Comments on: 09/23/13 – Honey Butter

By: Muzhik

Muzhik — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 16:25:31 +0000

@War Pig, I didn’t have a choice, it was just one big box. I could have separated out the leaf fat from the back fat, but it wasn’t worth the hassle.

@Christopher, just one word: HERETIC!!!

Seriously, when I WANT MY PIE NOW, I make an Iowa State Fair Pie Crust, which is just flour, sugar, oil, and milk, mixed in the pie shell and pressed into shape. There are variations if you want to make a two-crust pie, but when I’ve looked at those I thought, “Why bother? They’re not any easier than making a lard crust.”

BTW, I’m still trying to get the courage to try your avocado-based pie crust (substituting mashed avocado for the butter or lard).

By: christopher

christopher — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 15:42:15 +0000

I have often had genuine flaky crusts without lard.

By: War Pig

War Pig — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 04:14:45 +0000

I prefer leaf lard for pastries and pie crusts. One cannot make a genuine, flaky pie crust without lard. I use the rest of the lard for frying. I fry chicken in pork lard and it is delicious.

By: pbarnrob

pbarnrob — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 21:47:44 +0000

Don’t forget, Christmas is coming, and homemade tamales are big in the Latino community. Only done right with real manteca; everything else shows up as phony.

By: Muzhik

Muzhik — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 14:29:48 +0000

Actually, I’m running into the same situation, kinda. Long story short, I misplaced a decimal point and wound up buying 50 lbs of raw pig fat when I thought I was only going to buy 5 lbs. I managed to cram it all into my freezer (mostly by using some of my daughter’s freezer) but now I still have to rend it down to lard. I’ve already filled every empty glass jar I have, and I’ve taken to filling bread pans, sticking them in the freezer, and making lard loaves. Luckily, on my local Freecycle, I’ve found fellow soapers and bakers who wouldn’t mind getting some free lard, so I’m hoping to have my freezer space back in couple of weeks.