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Originally posted by Axtremus:

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Originally posted by Daniel:

This is what I call, "generational knowledge." It's why my roommate's mother's baked goods are better than the products of the best local bakeries. Their products are excellent although a little formulaic by necessity. None of her three children can come remotely close to her. She's over 80 and her baking skills will sadly end with her.

She probably uses ingredients (or creates byproducts) no longer allowed by state or federal food regulations. A family elder (who was a professional chef before retirement) shared in multiple occasions that one (used to be common) way to make baked goods crispy and smell/taste great is to use good old fashioned lard. But modern health (marketing)-conscious commercial bakers don't do that anymore.

The ONLY way to make a pie crust from scratch is using lard or one of its close associates. That's how you get the amazing flaky texture of the past.

Yes, a lot of revered dishes of Western cuisine call for animal products that are, in places, falling out of favor — lard, cream, eggs, butter, gelatin, etc. Though apparently restaurants still use a ton of butter.

When I shop at the fancy food stores that have a large cheese counter here in the city, I am surprised how few customers are lined up. Maybe the trend toward veganism?

Agreed re: lard. It's a must for tortillas and tamales as well. You can use shortening but it's nowhere near as good.

Some recipes suggest substituting olive oil. Philistines!

We also get milk, 1/2 & 1/2, cream, eggs, and butter.

By the ton, in baked goods and food.

It tastes good but healthy? Nope.

Somewhere on the net I read an interesting article about the origin of Crisco. It was originally developed from cottonseed, which was a waste product of the production of cotton. During industrialization, all sort of new processing was developed, and they found a way to make cottonseed into an edible paste. Consumers initially resisted it, as lard was preferred, and cottonseed had a bad reputation because of its other non-food uses. (I think the current iteration of Crisco may be made up of something else.)

The upshot of the article is that American food manufacturers had a campaign to make consumers believe in brand names as signifiers of quality, rather than actual ingredients.

There's a lot of debate about the health aspects of various fats and oils. What seems to be clear is that there is no particular benefit to margarine as opposed to butter. If anything it may be opposite, where butter is actually better for you (in equal parts) than margarine.

I think I read a similar argument for lard in favor of crisco, but I'm not sure. The issue has to do with processing and other issues at the molecular level. The older I get, the more I realize the importance of eating "real" food. Not to say that I don't enjoy treats, but we're really trying to stay away from processed food, which primarily means we cook dinner from scratch as much as possible.