Conference turris::cooks

        Question 1) Is lard available in NH?
        
	Answer 1)	Yes, according to my better half, it should be
			found in the butter/margarine section of the
			supermarket.

        Question 2) Is shortening a passable substitute? (ie. Crisco)
        
	Answer 2)	Passable, yes, but found in the oils section.

	For the faint-at-heart and easily squeamish... press NEXT_REPLY
	
	(Best fried bread in the world, made with fresh lard...)

    Lard is readily available in the US.  It's often found in the meat
    section, near where you'd find salt pork or bacon.  It comes in 1-pound
    blocks.
    
    Is shortening (Crisco) a passable substitute for lard?  In many
    recipes, yes.  In some recipes, no.  For example, there are some pie
    crusts and Chinese pastries that just plain don't come out right if you
    substitute vegetable shortening in place of the lard.
    
    I recommend trying Crisco, and if the Scottish bread isn't coming out
    right, then try lard.
    
    --PSW

        I'll head  down  to  the store later and look more closely!  (I
        had casually looked for lard a while ago without success in our
        local Alexander's).
        
        Thanks for the information, folks - greatly appreciated!
        
        Andy
        

    RE: .1  by CDROM::SHIPLEY 
    
	>(Best fried bread in the world, made with fresh lard...)
    
    I would never dream of using lard for fried bread.  When I visited
    Scotland as a kid they always used the bacon grease that had been
    saved.
    
    As for availability, I find lard in the supermarkets in Acton near the
    bacon in the meat counter.
    

    Lard in New England supermarkets may sometimes have the Spanish name,
    manteca, in larger print than the word "lard" on the label.  Apparently
    they sell more of it to the Latin-American community than to
    non-Spanish-speakers.
    
    --PSW

    Lard is pork fat.  So I would have thought that frying your bread in
    bacon grease amounts to the same thing, no?
    

    RE: .6  by CCAD23::TAN 
    
    >Lard is pork fat.  So I would have thought that frying your bread in
    >bacon grease amounts to the same thing, no?
    
    Except that bacon grease is much saltier than lard.  I wouldn't
    recommend using it as a substitute in baking.
    
    Lard BTW is supposed to be good for pie crust.
    

	Re previous...

		My other half won't let me make fried bread using the
	bacon fat...8^(}.... but if I use lard I can pretend to her
	it's just a large crouton...;^)}...

	Actually the reason I prefer lard if that the fried bread
	is lighter and crispier... but the Scots wudna waste guid new
	lard on the bread until it's been well and truly fried-in...

	eh Andy??

    RE: .6
    
    Bacon usually is cured and often smoked.  The grease left over after
    frying bacon picks up flavors from the cure that are not present in
    lard.
    
    --PSW

    My Mother used to save bacon fat in a Crisco can and used it to cook
    french fries in all the time.
    
    Nowadays Crico comes in a cardboard container, probably because Crico
    realized that people were saving it and using it over and over again. 
    Selling it in cardboard containers with warnings against putting hot
    oil in the container was a great marketing ploy on their part, but I
    just wait until the crisco has cooled in the pan and then scoop it out
    into the Crisco can, melting the last bit from the pan and pouring it
    into the middle of the can.
    

        Tracked down  the  lard  successfully, so now it's on to "makin'
        the wudden frame,  thin  wud,  mind  ye!"  as  described in the
        recipe to get the  top  and  bottom  browned, keeping the sides
        and ends light.
        
        I remember detesting the chips  (french  fries) made in new oil
        when I was a kid -  they  never  tasted right until the oil had
        been used a few times and developed some character :*)
        
        Fried  bread and fried tattie scones always  tasted  best  when
        done in the bacon grease - all a matter of taste!
        
        Andy
        

    In my Portuguese neighborhood, the lard is labelled "manteca", and is
    usually next to the butter.  The only thing I ever use it for is a few
    Chinese pastries that don't come out right otherwise - though it does
    make a nice pie crust, if you're not cholesterol-wary.
    
    /Charlotte

    What, BTW, is leaf lard?  
    

    RE: .13
    
    Leaf lard is also called caul fat.  It's the netlike fatty tissue that
    surrounds the pig's stomach.
    
    --PSW

    
    
    I must disagree with our eminent moderator.  My understanding is that
    leaf lard is a high quality lard made from the finely textured fat
    which surrounds the piggie's kidneys.  This fat has a leafy, layered
    structure, hence the name.
    
    Caul fat is another thing altogether.  A traditional french style of
    sausages, called crepinettes, are made by wrapping sausage filling in a
    square of caul fat (crepine, in French).
    
    
    

    I stand corrected.
    
    --PSW

    Ohhhhhhh.... my heart.  
    
    Maybe the FDA, prompted by the American Hearty Association, is having
    this substance removed from our grocery stores and transferred over to 
    the military's chemical warfare group. 
    
    Lard = solidified pork fat?  Oh my.  I'm having an angina attack just
    writting this note.