Wednesday or Thursday, according to Jim Bichelmeyer, who
owns the business with his brother, Joe, and nephew Matt.
It's a
relatively simple process: The back fat and any other
trimmings from freshly slaughtered hogs are coarsely ground
and put into a small, steam-jacketed kettle, which works
like a stove-top double-boiler. The key is to keep the fat
off any heat source. The process is called wet rendering.
It cooks in
the kettle four to five hours, stirred every 15 to 20
minutes, until the solids melt into a liquid and the
cracklings - the bits of skin and meat - rise to the top.
The
cracklings are skimmed off and sold; the lard, once it has
cooled enough to handle, is strained and poured into 5-, 10-
and 26-pound containers. It is pure lard. Unlike lard found
on supermarket shelves, the Bichelmeyer's product contains
no preservatives or additives.
"You get
5 to 10 pounds of rendered lard off one 250 (pound),
live-weight hog," Bichelmeyer says. "It makes the
best pie crust. Old-time cooks all cooked with lard - pie
crusts, fried chicken, fried fish. You just don't get any
better flavor."
He sells 300
to 400 pounds of lard a week, and there's a waiting list for
the cracklings.
"Over
the years people shied away from lard, but it's truly a
natural fat," Bichelmeyer says. "There is nothing
in lard that is not compatible with your body."
ALL ABOUT
LARD
Availability:
Year-round at Bichelmeyer Meats, 704 Cheyenne, Kansas City,
Kan. 913-342-5945. A5-pound tub is $6.50.The cracklings are
$1.60 a pound.
Rains Natural
Meats, 23795 260thRoad, in Gallatin, Mo., also sells lard. A
10-pound container is $13. The lard is rendered from their
pasture-raised pigs. Call 660-663-3674 or go to
www.rainsnaturalmeats.com.
Preparation:
No preparation is needed. Lard is ideal for frying, with a
400-degree smoking point. And because it is composed of
large fat crystals, it is ideal for pie crusts. Those
crystals create flaky layers.
Selection and
storage: Store in the refrigerator, covered, or freeze.
Nutritional
value: One tablespoon has 115 calories.
Fun facts:
The old-fashioned way to store lard was to pour it into a
clean pig bladder and store in a cool place, like a root
cellar or spring well.
Sources: The
Oxford Companion to Food by Alan Davidson (Oxford, 1999);
www.nutritiondata.com
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EFFIE PEARL'S
PIE CRUST
This is my
family's pie crust recipe, passed down from my
great-grandmother, Effie Pearl Campbell, to my grandmother
to my mother to me.
Makes 4 or 5
crusts
5 cups
all-purpose flour
1 ½
teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon sugar 2 cups lard (or shortening)
1 egg, beaten
in measuring cup and filled with water to make 1 cup liquid
Stir together
the flour, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add lard
and cut into the flour with a pastry blender until the lard
is completely incorporated into the dry mixture and it
becomes pebbly. Add the water and egg mixture and stir until
a dough forms, making sure to incorporate all the flour/lard
mixture in the bottom of the bowl. Gather into a large ball,
roll into a long log and cut into 4 or 5 pieces, depending
upon size of pie plate. Flatten each piece into a disc about
8 inches in diameter. Wrap each disc tightly in wax paper,
then put into a freezer bag. Crusts can be frozen for
several months. To use, remove and let thaw in the
refrigerator. Crusts should be cold when rolled out.
Per 1/8th of
one crust, based on 4 crusts: 187 calories (63 percent from
fat), 13 grams total fat (3 grams saturated), 7 milligrams
cholesterol, 15 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams protein, 103
milligrams sodium, 1 gram dietary fiber.