Pure lard

Seanachai

Hi, does anybody know where I can buy pure beef lard without rapeseed or any other plant oils added?.

the beer revolu

Not sure about beef but tesco used to sell pork lard.

nompere

I think it's the case that lard is the rendered fat from pork and tallow is the equivalent from beef. Not that I've ever seen tallow except in relation to candles.

Minder

Rendered beef fat is marketed as Dripping

Mrs Fox

I always see beef dripping in good butchers.

Whistlejacket

Avoca sell Whelans beef dripping.

Seanachai

Whistlejacket wrote: »

Avoca sell Whelans beef dripping.

Cheers, I'll head out to Monkstown and grab some on the weekend.

Thud

Was looking for this in Tesco's recently, didn't find any, they have Atora brand Suet though, I think it has a higher melting point but can be substituted for lard in some circumstances.

duploelabs

Go and ask your butcher for some beef fat, around the kidneys is especially good and it should be free. Put the fat on a wire cooling tray above a deep enough baking tray. Insert in to a preheated oven at 150 for 45 minutes. Remove and pour the fat in to prepared jam jars and leave to cool. Easiest way to get good beef lard

hightide

Can you use lard for deep frying.

duploelabs

hightide wrote: »

Can you use lard for deep frying.

Most definitely, in fact the best chips are cooked in beef dripping aka lard

Day Lewin

I try to get pure real lard for making mince pie pastry at Christmas and it is very hard to find.
Denny's used to sell in packets (like butter) but that's gone off the market.
I see it in Tesco sometimes, I think because it features in Polish/East European cookery: (those Polski-Sklep type of shops would be a good place to look, too)
I have pursued lard around Dublin, in former years: finally finding just one last butcher on Meath St who still made their own - soft, in a bowl on the shelf, almost still warm.

Why use it? It has a slightly different crystalline structure than other fats, and gives a very good flaky texture when used in certain pastries and in yeast bread.
Also contributes a sort of porky or "farmhouse" flavour, instead of tasteless blandness.
However it is extremely fattening and saturated and best kept for such specific uses
Its actually great for frying but probably not a healthy choice for that purpose!
Best of luck!

rubadub

duploelabs wrote: »

Most definitely, in fact the best chips are cooked in beef dripping aka lard

Some people think it is healthier too. One woman in the nutrition forum was trying to find chippers who use it, veg oil is not meant to be suited to high temp deep frying.

Butchers are usually quite dear, you might find a wholesaler with it cheap who would sell to the public, but you might have to buy a lot. Musgraves used to have it listed on their chipper/takeaway offers.

ford2600

Beef fat is primarily saturated fat and therefore less prone to damage at cooking temperatures when compared to an unsaturated fat.

Beef dripping for roasting fry potatoes is delicious. Don't fry an egg in it though!