Comments on: Cooking with non-trans fats/the Crisco story

By: michael

michael — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 23:30:53 +0000

I had heard Crisco was orginally developed for use in Candle stick making-but electricty had made it obsolete.

I personally think mixing fats makes the best pie crust. That was Julia Childs stance for ever that all award winning were a mix between crisco and butter. Crisco is flaky, but lacks flavor. Taste to me horrible.
I’ve found it really depends on how things are incorporated.
I’ve been using homemade lard/butter. About a 45/55 blend and it works well. Use a scale and 3-2-1 crust comes out perfect with a 1 hour rest in the frig.
Just remember, your pie is only as good as your lowest quality ingredient. Natural stuff is not as consistent as plant processed, but with a scale it is quite easy to get consistent pie crust.

Michael

Hi Michael–

Thanks for the info.

Cheers–

MRE�

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 14:41:26 +0000

Wow – Since before Christmas I have been on a Holy Grail search for the perfect pie crust which of course led me to a search for leaf lard. Here I am in the middle of agricultural eastern Nebraska and the only way I can get it is to go to an actual place where they “cut pigs on Tuesday” (over an hour away) or by the internet from an organic specialty place that often runs short. I have called everywhere!
Different fats for pastries – so is lard for pie crusts and suet for other things? Should I experiment with the above suet grating (I admit it sounds a bit disgusting) in pie crust? How do you find a recipe for that?
I do think this information on fats is valuable and interesting.
Mary

Hi Mary–

Unfortunately, you’ve come to the wrong spot for any meaningful advice.� I’ve never made a pie crust in my life.� I asked my wife, and she’s never made on using leaf lard–only regular lard.� And she’s never used suet either.

Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.� Maybe some other readers who have had more experience will chime in.

Best–

MRE�

By: jpatti

jpatti — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 22:42:13 +0000

There’s not a shortage of beef tallow, it’s just not in most stores as a “grocery” item. I buy my beef from a local farmer who raises grass-fed beef. He has several cattle processed at once and has standardized the cuts he sells. His hamburger is too lean for me, so he has begun getting a few pounds of ground tallow for me every time he takes the animals to be processed. It’s free! (As are the soup bones he saves for me.) It’s not “clean” fat, you either need to render it or store it frozen, but the price is right!

As for lard… I switched to lard a few years back. You can’t get biscuits or pie crusts like those made from lard with Crisco or other shortenings. It is harder to find lard as a grocery product than Crisco, but not impossible.
Since I low-carb, biscuits and pie crust aren’t a big deal for me personally, but using fat for deep-frying veggies sometimes is. I find I can get the non-veggie-lovers in my family to eat quite a lot of zucchini “fries” or rutabaga “chips” if fried, even without any coating. Beef tallow is simply the best fat to deep fry in; lard is a close second.

The only fats I buy are butter, lard and olive oil. When I lived elsewhere, where there was a higher Jewish population and hence I had more kosher friends, I used shortening. But no one I feed regularly now is kosher, so I don’t see the “problem” with lard. If I did need to feed kosher folks, I guess I’d render an awful lot more tallow cause I don’t see going back to shortening.

Otherwise, we get fat in meats, dairy, nuts, seeds and avocados; i.e. whole real foods.

I also reuse bacon and sausage grease for cooking/baking when appropriate. When I get too much backed up, I clean it and make soap.

Hi jpatti–

I guess a more correct statement would be that there is a shortage of beef tallow available to the average consumer.� I’m going to ask my local butcher to see if I can get some, then I’ll dragoon MD into service figuring out how to use it.

Thanks for writing.

MRE

By: Porter

Porter — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 19:58:42 +0000

In response to comment #7 by Martha, I do not think as a general proposition that you can sue a government agency just because something is bad or wrong or outrageous. There is a legal concept called sovereign immunity also known as the king can do no wrong which says that you can not sue a government agency or agent who is performing his legal duties. This comes from the English common law. This has evolved over time so that in many specific situations by statute, governments now do allow some claims but in effect they have to give you permission to sue them. But on suing the FDA good luck. I am not a lawyer so take this information for what it is worth.

Porter

Hi Porter–

Thanks for the info.

MRE

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 14:02:40 +0000

I had assumed that the change to vegetable oil from traditional oils occurred post WWII and that my Grandmothers diet was a lot better than today’s. I’m surprised that Crisco is from the early 20th century.

Hi Dan–

Yep, Crisco has been around since 1911.� I think it really caught on during WWII when butter and other foods were rationed.

Cheers–

MRE

By: Lyndsey

Lyndsey — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 22:24:14 +0000

“Makes me almost want to go out and go face down in some.”

That cracked me up, for some reason. Thanks for the laugh.

My pleasure.

MRE

By: Martha

Martha — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 04:15:26 +0000

Off the top of your head, have you ever heard of someone suing the FDA or USDA for strict liability? There’s plenty of evidence to convince a jury the information the agencies give on fats is completely wrong, and there’s really only two outcomes: they admit responsibility for numerous deaths and health problems to millions of people, or they claim they are not responsible because people should know to take stuff they hear with a grain of salt, thereby discrediting their entire organization.

Hi Martha–

I’ve never heard of anyone suing one of the above-mentioned agencies for such a thing, nor do I know if could even be done.� Maybe some of the lawyers who are readers of this blog (if I haven’t offended and driven them away by now) could answer.

Best–

MRE

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 20:20:33 +0000

Dr,

I love your blog, I read it frequently. AND, PP has changed my life.

The Crisco cookbook reminds me of my family’s favorite holiday treat, “Potato Dressing.” It’s mashed cooked white potates mixed with an incredible quotient of Crisco, topped with perhaps the only decent ingredient (aside from seasonings), turkey (or chicken) fat. Leavened with baking powder, it rises in the oven. Yikes.

My grandmother heartily believed in the virtue of Crisco, vociferously lauding it’s health superiority over lard. She was overweight her whole life.

Richard

Hi Richard–

Thanks for the kind words about the book and blog.

If you could read the entire book, you would see why your grandmother believed so much in Crisco.� Proctor and Gamble stressed throughout how pure and white and tasteless Crisco is.� And how it fried without smoking.� To someone used to a lot of hands-on cooking with animal fats, which are unquestionably of varying quality and are more difficult to work with, the pure, white consistency of Crisco had to have seemed like a Godsend.� And the good folks at P & G stressed the health benefits as well, so housewives, mothers and grandmothers throughout the country thought it was great.

Best–

MRE

By: Kristn

Kristn — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 19:17:52 +0000

Dr. Mike,
Thanks for the overview of the pie crust article. I haven’t made a pie crust in over 5 years, but I still found it fascinating when I first read it (I need to sign up for the NY Times select!). Most people only know the taste of a crisco pie crust, but I know that my mother and grandmother used to wax poetic about crusts made from animal fat. I have incorporated many more animal fats in my low-carb diet and they really enhance the flavor and appeal of many dishes. Really, there is no replacement for schmaltz, bacon grease, lard, tallow, butter, etc. I think that people will find that Crisco was a poor, tasteless and ultimately unhealthy substitute. We just need to relearn what each fat does best.

Right you are, Kristn!

It’s going to take a lot of feeling our way through to get back to being able to use animal fats as well as our great grandmothers.� Too bad more of them aren’t around to help us out.

Cheers–

MRE

By: Connie

Connie — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 17:27:03 +0000

I loved the crisco and corn syrup balls.

You’ve probably seen Lilek’s old ad for the mazola and corn syrup diet, brought to you by Rockefeller Institute of Something back in the day?

Hi Connie–

Yes, I had seen it.� Thanks for the link so that everyone else can, too.

Cheers–

MRE