MetaFilter posts tagged with lard

Know Your Fats. Yummy, yummy fats.

Deathalicious — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:21:48 -0800

Fats, whether from plant sources or animals, have been in use in cooking for a long time. Olive oil's history goes back 7 millenia and palm oil has a history dating back to 3000 BCE. Once widely used in place of butter during the 19th century, lard is finally making a comeback (and you can easily make your own). Schmaltz, the Jewish lard alternative, will probably never rebound as a food, although the word itself is still popular (to describe something that is overly sentimental). Although fat in general has a negative connotation, you need fat to survive and there are good fats and bad fats. If your food has nutritional info on it, it's likely going to split up the fats into saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and, possibly, trans fats. What are all of these different kind of fats (literally fatty acids)? It all has to do with two of the major "ingredients" of fat, carbon and hydrogen:

Saturated fat: So named because they are "saturated" with hydrogen atoms (every carbon atom in the chain bonds with 2 hydrogen atoms). These are typically solid at room temperature. They raise your cholesterol (specifically, the "unhealthy" LDL cholesterol).
Monounsaturated fat: Instead of bonding with 2 hydrogen atoms, one of the carbon atom bonds to only one other hydrogen atom and has one (hence, "mono-") double bond with another carbon atom. Monounsaturated fats raise "healthy" HDL cholesterol while lowering bad cholesterol. Olive oil, high in monounsaturated fats, is one of the factors in the apparent benefits of the so-called "Mediterranean Diet".
Polyunsaturated fat: More than one carbon has a double bond with another carbon atom (hence, "poly"). They lower bad cholesterol.
Trans fat: The name comes from the trans-isomer bond that the carbon atoms have with the hydrogen atom (the hydrogen atoms are on opposite sides of the carbon atom chain). Generally, these are unsaturated fats which are hydrogenated (altered to hold more hydrogen atoms). Trans fats both raise bad and lower good cholesterol.

Lard: The New Health Food?

jason's_planet — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 09:36:50 -0800

As I sent my friends home bathed in the warm glow of hog grease, I felt sure that our generation would pass the test of lard. We might not cook with it every night—natural lard is expensive and (all right, I'll admit it) deep-fried foods are often loaded with calories, no matter which fat you use. But we won't live in fear of it, either. When we want deep-fried excellence, we'll reach for the best fat for the job: lard. Previously (and currently) on MetaFilter

The Most Frightening Sandwich In The World

scrump — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:55:43 -0800

Often described as Elvis's favorite sandwich, the Fool's Gold Loaf has to be seen to be believed. Not satisfied with mere still pictures? Try the video from this Spokesman-Review story. Even in its glory, though, the Fool's Gold Loaf is just one (three-pound) part of the Elvis gastronomen: if you want to eat like Elvis, the way is clear. And, of course, there are plenty of cookbooks.

Lard

biffa — Wed, 17 Nov 2004 02:48:22 -0800

Lard: We just can't get enough. The UK is in the grip of a lard shortage. Apparently it's all down to the new entrants to the EU 'hogging' it for themselves. What will Christmas be without delicious Chocolard? Can the British Lard Marketing Board save us?