Swapped out butter for lard in my pie crust yesterday and wow, the flakiness was on another level.

I used a recipe from my grandma's 1970s church cookbook with vegetable shortening before, but trying leaf lard from the butcher on Main Street gave me a crust that actually held its shape without shrinking - has anyone else switched fats and noticed a big difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_derek12d agoMost Upvoted

Simple knife and cutting board does the job faster" - that part got me thinking. Not just kitchen gadgets but also the science of fats. Lard has a higher smoke point than butter. So when you roll it thin and it hits that hot oven, it takes longer to melt. That extra time lets the flour hydrate and set. Butter burns and evaporates too fast. Shortening is hydrogenated garbage that just stays greasy. Lard actually works with the dough chemistry.

jordan_webb12d ago

That bit about "held its shape without shrinking" is exactly what got me. It's funny how something small like switching fats in a pie crust makes you realize we've been overcomplicating stuff for years. Shortening was invented for convenience, not for quality, same with a lot of things we buy now. I see that pattern everywhere lately. People are going back to the old ways because they actually work better. Like how everyone jumps on a new kitchen gadget when a simple knife and cutting board does the job faster. Or how we all got convinced butter was bad for us for decades. Sometimes the original thing is the best thing.