Lard substitute?

7 Responses

1. CompassRose

   18|Oct|2001 1

   That depends on where the lard is going, and how low-fat you want to be.

   If the lard is just being used in a stew or something, for preliminary sauteing, for instance, substitute oil of your choice. (Or oil spray, if you like.) You can usually reduce the oil A LOT as well, possibly with the addition of water, broth, wine or whatever if the sauteed materials start to stick a bit.

   If it’s in baking, you can substitute any vegetable shortening. Spectrum (maybe?) makes one that doesn’t have transfats. There’s been a lot of discussion over on Vegsource about this.

   Again, if you want to be lower-fat (even all-natural organic vegetable shortening is 100% fat) there are other workarounds. For savoury baking, you can use various ratios of shortening or margarine to tofu/well-pureed cottage cheese/yogourt/pumpkin/etc. For sweet baking, you can do the same, with the addition of other fruit purees: applesauce, prune, date… depending on other ingredients. This is largely a matter of experimentation.

   As to how much lard weighs, I’m not sure. If you’re substituting straight shortening, I’d try weight-for-weight; they should be about the same. The Joy of Cooking may have this info, if you’ve got it.

   What kinda recipes you talking, here?

2. Ryan

   18|Oct|2001 2

   CompassRose — thanks for the reply.

   When I head home this evening, I’ll give you some more specific examples of recipes in the book… I know there are a bunch of stews and goulashes in there.

3. Rob

   18|Oct|2001 3

   You can substitute it with your ass. Lard ass.

4. Robert

   18|Oct|2001 4

   I knew Rob would beat me to the joke punch. Curse you, Craven!

   My mom says that when/where she grew up it was common to eat straight lard for breakfast. Ugh.

5. Alice

   08|Mar|2004 5

   Do you know what 1/4 cup of lard would translate to in veg oil?

6. Missy

   04|Oct|2005 6

   I found this here site while looking up lard substitutes, and then found one with some better answers, so I thought I’d share. Here’s the website: http://www.foodsubs.com/Fatsoils.html
   And here’s the info:

   For baking
   General notes: Reducing fat will give baked goods a denser texture; to correct for this, try increasing the sugar in the recipe and/or beating the egg whites and folding them into the batter. Also try using a softer flour, like pastry or cake flour.
   · applesauce (Applesauce can replace up to ¾ of the shortening in many recipes. Add with the liquid ingredients and reduce sugar in recipe if the applesauce is sweetened.) OR
   · pureed prunes (Pureed prunes can replace up to ¾ of the shortening in many recipes; it works especially well with chocolate. Add with the liquid ingredients.) OR
   · apple butter (Apple butter can replace up to ¾ of the shortening in many recipes, also reduce sugar in recipe if the apple butter is sweetened. Add with the liquid ingredients.) OR
   · fruit-based fat substitutes (Especially good when baking with chocolate; add with the liquid ingredients. For best results, substitute only 3/4 of the fat with this.)OR
   · ricotta cheese (This works well in many yeast breads that call for solid fat. Substitute measure for measure. For best results, substitute no more than 3/4 of the fat with this.) OR
   · bananas (mashed) (Substitute measure for measure.) OR
   · omit or reduce (In many recipes for quick breads, muffins, and cookies, you can reduce the amount of fat in the recipe by about a third without seriously compromising the quality.
   · oil (Avoid substituting oils for solid fats when baking cookies, cakes, and pastries; it will make the dish greasy and dense. If you must do so, substitute 3 parts oil for every 4 parts solid fat and consider increasing the amount of sugar and eggs in the recipe. Pie crusts made with oil aren’t as flaky as those made with solid fat.)

   Hope this is helpful!

7. lazydazy

   18|Dec|2005 7

   how do you propose i make refried beans w/o using lard? i definitely don’t want to use it b/c it’s gross and b/c it’s so fattening. any ideas on low fat refritos?