Two cups of coffee down so move it, move it. Off to the freezer for my precious stash of lard. Before it went to the freezer I had measured the amount needed and wrapped each measurement in little bundles. Just enough for a single pie crust, lard is too hard to come by. This lard was rendered last fall from the leaf fat my son gave me. I brought it from NC in a cooler. Too many times I had thought, if I'd only brought the cooler, now I never travel without one. We never know what is coming home with us. Dogs, lawn furniture cushions, food, you name it we haul it. The first of June I will blog about the lawn cushion sale a factory holds, you will be stunned at the prices! We are like the Beverly Hillbillies at times. Back to the lard, leaf fat is the pure fat on the inside of a pig's belly. It is what gives the lard the pure white smoothness with no smell. If fat is used from other areas it has an unpleasant smell and will not render to be pure white. I will not use it. I know some are thinking about now, just use Crisco. I gave up Crisco after trying lard last year. Lard makes the flakiest pie crusts and wonderful to fry with. Unlike the processed products that are suppose to be better for you lard is more digestible. Lard in earlier years got the bad publicity because it is fat from an animal. To me that makes for a perfect reason to use lard rather than the "fake" stuff. Take some Crisco rub it on your hands. It takes a long time to melt (if it will) and certainly does not sink in you skin and disappear. If you ever get a chance to do the same with lard, you will see the lard melts quickly and within a few seconds or minutes depending on how much you used will be completely absorbed into your skin. It also leaves the skin feel smooth and silky. I still believe in natural and the real deal is better than processed foods. Wow, I should go into advertising (joke). Remember this is just what I believe, there are many that could shoot my ways down before the sun comes up.
I made one 9" pie crust and with the leftover dough a few little tarts. I loved these tarts when I was young. Mom and I would play tea party with them. Once they are baked I put a dab of Raspberry jam on top. Seven will be here for supper and there are only 6 little tarts. It will be interesting to see who doesn't get a tart. Might have to play musical tarts! The pie shell is filled with fresh strawberries and a glaze, finish it off with whip cream and sing "Happy Birthday Dear Amberly".
I have an awesome pie crust recipe that uses canola oil. My niece "passed it on" to me. If I don't have lard this is the crust I make.
Pie crust: 2-cups of flour well rounded (you can use all purpose or pastry flour) I like pastry flour if I have it.
1/2- cup plus 1 TBS of oil
1/3-cup of milk
Mix in a bowl. Roll between to sheets of wax paper to desired size.
That's it and the best part, no floury mess to clean up!
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| Looks like a tea party! |
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| Strawberries under all that whipped cream........really! |
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