RECOMMENDED TASTERS’ COMMENTSU.S. Dreams Lard
Price: $11.99 for 1 lb ($0.75 per oz)
Source: Online
Ingredients: 100% pork lard
Melting Point: 110°F
Hydrogenated: No
Iodine Value: 55.5
(Iodine value = g iodine per 100 g fat)Tenderflake Lard
Price: $10.98 for 1 lb ($0.69 per oz)
Source: Online
Ingredients: Lard, BHA, BHT, citric acid
Melting Point: 102.1°F
Hydrogenated: No
Iodine Value: 60.7John Morrell Snow Cap Lard
Price: $1.69 for 1 lb ($0.11 per oz)
Source: Supermarket
Ingredients: Partially hydrogenated
lard, BHT and BHA added to help
protect fl avor
Melting Point: 105°F
Hydrogenated: Partially
Iodine Value: 62.5Armour Lard
Price: $3.99 for 1 lb ($0.25 per oz)
Source: Supermarket
Ingredients: Lard, BHA, propyl gallate
and citric acid added to protect fl avor
Melting Point: 115°F
Hydrogenated: Ye s
Iodine Value: 58.5Goya Lard
Price: $2.28 for 1 lb ($0.14 per oz)
Source: Supermarket
Ingredients: Refi ned lard and
hydrogenated lard, BHA, propyl gallate,
and citric acid added to help protect fl avor
Melting Point: 116°F
Hydrogenated: Ye s
Iodine Value: 59.9Fatworks Pasture Raised Pork Lard
Price: $22.49 for 14 oz ($1.61 per oz)
Source: Online
Ingredients: Pasture raised pork fat,
organic rosemary extract
Melting Point: 98.3°F
Hydrogenated: No
Iodine Value: 71RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONSArmour Premium All Natural Lard
Price: $10.95 for 1 lb ($0.68 per oz)
Source: Online
Ingredients: Lard
Melting Point: 101.9°F
Hydrogenated: No
Iodine Value: 66.9OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2019 • COOK’S COUNTRY 31Biscuits and pie crust made
using this preservative-free,
nonhydrogenated lard came out
“beautifully crisp and tender,”
with “clean rich fl avor” that was
“devoid of any fatty funk.” It made
“lovely” carnitas, too.This Canadian lard nearly tied
for fi rst place. Biscuits came out
“notably rich, crisp, and tender.”
Carnitas were “very tender,”
“rich and decadent.” And tasters
deemed pie crust made with this
lard “delicious,” with a “great
fl aky structure.”
With a “soft,” “fl aky,” “moist”
texture, biscuits made with this
widely available lard were a hit
with tasters. Partial hydrogena-
tion helped ensure the fi rmness
of this fat, so pie crust came out
“fl aky,” and “very, very tender.” Its
fl avor was “neutral” and “mellow.”Tasters enjoyed biscuits from
this supermarket lard, calling
them “salty, clean, savory,” with
a “crisp” exterior. Pie crust had
“neutral” fl avor, with “not much
character” but “good fl akiness”;
“defi nitely acceptable.” Carnitas
struck us as “rich, creamy,
smooth, and meaty.”This supermarket lard gave
biscuits a “savory,” “lightly porky
taste.” Pie crust was also “a bit on
the pork-fl avored side,” though it
was fl aky. It stood out in carnitas:
“Incredible almost-fried crispy
exterior and meltingly tender,
juicy, moist interior.”Tasters called this pricey artisan
lard “quite porky,” “savory and
lardy” in biscuits and pie crust,
where it had a texture “like short-
bread,” with “more crumb than
fl ake.” It had the lowest melting
point of the lineup. In carnitas, it
had a “gamy, porky richness.”This preservative-free, nonhy-
drogenated lard gave us carnitas
that were “meaty” and full of
“piggy goodness.” It wasn’t a
hit in biscuits: “Oof, way too
piggy,” “heavy and porky in an
unpleasant way.” “Not for sweet
applications.”Once America’s everyday choice for fry-
ing and baking, lard went out of fashion
in the 20th century. Crisco arrived in
1911, and it found success with the help
of health reports—now mostly discred-
ited—about the evils of animal fat. But a
faithful few kept lard as a secret weapon
for making extra-fl aky pie crusts and
biscuits, fried chicken, and dishes such
as tamales and carnitas.
To survey the lard landscape, we
bought seven products, three from
supermarkets and four online, to try in
blind tastings. First, we swapped lard for
butter in biscuits and pie crust. Then we
prepared pork carnitas, for which the
meat simmers in lard until it is melt-
ingly tender. We scored each food for
fl avor, texture, and overall appeal.
We fi rst noticed fl avor diff erences.
Some lards made biscuits and pie crusts
that tasted “very neutral, almost but-
tery.” Other lards with a pronounced
porky fl avor excelled in the carnitas,
enhancing the rich fl avor of the meat.
Still, we wanted an all-purpose lard to
use in both sweet and savory recipes.
Because lard has a higher melt-
ing point than butter, it remains solid
longer in the oven’s heat. This promotes
fl akiness in baked goods because it gives
more time for air pockets to form in the
dough. Lard also helps with tenderness
because it lacks the water necessary to
encourage gluten development: Butter
can contain up to 20 percent water,
while lard is 100 percent fat. But tasters
also noticed textural diff erences in the
baked goods—some baked up sandy,
while others were fl aky.
To probe these diff erences, we asked
independent labs to measure the lards’
melting points and fatty acids. While
butter melts between 90 and 95 degrees,
our lards had melting points rang-
ing from 98 to 116 degrees. Our two
lower-ranking lards had the lowest melt-
ing points, which might explain why they
created less-fl aky baked goods. They also
had the highest iodine values (a measure
of double-bond fatty acids), a sign of
softer fat and lower melting points.
Depending on the speed and tem-
perature of its processing, lard forms
diff erent types of fat crystals as it cools.
Slow cooling creates bigger, more stable
crystals with a higher melting point,
so they yield fl akier pastry. Rapidly
cooled lards form smaller, more delicate
crystals with a lower melting point,
resulting in crumbly pastries.
We also looked at product labels.
While our top-rated lard, a small-batch
artisan product, is processed without
hydrogenation, our favorite supermar-
ket product is partially hydrogenated,
which helps lard maintain a fi rm texture
and resist oxidation. Hydrogenation
makes lard “creamier,” confi rmed Jason
Apple, professor of animal science at the
University of Arkansas. “Hydrogenation
changes the mouthfeel; it’s more of a
fi rmer fat. It doesn’t melt as quick.” So
even though our supermarket favorite
wasn’t a simply processed artisan lard, it
behaved like one. Because of the health
risks associated with hydrogenated fats,
we were pleased that our top two lards
were not made using this process.
Our top lard was made by U.S.
Dreams, an Ohio company that renders
the fat from local non-GMO grain- and
grass-fed pigs at a “low-and-slow” tem-
perature; the resulting lard makes fl aky
baked goods without additional ingredi-
ents or hydrogenation. Creamy, white,
fi rm, and nearly odorless, this lard
performed well across the board, giving
us “clean”-tasting, fl aky pastry; light and
fl uff y biscuits; and savory carnitas. Our
top supermarket favorite, John Morrell
Snow Cap Lard, performed almost as
well in every application.Three Things to Know- Most supermarket lards are fully
or partially hydrogenated. This
process of saturating the fat with
hydrogen atoms makes its texture
fi rmer and helps it resist spoilage.
The process can create trans fats,
so some people seek lard that isn’t
hydrogenated for health reasons. - Shopping for lard can be tricky.
Because hydrogenation makes lard
shelf-stable without refrigeration,
some supermarkets stock it on
the shelf with oils and shortenings,
while others put it in the refriger-
ated section with butter or even in
the meat section sometimes. - Store lard in the refrigerator
anyway. If you’re going to bake
with lard, chilling keeps it fi rm so
your baked goods come out light
and fl aky.
Our FavoriteSupermarket FavoriteLard
This creamy, white pork fat used to be America’s mainstream choice for baking and frying.
Is it time to bring lard back? by Lisa McManus
Web subscribers can read the full
testing and see the complete results
chart at CooksCountry.com/lard.PRODUCT TASTING