Some Things Have Changed!

Last week I decided to make my own lard - just for the experience of it. It went so well that I made a half gallon of it a couple days ago. The resulting lard is silky and flavorful in a way that store bought lard is not. The resulting chicharrons are not bad either - like eating bar nuts, but better! But I had been thinking for quite some time that I have noticed a slight difference in butter that sat at room temperature. It seems to not be as silky soft as I remember. So, this week when I was making a couple biscuits for breakfast I did a comparison between the room temperature lard and butter. The lard had the texture of what I remember room temperature butter to be. What are manufacturers doing to the butter that has removed some of that unmistakable butter flavor and the silky texture.
Or, is it just me?

IMG_1615.jpg

[Robin Garr]

Jo Ann, if I had to guess (which is all I've got ) I'd wonder if the economy and resource pricing is forcing manufacturers to reduce butterfat content in their butter. You might try a small sample of a high-fat European butter like Irish Kerrigold to see if it's still got the silky texture you remember.

Some time ago while clarifying butter I noticed that there seemed to be a much larger proportion of whey to fat. I then became concerned about butterfat content specifically for making pie crust, not wanting the liquid to activate the gluten to make a tough crust. Larry commented that in the US butter is required by law to contain a minimum amount of butter fat. I just Goggled the USDA standards of butter. It is very interesting. The grade of butter AA, A, B has never been on my radar when purchasing butter. Looking at the packages I now have in the fridge, one is AA and one is B. I am now wondering if the butter I was attempting to clarify was even graded to account for the noticeable difference. Regarding the pastry issue I now buy an 85% butterfat butter when I want to make pie but still use other techniques to try to minimize gluten formation.

Kerrigold* is great, but expensive. Plugra and Lurpak are also great, but even more expensive. I've often bought European-style butters that are considerably less than Kerrigold, but I can't think of the brands. Challenge butter might be one.

* I just bought some Kerrigold a couple of days ago on sale. Great butter, but I made the mistake of trying the salted version. For years, we've used nothing but unsalted butter, so the Kerrigold tasted really salty to me. But it probably wouldn't to most other people.


As an aside, a few years ago our Albertson's sold (Pennsylvania Dutch?) 10-lb blobs of farm butter not packaged as sticks. It was reasonably priced probably d/t to less packaging cost.

Another aside: I was researching food in the 19th C. America and discovered lard was used as a spread by the poor populations.

I never noticed butter grading. Now I am on a mission to make sure I get the best grade for the cost. Only bought Kerrigold once as a quality spreading butter for a dinner I was hosting. It is especially good but very expensive.
I love schmaltz as a spread. The lard I made last week was from a batch of rillettes that I made for Oscar night. It was extremely flavorful since it had been flavored with herbs. I’ve been eating I it as part of the spread with the rillettes and cooking with it. Great to cook eggs. A friend told me that when her husband renders lard they add oregano, bay leaves and fresh orange juice. Sometimes they flavor it with a stout beer. Gave me ideas.

[Jenise]

Never paid attention to butter grading, either. Will have to look at the Tillamook I've got in the fridge right now. I have recently noticed though that there local or domestic dairies are making "European style" butters that didn't exist even a few years ago.

I don't use lard much but when I do I prefer to make my own if possible--as you say, easy to do and you get a much better product. If you check the label, most commercial lard is partially hydrogenated, which gives it a more solid texture. For me that big barrier to making lard at home has been the availability of fresh pork fat--pork products are trimmed so closely these days. But the pork belly fad has come to the rescue on that front!

I think Robin has it right concerning lower butterfat content being the culprit with the consistency change in butter. I try to buy either local butter (Katie's is the brand around here) or the premium stuff such as Plugra. My main butter consumption is ghee and clarified butter, anyway, so those premium European butters give a better yield.

-Paul W.

Did I tell you how much I love cooking with my home rendered lard? This product is different in so many ways. Not only is it more silky in texture, it melts and heats quickly and it frys differently. I notice that this product seems to be lighter and it produces larger and more vigorous bubbles as it frys. It does not leave a heavy oily residue on the foods and there is no comparison to the flavor. It is going to be hard going back to basic Crisco, store bought lard or even grapeseed oil, which I love as my go-to frying agent. This is a game changer y'all!

IMG_1625.jpg

Crisco isn't lard. It's vegetable oil hydrogenated so that it's solid at room temperature. Lard is pure pork fat. Texture and flavor are different, as you noted. The last time I checked the label on the commercially-produced lard for sale at my supermarket, it said "partially hydrogenated". Probably to give it a more solid texture.

-Paul W.