Perhaps one the most essential care givers in the world is the farmer. No, those in charge may not take that into consideration in considering health as an issue.
So looking at the LARD and its happy people made me giggle. When a hog was taken to slaughter and butcher, we had tidily wrapped frozen good stuff in the freezer, and, as an added present, we had a new fresh 5 gallon tin of white lard.
The female ancestors of my family knew how to bake pies, oh boy, using lard for the crust. BEST CRUST ever. Fried chicken could not be more crispy and delicious except when fried in LARD.
Below you will see how necessary to have lard, sugar, salt, and whatever for our health.
"Having trouble figuring out what to eat? Don't know if you should be "eating clean," dairy free, gluten free, GMO free, carb free, high protein, organic, low fat, high fat or paleo? (No wonder people are always confused about what to eat or how to lose weight!) Let's get back to the basics." caloric intake
How confusing can our caloric intake get??
Research into nutrition and its demands show that we should cut out or cut down sugar intake. We should also eat only vegetable oils/fats, fresh foods, reduced salt. Meat? It seems that this item is up for debate.
Lard is available for purchase in many stores in the meat department. Also, suet is available in specialty stores. Here is my site on how to obtain them.
Yes, people ate a lot of stuff in former times that we don't today but we need to remember that they were also engaged in hard daily physical labour to burn it all off. We aren't.
ReplyDeleteSome people eat as if they were still working, and it shows.
DeleteYEP, you are crazy! Oh yeah my mama would have said "Praise the Lard!" Daddy did his own hog killing, most years he only raised one, but it was enough for our little family. I am really smiling remembering being 'down East' in NC once and going into a small grocery store and seeing gallon cans labeled, 'LARD" I could not believe my eyes, it had been 30 years since we saw a can of LARD for sale. LOL
ReplyDeleteGood entry and read, THANKS
Sherry & jack
The NC and many Southern states would sell lard, I'm guessing. I'll keep my eyes out for lard on sale.
DeleteDebra above has a point!
ReplyDeletejack
It was a hard life when my folks had a hog slaughtered and dressed. My brothers wanted to be involved in all that. After that, my dad continued sending a hog down to a local butcher.
DeleteMy mom used to make lard, but she didn't use it for baking but to put on bread, sprinkle salt on it and eat it this way. My dad loved it (that's why she made it) and his favorite was goose lard. In German we call lard "Schmalz" which I think just sounds like what it is.
ReplyDeleteMy father took cold biscuits, spread with lard, to the country school.
DeleteThere are some things that we shouldn’t go back to doing. Today, though, we are experiencing very difficult times and as we quarantine in our houses with a refrigerator within sight, we have to find some joy, which might be bacon or ice cream and all the happy foods that we used to eat just in moderation. Some people Keto, I eato.
ReplyDeleteHeheh! I so agree.
DeleteLard does make the best pie crusts. It's what I use. In the good old days we used lard heated in a pot with kernels of popcorn to make popcorn. It was the whitest fluffiest popcorn.
ReplyDeleteWe were raised by the same people, then!
DeleteMom's pies were magnificent!
Our relatives/ancestors ate well (when they ate at all) but they also worked hard. Very hard.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that if I ate a fraction of their daily calorie intake I would put the Michelin Man in the shade.
Moderation. In all things.
It would be impossible to figure out what a farmer's food intake would be. Mom fixed a lot of food and it was always eaten up.
DeletePraise to the lard, indeed!
ReplyDeleteThe only lard I recall was bacon drippings my mother kept in an old Crisco can. Now that I think about it, which came first?
It is a quandry. Mom kept a Forger's can on the back of the range, and it was never empty.
DeleteGood Eats has sometimes used lard, I think for biscuits or pie, I can't recall now. It's probably because we tend to overdo that lard became synonymous with bad. Although, I do wonder if "lard" and "larder" are related.
ReplyDeleteNever had lard but my wife's father used to have lard snadwiches as a kid in Germany.
ReplyDeleteMy dad and older sister too, had their Schmalz and Salz bread here in Australia. I never liked it, having a preference for vegemite instead.
DeleteYep ... lard and something in the UK called dripping. Fat that has melted and dripped from roasting meat, used in cooking or eaten cold as a spread. Do you have it in the US?
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Oh, yes.
DeleteSweetie didn't insist that i use lard, but we always kept the can of bacon fat in the fridge and threw generous portions in with many recipes.
ReplyDeleteHe and his brother still eat like they are down on the farm as they used to be, and it is not good for them!
We did the bacon grease on the bacon of the stove.
DeleteMen live in denial.
I believe we can eat like we are back in the 50s again, IF we also work and play like we did back in the 50s, instead of sitting so long at desks and computers, in front of TVs watching sports instead of playing sports. I remember having a lot of sugar in my diet when I worked in the shoe factory, I'd snack on chocolate as I worked some days, loaded my coffees with three teaspoons of sugar and sugared my morning porridge too. I was healthy without blood pressure or cholesterol problems and weighed 57 kg (125pounds). I had energy to burn and burn it I did.
ReplyDeletePaying attn to your body is the best way to live.
DeleteI remember also using lard as shortening when making rock buns for the Jackeroos smoko times, when I worked on a sheep station as a teenager.
ReplyDeleteI looked up jackeroos smoko, and it could be tasty.
ReplyDeleteI've never cooked with lard but I remember my Grandmother did and she was the best baker ever! I grew up in the 50's/60's and I can hardly ever remember kids being overweight. Probably because we were outdoors in every season and only had 3 stations on TV! The portions were smaller also and not many fast food places. Sugar is a problem these days as it's in everything. I also remember when I first started working in the operating room in 1971 and if you had a patient that weighed 250 it was looked at as really big. Now we don't blink and eye at that weight. 500lbs? No problem. Living in a rural area I see how hard our farmers work and nothing is better than the farmer's market and I love growing and preserving my own garden produce! Going back in time health wise is a good idea!
ReplyDeleteWow. Thanks for the information. You nailed the problems of obesity quite well.
DeleteI wish there were a farmer's market still running.
That first sign cracked me up! I know we always had a tub of Crisco around...
ReplyDelete