Why did we stop using Lard?

[Smokin Don]

Mar 05 2016

I am always interested in food history but was completely ignorant as to why we quit using pork lard to cook with. I grew up in the 50’s around my Uncle’s slaughterhouse and always wanted to be there when he rendered lard. I don’t remember my cousin and me helping much but wanted to be there to eat the hot cracklins!

As far as I can remember my Mom used Crisco to cook with. I guess I always thought that the use of Crisco instead of lard was a natural procession to newer and better products.

Researching the subject lately I found the real reasons the use of lard was killed off. A well-known author Upton Sinclair wrote a muckraker book, “The Jungle”, mostly fiction about the meat packing industry. It was hard for most who read it to forget the passage about the men who rendered lard. Copied from NPR:

“They worked in tank rooms full of steam, and in some of which there were open vats near the level of the floor.... their peculiar trouble was that they fell into the vats; and when they were fished out, there was never enough of them left to be worth exhibiting,—sometimes they would be overlooked for days, till all but the bones of them had gone out to the world as Durham's Pure Leaf Lard!”

Sinclair’s book came out in 1906 and it caused enough of a stir the government formed the FDA to regulate food processing.

It was about this same time that two men and a company, Procter and Gamble, had a lot of cotton seed oil plants in the south that the product was used to make soap and candles. With the light bulb and the spread of electricity the candle business was down and they had a lot of oil they didn’t know what to do with.

In 1907, a German chemist, E.C. Kayser, showed up at Procter & Gamble headquarters in Cincinnati with a marvelous invention. It was a ball of fat. It looked like lard and it cooked like lard. But there was no pig involved. It was hydrogenated cottonseed oil.

And so Crisco was born. Procter and Gamble made a huge advertising campaign to sell their Crisco. It was put in white cans and they put out cook books promoting its use. They advertised it over the radio too. Later the FDA came along and said lard and butter were bad for your heart and cholesterol. That was kind of the death of the wide use lard. When I left Ohio City in 1960 my uncle was still rendering lard for the people who would use nothing else.

So Many people used crisco and margerine.  In the past 20 years more insight was discovered by scientest, doctors and food nutritionists shedding light on the differrent kinds of fat; sataurated, unsaturated, hydroginated and trans fats what was good and bad for us. It seems they had led us astray and that maybe the crisco and margerrine was not as good for us as lard and butter were!

I have used extra light olive oil to cook with for a long time now. I never did use margerrine, I always had to have butter! Recently I bought some pure lard from my butcher and liked using it. I had used some before from the grocery but thought it had a funny taste; I suppose it was from any preservatives they had to add.

Lately to add to all the controversary about meat WHO, World Health Orginazation, warned against eating any processed meats! I love bacon, ham, sausage and bologna and have to have a hot dog fix once in a while! 

All this makes me wonder If I had grown up eating food fried in lard instead of crisco would I be any healthier? Anyway I will eat my processed meats when I like and use some lard; at 74 I am too old to wait and see if they are right or wrong!

Smokin Don

[hikerman]

Great post Don! The "government" has a history of leading us astray and into another "better" product, that is better for us. The trouble is,  the decision is more about who gets the money, than it is about what is better for us.

[Pam Gould]

Don..I like real butter and lard for baking and light olive oil. Crisco scares me..just sayin   .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.

[TwoPockets]

I use butter and I still use lard when I can find it.

[teesquare]

A bit of additional history of Crisco and interesting stuff about olive oil:

Crisco was originally used as a lubricant on board German U-Boats ( fore-runner of modern submarines) because it had no petroleum odor, had a very high smoke point, and was a very fine gradient of lubricant.

And - about olive oil - per the chef and olive farmer ( that produces some of the very finest quality olive oil....) that I worked with in Italy, the Italian mafia has all but completely taken over the olive oil trade in Italy.
Because of the extremely high value per volume of the oil, and it being a high percentage contributor to Italy's GNP ( economic out put, or Gross National Product ) the Italian government has has recruited and trained a large staff of professional tasters to work within their investigation dept.  ( see link )
 http://www.agcm.it/stampa/comunicati/7950-avviate-sette-istruttorie-per-verificare-l’autenticità-dei-prodotti-con-“olio-extra-vergine”.html

What this means is that the "olive oil" that you may be buying - if really cotton seed, palm, canola or any number of oils, with enough added chlorophyll  for color, and flavor additives for taste. The net result - is you may think "what a bargain"...when you see a great price for "olive oil"..but not really getting 100% REAL olive oil
Segue: When you buy "virgin" olive oil - even if it is not a fraud...the virgin oil by Italian law - is only required to be 1% olive oil.. thus the "extra virgin" designation, and cost difference was originated.

Again - check your oil resources. Spend the extra for good quality that has been documented well. And - use it sparingly as part of the finishing part of your foods you serve ( with cheeses, on vegetables, as part of a freshly made dressing, etc....) And - use lower grade oil for cooking etc.

Another topic in Italy was the "eye roll" from Italian chefs about "cooking" with olive oil. Don't do it. It is a waste and- olive oil loses it's health benefits - ( some evidence suggests it actually become an "oxidant - the opposite of anti-oxidant....)  when heated to temps at which we cook. They will use lard, or other "fats" for cooking.

Couple of links about the olive oil fraud issues as well as some others:

http://www.foodqualitynews.com/Industry-news/Olive-oil-industry-rocked-by-fraud-investigation

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/11/extra-virgin-italian-olive-oil-producers-accused-of-fraud

[muebe]

I have been using bacon fat for my cooking lately and I so enjoy it. I just slow render the fat from the bacon in the oven and store it in a air tight container in the fridge.

Never been a crisco or margarine fan myself. I always use butter.

I use olive oil mainly for flavoring or when a recipe requires it.

[Smokin Don]

I use the extra light olive it leaves no flavor behind. Don

[hikerman]

A good article on this subject.

www.weedemandreap.com/top-reasons-eating-lard/

[smokeasaurus]

Here in Southern California with a large hispanic population and a slew of Latin markets.....very easy to find Manteca......and used daily in hispanic households.

I have been to some for supper (tortillas in place of forks) and the grub is excellent 

[Pappymn]

Great history lesson SD.....and I guess to a lesser extent Tee;)

[DWard51]

Grew up with a crock of butter (fresh churned of course) sitting on the table, lard from hog slaughtering, and bacon fat in a container by the stove (not refrigerated).  Some of the best food I ever ate came from those days.  Unfortunately the wife works in food service and draws the line at lard and bacon on the stove.  At least she agrees to buy only real butter. 

[spuds]

Great post Don! The "government" has a history of leading us astray and into another "better" product, that is better for us. The trouble is,  the decision is more about who gets the money, than it is about what is better for us.

Yup,everything is a scam anymore.The food 'industry' is one of the worst.Best advice money can buy for special interests and agendas.

[spuds]

Costco has a real good reputation with the Kirkland brand of olive oil being the real deal.

[Pappymn]

Costco has a real good reputation with the Kirkland brand of olive oil being the real deal.

Cool. That is all I ever buy.

[1Bigg_ER]

I cook with ghee, beef tallow, leaf lard or back lard. Extra virgin olive oil for raw application. I do not touch vegetable oil or canola oil.