Help: substitute for lard.

lala2, Oct 18, 3:31am
If a recipe for pastry to make pork pies has lard in it can I substitute for butter or dripping (don't know how it would taste being beef dripping). TIA
davidt4, Oct 18, 3:34am
Butter will work quite well - the pastry won't be quite as short but will still taste very good.
cookessentials, Oct 18, 3:36am
Is that because you cannot find lard or dont want to use it? Lard is rendered pork fat basically and it certainly will give you the right texture of pastry required for a pork pie.
bedazzledjewels, Oct 18, 3:40am
Actually lard can be hard to find.
cookessentials, Oct 18, 3:50am
Countdown often have it.
lala2, Oct 18, 6:47am
I didn't have it and have to admit I have never had it or seen it. Pastry turned out fine, the only part of the pie the children enjoyed. Thank you all for your help.
buzzy110, Oct 18, 7:12am
Do stay away from the lard and dripping sold in supermarkets unless it has an organic label on it. the paper wrapped lard particularly is a hydrogenated product. Hydrogenated fats are unnatural fats which have a proven link to cardiovascular disease. In fact the only fats which have been linked to cardiovascular disease beyond any shadow of doubt are hydrogenated fats.
cookessentials, Oct 18, 7:26am
The lard I have seen is pure and not hydrogenated...most of us do have a brain and realise what hydrigenated fats do.
cookessentials, Oct 23, 5:23am
Double checked when in New World today and there they have PURE pork lard and PURE beef dripping from Freedom. All ingredients totally pure. Comes in a tub for about $4.50
bedazzledjewels, Oct 23, 5:28am
Kirinesha tells me that the UK Butcher in Auckland sells great lard. Must get there.
buzzy110, Oct 23, 5:29am
So I am not allowed to provided information to the poster anymore cooks? Just because you know about hydrigenated (sic) fats, doesn't mean everyone does. We all have to learn things for the first time and most of the fats provided in supermarkets, unless they are organic, are hydrogenated.
kirinesha, Oct 23, 5:29am
And Nosh sells duck fat! I am so going to get some next time I'm there :)
elliehen, Oct 23, 5:42am
Anyone ever read the children's book, "Fortunately, there was a Haystack"?...about a man who fell out of an aeroplane.

Fortunately, there was a haystack.

Unfortunately, there was a pitchfork in the haystack.

Fortunately.... Unfortunately...and so on.

Forgive me for being amused, but this thread reads like that :)
uli, Oct 23, 5:57am
Well going by the new message board rules that only the question in post #1 needs to be answered, then this thread was done and dusted by post #3.

The rest is additional info.
Which may be or not be common knowledge.
But who cares really?
As long as most people think margarine is healthier than butter we need not discuss lard, do we?
davidt4, Oct 23, 6:04am
Where is the UK butcher kirinesha?
bedazzledjewels, Oct 23, 6:12am
I like that book Ellkie - trying to remember who wrote it. A bit like John Birmingham stuff but it isn't.

Davidt4 - he's oppostie Farro Fresh in St johns.
buzzy110, Oct 23, 7:00am
On the opposite side of the road to Nosh on Lunn Ave. It is about 500mtres toward Ellerslie Highway.
buzzy110, Oct 23, 7:01am
Your local New World in Remmers sells duck fat as well. I was going there tomorrow to get a duck as well. I hope they haven't sold out. I just love the recipe in Primal Blueprint Recipes.
bedazzledjewels, Oct 23, 7:41am
Good cookbook that one - especially for an American one.
And it's Farro not Nosh in Lunn Ave.
buzzy110, Oct 23, 8:28am
Mmm. So it is. Nosh is in Glen Innes. My bad.
elliehen, Oct 23, 11:01am
"Fortunately, Unfortunately" by Remy Charlip, published 1964 and still much loved by young children because it tells them what they know - that bad stuff happens, but you can be responsive to the moment and turn it to good.Children like to write or tell their own stories on this theme.Might be useful for some post-earthquake therapy?

The title was changed by the publisher in 1969 to "What Good Luck..." because the publisher thought the word "Fortunately.." was too abstract for kids.

It's often the first 'cliffhanger' book a child will encounter, and they love turning the pages to see what comes next.In the original, the artwork was in colour on the "Fortunately..." pages and charcoal on the "Unfortunately...".I have a dog-eared copy :)
hezwez, Oct 23, 11:07am
Our kids knew it as the re-named "What good luck ~ what bad luck" and loved it...when things went haywire in their lives they'd make a joke of it along the same lines.
bedazzledjewels, Jun 19, 4:19pm
Thanks Ellie and Hezwez - sounds like the idea has some history. The book I'm thinking of was more recent - last 15 years probably - and possibly published by Scholastic. I'll keep hunting. I've got lots of old picture books stashed away here dating from the 1970s mostly - waiting for some grandchildren! Could be waiting a long time!