Talk:Lard

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[edit] Lard in Asian cuisines

I'm Japanese. I don't think Lard is often used for Japanese cuisine. In particular, Traditianal Japanese dish never uses Lard. Soupe of Ramen contains Lard often, becuase Ramen is based on Chinese nudle. Chinese cuisine is more appropreate than Japanese for a cuisine that uses Lard commonly. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.43.93.28 (talk • contribs) 04:41, 29 January 2005

To the best of my knowledge, lard isn't important in Japanese cuisine, and I'm not even sure if pork has ever been important in the Japanese diet, in contrast to many other Asian societies. However, all of the more traditional recipes for sukiyaki that I've seen call for use of beef suet. Peter G Werner 19:09, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Commercial Bakery Uses

I feel this article misses the extent to which lard has fallen out of favour in the Western World. It went from being the #1 cooking fat, to the least popular fat in a number of years. Perhaps there should be some more details about how major bakeries stopped using lard in the 20th century. Many companies such as Nabisco used lard extensively in their cookies. Some products such as Oreos were widely known to include lard in the recipe. Changing consumer tastes, including a desire to appeal to a wider market of kosher, muslim, vegetarian, and health conscious consumers changed this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.25.75.66 (talk • contribs) 11 December 2005

I agree, maybe you should put this down in the article? Sjschen 21:49, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Merge with Schmaltz

What is the difference, if any, between lard and schmaltz? It seems that both terms refer to rendered animal fat. Should't these two articles be merged? – Kpalion (talk) 00:40, 25 August 2005 (UTC)


Don't merge with schmaltz Lard is rendered from pigs and is undergoing a resurgence in cooking circles. Schmaltz can be rendered from any animal. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.93.192.68 (talk • contribs) 02:25, 20 September 2005

OK, then perhaps we could merge lard, schmaltz, tallow and possibly some other articles into rendered animal fat which would say that all of these are basically the same thing, the only difference being the source animal: pig for lard, chicken or goose for schmaltz, cow or sheep for tallow? – Kpalion (talk) 18:22, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

I don't feel they should be merged. Some of the major vegetable oils (for example Olive oil mentioned in this article) have their own articles, because they have enough history and unique applications to merit it. I think the same can be said for the various animal fats; they have developed relatively independently, have different histories, and are not necessarily interchangeable from a culinary perspective (at least, no more so than any fat may be). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.92.1.73 (talk • contribs) 9 October 2005

They should not be merged because of their different culutural background and history . —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.200.168.85 (talk • contribs)

[edit] Prions?

"Lard is an animal fat produced from the fatty or otherwise unusable parts of pig carcasses." Does anyone know whether nerve tissue ends up in the "otherwise unusable parts" that get cooked down to make lard? If so, there would seem to be a possibility of prions getting into the mix. -- Mwanner | Talk 13:47, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

Lard is made only from animal fat, though perhaps unscrupulous producers might add other ingredients... Article on schmaltz explains better how lard is produced. Nikola 05:51, 14 October 2005 (UTC)
Personally, I suspect that any commercial producer has a pretty fair chance of being less than scrupulous. Mwanner | Talk 00:49, 19 October 2005 (UTC)
Brain fat is different then the fat found in other parts of the body. Unless the producer wishes to manufacture lard that does not look like lard, I really doubt they do it. Sjschen 20:46, 10 January 2006 (UTC)
I think this is pretty much a non issue with lard, it's made from fat and should have little to no nerve tissue. And so long as the pigs were not fed animal byproducts containing prions, are not exposed to organophospates or excess manganese and the other environmental toxins that cause the mutation and creation of prions then one shouldn't worry about prions in their lard. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.169.173.252 (talk • contribs) 17:39, 25 June 2006
No pig has ever been recorded as having prion protein, in my knowledge. Chickens and Pigs seem to be immune to it. Research in Valerie Daggett's group at the University of Washington has shown that chickens are probably immune to the prions that cause mad cow disease because of a difference in the protein suspected to cause the disease. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.203.2.14 (talk) 20:47, 30 January 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Nutrition

Lard rendered from the fat of pigs exposed to sunlight is a rich source of vitamin D, but the vitamin D content is not listed under nutrition. If anyone can get this information it should be added. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.169.173.252 (talk • contribs) 17:39, 25 June 2006

I looked this up in several places, and everywhere listed 0% daily value of vitamin D... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.107.60.65 (talk • contribs) 06:28, 2 February 2007

[edit] Home-made lard?

If you keep the fat you pour off your bacon while it's cooking, is that considered lard? Whether it's technically "lard" or not, can you use it for cooking, as you would lard? What are the storage requirements if you keep your bacon fat for cooking -- how long can it stay in your fridge without making you sick? Does anyone have answers to any of these questions? Perhaps I should have asked them under "Bacon" but...here they are. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Paprikapink (talk • contribs) 21:30, 29 July 2006

If lard is defined as rendered pig fat then bacon fat is lard. However, lard is generally considered the pure rendered fat from unprocessed pig fat. Bacon is cured and smoked; hence, the flavor is quite different and culinary results will not be the same if you substitute bacon fat for lard. That being said, bacon fat is a prized fat in the culinary world as it provides a delicious flavor when used. It is quite good for sauteing greens such as collard, kale or chard and eggs fried in bacon fat are also good. It most likely would not be good for baking, although I have seen a recipe for Swedish ginger cookies made with bacon fat. As long as the bacon fat is refrigerated it will keep for several months. Smell it; if it smells rancid, then through it out. The less residue from the bacon in the fat the longer it will keep. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.18.49.246 (talk • contribs) 01:52, 19 November 2006

no kidding. I guess sausage fat isn't lard either. maybe I should reverse my edits under history.....also, I just didn't know that all bacon is cured and smoked. I just thought it was fresh!--Kanliot 04:57, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Beef Lard?

I'm sure I've heard of beef lard. Is that another name of tallow? --Gbleem 22:46, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Yes, suet (beef fat) is rendered and processed to make tallow, just like pork fat is made into lard. Tallow also can refer to sheep "lard." 72.196.104.129 07:48, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Extensive revision

I've been revising and adding to the article quite extensively based on the "Lard" entry in the Penguin Encyclopedia of Food and numerous newspaper articles on the topic. There really is quite a bit of information on the topic to put into the article. Peter G Werner 19:12, 14 February 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Chemical composition

I have reverted the changes by User:Fxhomie, who changed the saturated/monounsaturated/polyunsaturated mass per 100 g of lard in order to get a sum of 100 g, thereby apparently arbitrarily rounding the values. The missing 5 g are mainly glycerol (fat is an ester of glycerol and fatty acids). Linoleic acid data was changed to 10 %, apparently again without good reason. The source of the detailed fatty acid data states that the lacking 2 % are other fatty acids.

One might further note that the nutrition box and the fatty acid details are not in total agreement - the monounsaturated fatty acids should be at least 47 g in the nutrition box, if the fatty acid details are correct. However, as the two sets of data are from different sources and the composition varies depending on breed and fodder, we should probably leave the data as it is until someone comes up with further references. Icek 21:15, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

I think these figures come from a National Research Council book and ultimately from an book called "Chemical Constitution of Natural Fat". I'm not sure how the figures were derived, but I'm pretty sure in actuality, the fatty acid content of lard can be quite variable, so I'm not sure I'd take the figures as gospel. I'm pretty sure wet-rendering vs. dry-rendering can have a substantial effect, since with wet rendering, you're heating the fat in the presence of water, and that can cause some of the unsaturated fat portion to become saturated, at least, if the temperature is high enough. Nonetheless, you were right to make the change – the figures should reflect exactly what was in the source material. Peter G Werner 21:31, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
On wet vs. dry: It seems unlikely to me that water acts as a reducing agent at the temperatures used to render lard. Where would the oxygen end up (free O2 seems unlikely)? Maybe you mean hydroxylation (one carbon gets a H atom, the other an OH group)? Or maybe you meant the producting of trans fatty acids from the usual cis fatty acids? These latter two possibilities seem likelier to me. Icek (talk) 20:50, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] T-shirts

Back in the day, wonderful Viz magazine used to sell t-shirts with 50s-style images of people. One showed doting parents with their toddler son, and the slogan "Give him junior beer"; another had two men with the words "Don't be soft, have a fight"; another showed someone inhaling on a cigarette and "Mmmmmm, lovely fags" (British slang for cigarettes, not homosexuals). But my favourite of all was a smiling family accompanied by the slogan "They're happy because they eat LARD". Just thought I'd share with all you lard-oholics. 86.138.42.159 08:52, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

Oh, I knew I came here for a reason. What, no mention of lardy cake on the page? Main ingredient (when you're eating it, anyhow) seems to be about 70% lard. Yum 86.138.42.159 08:55, 14 March 2007 (UTC)
"See also" now mentions it. --Macrakis 13:02, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

That sounds gross. 70% lard? Dragonrider27 18:32, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lard versus butter

Is this true (Lard contains less..etc, under History and Cultural Use)? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Band1t (talk • contribs) 20:53, 15 April 2007

Yes, that's very much the case. I haven't added a comparable infobox on the Butter article yet, but if you saw the breakdown of butterfat vs. lard, lard contains about half the saturated fat and and one-third the cholesterol that butter does. Butterfat is approximately 2/3 saturated fat by weight, whereas lard is about 1/3; whole butter has about 2.4 mg/g cholesterol, while lard has 0.8 mg/g. Even when you adjust for the water, protein, and solids in butter, the overall percentage of saturated fat and cholesterol is still considerably higher than lard. This is why unhydrogenated lard is considerably softer at room temperature than is butter.
BTW, when posting to a "Talk" page, you should put new posts on the bottom of the page, not the top. And, please sign your posts. Peter G Werner 17:13, 16 April 2007 (UTC)