Making pastry with home rendered lard
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
There is an ongoing thread regarding home rendered lard. The OP was having trouble with her home rendered stuff, said the crust made with it was "wet and slimey" and the hydrogenated stuff at the store just worked better. She wondered about the consistency of her lard, both frozen and at room temperature. Not one to shirk a challenge, and since I just happened to have a pint of my home rendered lard in the refrigerator, I decided to experiment.
The lard right out of the refrigerator was firm enough that I had to cut it into pieces with a knife to get it out of the canning jar I had it stored it. I bent a spoon hopelessly trying to scoop it out. So, I chucked the pieces into a pile of flour, using my old Farm Journal recipe with 3 cups flour, 1 1/2 tsp salt and 1 cup lard. It does say if you are using shortening to use 1 1/4 cups of that. Add 6 tablespoons of cold water. It took nearly twice that to hydrate my crust sufficiently.
The OP likes to grate frozen fat into the flour and then mix. Since I don't like melting the fat with the heat from my hands while grating and the resulting greasy fingers, I have a different weapon of choice.
I don't think it takes any longer to cut in the lard with a pastry blender than it does grating it all up on a grater, but you may be better at it than me!
The resulting crust was neither wet nor slimy.
I didn't refrigerate it, I dumped it out onto my lightly floured counter and rolled. It rolled out well, with no sticking, tearing or split edges, other than my lopsided rolling, LOL.
I picked it up and placed it in the pan in one piece, only folding it in half and then unfolding. It wasn't so fragile it tore, although I did have to handle it carefully.
The filling went in, the top crust went on and into the oven. About an hour and a half at 350F, and it was supper.
The crust was flakey, even on the bottom, in spite of the gravy in the beef filling. Even the thick edges were flakey.
As with all cooking related things, your mileage may vary. I find home rendered lard to be easy to work with, good to eat and it makes a magnificent pie crust. I hope the poster on the other thread works out whatever problems she is having and maybe this will help.
Annie
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10 years ago- 10 years ago
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Comments (32)The sausage place was wonderful. The person who helped us was very knowledgable. No lard or pork belly available today. Bought 20 german bratwurst. Went to a nearby Wegmans that is more "international" than the Wegmans that I usually go to. After way too much time standing in Wegmans trying to make a decision.... I purchased Morrell Snow cap lard. It does say "with hydrogenated lard bht and bha added to help protect flavor". I'm going to try it with the idea of going back to the sausage place to get pure lard when they have it available. For this weekend, If the crullers don't come out with the Morrel lard I will use crisco. I will try them again with pure lard when I get it. Many of you make rendering lard look easy but I need to make sure I don't run out of time with hosting two parties this weekend. Thank you all for the help! On a side note, I dropped off my grandmothers cookbook at a binding repair shop. The cover is completely off. They are going to put on a new cover trying to make it look as much as the original as possible. Kinda of sad to replace the original cover but its the only way to make the book usable....See MoreRendering lard
Comments (14)We just got back. The chickens were packed in boxes, obviously he sells them to stores. Gorgeous, plump specimens of perfection. We're having that on Sunday. The lard was in a container, 7 lb. I'll be putting it in sour cream containers for the freezer. The potato is a Yukon Gold, we went to the cold storage area where he had bins of carrots, potatoes, cabbages, apples, garlic, 10-lb bags of beautiful large onions (I hate buying bags of onions and they are all small). I wish I needed onions, but I don't. He took a 10-lb bag and filled it to the brim, where I couldn't even close it, of Yukon golds. The carrots are unwashed, really dirty, and he put a bunch in a plastic grocery bag. The cabbage is huge, for $1, I have to cut it in half to fit in the frig. We had a great time, and will be going back!! We bought a cabbage,5 lb carrots, 10 lb potatoes, a 7 lb chicken (huge!) for $20. The 7 lb of lard was $10. He sells the potatoes at 50 lb for $15. Potatoes are expensive here, generally $4, easy or more for 10 lb bag....See MoreRendering lard question
Comments (12)My oh my! This brings back memories. It has been a lifetime since i have seen the fat rendering process. Back on the farm in the 1940s, my mother rendered lard on butchering day. It was done in a large iron kettle outside over an open wood fire. The mix had to be hot enough to drive the fat out of the meat, but not hot enough to 'burn' the fat. After the fat was liquified, it was merely ladled or poured off into suitable containers. The remains, cracklings or seared and dried meat, was saved for snacks. Doing large bactches outside kept the fumes and grease vapors out of the house. The vapors from a large batch can soil the walls (and everything else). When you fry bacon, you are rendering on a small scale. We always saved the bacon fat for later uses. Two good uses are for frying potatoes and popping corn. The bacon grease imparts a wonderful flavor to these two foods. Popping corn in bacon grease may not be healthy so I am told. The grease gets very hot and can form harmful compounds on oxidizing....See MoreT&T pie crust recipes that include some lard
Comments (3)My favorite pie crust recipe doesn't call for lard but I see no reason why you couldn't replace lard for the shortening. I used to make lard pie crust most of the time but realized one day that while I liked it for savory pies I really like butter based crusts better for dessert pies. Foolproof Pie Dough Cook's Illustrated Vodka is essential to the texture of the crust and imparts no flavordo not substitute. This dough will be moister and more supple than most standard pie doughs and will require more flour to roll out (up to 1/4 cup). INGREDIENTS--For one 9-inch Single-Crust Pie 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (6 1/4 ounces) 1/2 teaspoon table salt 1 tablespoon sugar 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (3/4 stick), cut into 1/4-inch slices 1/4 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening , cut into 2 pieces 2 tablespoons vodka , cold 2 tablespoons cold water 1. Process 3/4 cups flour, salt, and sugar together in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 10 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds with some very small pieces of butter remaining, but there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining 1/2 cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl. 2. Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Flatten dough into 4-inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days. 3. Adjust oven rack to lowest position, place rimmed baking sheet on oven rack, and heat oven to 425 degrees. Remove dough from refrigerator and roll out on generously floured (up to ¼ cup) work surface to 12-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll into pie plate, leaving at least 1-inch overhang on each side. Working around circumference, ease dough into plate by gently lifting edge of dough with one hand while pressing into plate bottom with other hand. Leave overhanging dough in place; refrigerate until dough is firm, about 30 minutes. 4. Trim overhang to ½ inch beyond lip of pie plate. Fold overhang under itself; folded edge should be flush with edge of pie plate. Flute dough or press the tines of a fork against dough to flatten it against rim of pie plate. Refrigerate dough-lined plate until firm, about 15 minutes. 5. Remove pie pan from refrigerator, line crust with foil, and fill with pie weights or pennies. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and weights, rotate plate, and bake for 5 to 10 minutes additional minutes until crust is golden brown and crisp. Note: I've doubled this recipe for two crust pies, just rolled, filled and put the top crust on, it's wonderful. Nancy...See More- 10 years ago
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annie1992Original Author