Cooking with Lard
 

When I was a young lad they used to cook "Fish & Chips" in Lard. Nowadays (especially in Oz) it appear that Oil is the preferred choice ( perhaps that's where the saying "Cooking in Oil"comes from). This way, in my opinion, does't do anything for the taste.

Do they still use Lard in Lancs or is nothing sacred.

Re: Cooking with Lard
 

Its used in our house Keith, As to what for, have no idea, I just eat food not cook it.:D Bought a couple of blocks about a week ago, as i do the shopping.

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Way back then, fish and chips were cooked in beef dripping.
Bizzy Lizzies Fish and Chip shop in Skipton used beef dripping for their chips....don't know if they still do. Haven't been for ages.
Now they use vegetable oil.........and I'm sure they used to use stuff called Fri-lite.

I use Lard for savoury pastry, for greasing baking tins and for frying bacon(just a smidgin).

You can't beat chips in beef dripping. I had some in Hebden Bridge a few months ago but apart from that I haven't had them in ages. Are their any local chip shops that use beef dripping?

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No, I don't think so.......unless anyone out there knows different :)

Nothing for it then Margaret - you will have to make me some ;-)

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We used lard to cook chips in a chip pan, and they tasted delicious. The chip pan was thrown out long ago for safety reasons, and we now use oven chips.

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one of the butchers on the indoor market is selling tubs of beef dripping not sure how much it is though so you could make your own nice chips instead of them half warm par cooked anemic looking things they call chips these days

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I can remember mum battling with the chip pan regularly when i was little. The fat in it used to go solid when cold so it must have been dripping or lard she used.
I did used to have a deep fat fryer - used it to make fish and chips over here - but had to use it outside as it really made the house stink. I always use sunflower oil for deep frying.
As to oven chips -horrid things. Try potato wedges instead as a tasty healthy alternative -cut medium sized potatoes into 4 lengthwise,(large ones into 6!) toss in a little olive oil seasoned wth salt pepper and paprika, so you don't use too much oil -they should be just coated. Then line them up on an oven tray all in the same direction (makes it easier to turn them over) and cook in the center of a hot oven (about 180°) for about 20/25 minutes turning once or twice. My family love them as an alternative to chips.:)

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My mum used to cook chips in lard and bacon and eggs.

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I rarely make chips...but when I do I sprinkle the chipped potatoes with a little salt(to draw out the water), dry them, and wrap them in a clean tea towel and put them in the microwave for about a minute.......this means that the chips are already warm...and when dropped into the hot oil(I use vegetable oil) they do not lower the temperature of the oil....cook quicker, absorb less oil and are really crispy.

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I do my roasties in beef dripping...or goose fat.

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Sounds like a good idea...:)

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Don't have a chip pan nor a frying pan either, well we have a frying pan but only use a spot of oil to fry eggs, bacon is grilled, always remember my Mother getting lard from the butchers for the chip pan

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I think the lard might have been beef dripping...especially if he cut it off in a lump, and then wrapped it in greaseproof paper.

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Ya Margaret the butcher used to make a mould out of it and then cut off as required

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When I used to make chips in the deep fat fryer I cooked them for a few minutes, took them out to rest then put them back in for another few minutes - don't ask for times, it was all done by "feel" and it made the best chips even though I used oil. Best fish and chips are done in dripping.

I now have a Tefal Multifry which uses about a dessertspoonful of oil per batch of chips. They're OK but it takes much longer to do. And it's a big gadget which takes up a lot of space!

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I don't eat potatoes.
I do fry bacon - in coconut oil.

Natural oils and fats are best.
If it's 'hydrogenised' it is artificial food and not worth eating.

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Each to their own Margaret.

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Exactly Margaret if we didn't eat or drink things which are bad for us (scientists say) we'd die of hunger and thirst:rolleyes:

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Bit of a Tattie Slapper me, chipped, mashed, boiled, fried, baked, sauted, croquet, don't care how they're done or what they're done in, just give me lots of 'em. :D

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You must've caught it from me.......I like taters.....but I won't have the croquet ones thanks...you can have my share of those......they are with coriander, celery and garlic - the devils own food:)

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Well it will certainly keep the bats away,Vampire Bats that is:D

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Chips should be double cooked, first at a lower temperature to cook them through then quickly at higher temp to crisp and brown them....

I always try and use Natural fats ( olive oil, lard, dripping, even the fat trimings off chops etc) as the human bod has been dealing with these for millenium, the horrible modified trans fats can go take a running jump IMHO.

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Sorry Margaret........Lard is refined pork fat...dripping is from round the kidneys in beef, in it's raw state called suet.

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I think that's what Margaret meant, she should have put the word "lard" in quotes.

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Yes Royboy, I know that.......and beef dripping was rendered down from any fat from the beef animal, it was only the fat around the kidneys that was defined as suet. I worked for Slingers back in the sixties so I used to sell it in the shop....butchers did sell lard, but it came pre-wrapped. Beef dripping was in metal basins and cut out in lumps to be weighed before sale.

Re: Cooking with Lard
 

Yes Sue, I meant to do that, but by the time I had noticed my omission the 'edit' facility was no longer available.

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In the sixties I was a time served butcher working for the same firm and responsible for making both. The reason for lard being pre-wrapped is that it would not set dripping would.

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We sold lard in the Peel Street shop, but it wasn't made by Slingers...it was Kilverts.
The basins of beef dripping came down from Stanley Street with the potted meat and potted beef, roasts of beef and pork came from there too.

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When we go out for fish and chips they always pile on too many chips so half go in the fridge. Day after I warm the in the microwave and then drop them in the hot chip pan, like you say, luvly brown and crisp, better than "new".

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I can't stand the smell of deep fried food cooking, I won't go into a chip shop and I particularly hate the smell and taste of chips cooking in dripping - I won't go to the Three Fishes at Mitton for a meal because all I can smell when I walk in is the dripping they use!
It's alongside coriander and rocket on my list of evil foods!

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I live in Mexico, and the Mexicans deep fry a lot of their foods in lard. It doesn't seem to effect thier cardio-vascular systems as it does in the UK or US.

I just went out to get my mail and stopped for three fish tacos. The fish is cooked in lard in front of you. A nice piece or two is put on a flour tortilla, and you can put a variety of toppings on it. I like freshly sliced and pickled onions with peppers, a mixture of finely chopped tomatoes and onions, a splash of freshly squeezed lime and a blob of mayonnaise.

YUM.

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proper chips ...:p yes i do still use it .. even tho im not supposed to ... but havent used it for the last couple of months .. i cant hold the knife to peel the spuds and chop the chips ... another few days and i hope i can ... :p:p:p

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every now and again after going to the railway i will nip in the chippy across from the bus station on my way home saves me cooking and get .......fish mushy peas and large sausage £4-15 (i hate the white half cooked chips )
yesterday i was in Manchester and got just a fish and peas £6-10p in the Arndale:(

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Did the chap who serve you have a mask and a three cornered hat Mick:rolleyes:

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On the use of lard, when my grandad was in hospital they covered his back in a large amount of lard.....................He went down hill very fast after that.




Well I thought it was funny.