I'm not quite sure why you are knocking Lard. Food cooked in lard has amazing flavor. You can't get it in my local Stop N shop, or I would definitely be stocking up.

It's just Beef dripping, you know that, right?

Bluh. Lard creeps me out. I might be the only vegetarian that reads this site as frequently as I do (and I'm always curious about what people are doing with bacon, even if I don't eat it) but lard freaks me out for some reason. Mostly because it sneaks its way into other foods that seem safe (ever hear that there's urine in a food you like to eat? probably not. that's what finding out something I eat has lard in it feels like to me.)

Then again, vegetable shortening freaks me out too, so it could just be fats that are solid at room temperature are just unsettling to me.

Lard is great. Lard is good.

The key to lard, or to other animal-based foods, is to simply understand yet not care where the food comes from/what it actually is. I personally love my slabs of sliced cow, ground up cow, young calf tied up and beaten and kept in a small cage, etc. All of those things and more are quite tasty.

Cooking in lard makes for good eatin'

My grandma was raised in west virginia and she made some mean fried chicken fried in lard. Delicious stuff.

Lard is available locally and I have indeed cooked with it for Scara once or twice. And you're right, Baierman, it is dirt cheap. In these tough economic times, we should all be stocking up..who cares about clogged arteries?

You ever see Sno Cap lard? They sell it by the bucket at some grocery stores. It's like 10-11 bucks for a tub of it. Cheap calories. Probably not endorsed by many nutritionists though.

E - I've seen those big buckets-o-lard, but only in the more rural stores. I would imagine that it stays good for a long time, just like Crisco, so it makes sense that it would be a regular stock item in rural stores where the clientele use it more. Too much commitment for me.