Lard Anyone?
Today I am grateful for my husband Darcy and for our marriage. I am also grateful for a bike ride in early December.
I am taking a break from the deeper, more intensely meaningful words today and have chosen lard as my "L" word.
Lard-a soft white solid or semisolid fat obtained by rendering fatty tissue of the hog.
To think about lard for me to is to think about my early years. We used lard and mom rendered her own. I recall a silver canister that always had a supply of lard in it. We used it for baking and frying. If a recipe called for shortening, lard was our version. A small amount on the frying pan was the starting point for frying eggs. (Though I later decided I liked eggs fried in a little butter better.)
It worked and it was one of many examples of making good use of everything you had. I remember the smell when mom rendered lard after a hog had been butchered. It was a fine line between a pleasant smell and an unpleasant one. What was left behind after the rendering was something called "cracklings" and I think as kids we tried to eat them. Probably not the most advisable.
Lard takes me on a sentimental journey of sorts. Of course it is just one example of high-fat content foods that we used on the farm. Whole milk being another one. Today I use butter when I bake and Pam and olive oil for most everything else. But lard will always be part of my memory bank.
I will be traveling and taking a blog break the next couple of days. Have a good weekend!
I am taking a break from the deeper, more intensely meaningful words today and have chosen lard as my "L" word.
Lard-a soft white solid or semisolid fat obtained by rendering fatty tissue of the hog.
To think about lard for me to is to think about my early years. We used lard and mom rendered her own. I recall a silver canister that always had a supply of lard in it. We used it for baking and frying. If a recipe called for shortening, lard was our version. A small amount on the frying pan was the starting point for frying eggs. (Though I later decided I liked eggs fried in a little butter better.)
It worked and it was one of many examples of making good use of everything you had. I remember the smell when mom rendered lard after a hog had been butchered. It was a fine line between a pleasant smell and an unpleasant one. What was left behind after the rendering was something called "cracklings" and I think as kids we tried to eat them. Probably not the most advisable.
Lard takes me on a sentimental journey of sorts. Of course it is just one example of high-fat content foods that we used on the farm. Whole milk being another one. Today I use butter when I bake and Pam and olive oil for most everything else. But lard will always be part of my memory bank.
I will be traveling and taking a blog break the next couple of days. Have a good weekend!
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