Hi Patrick. Thanks so much for your excellent comment. Yes, you are absolutely right - lard has many uses and can't neatly be replaced by dairy and other fats. I mentioned in the episode that lard was considered to have medicinal properties, but it also served ceremonial purposes in that certain livestock had to be cooked in lard in order to transform them from ordinary meat to celestial offering.
It is really interesting that your parents and their generation ate lard on bread. I wonder what lard they used and if it had the aroma of pigginess that Chinese chefs over the centuries have tried to tame. It is a shame that lard has gone out of fashion, and it seems the nutrition industry hasn't really made its mind up about whether it is a good or a bad fat.
Hi Patrick. Thanks so much for your excellent comment. Yes, you are absolutely right - lard has many uses and can't neatly be replaced by dairy and other fats. I mentioned in the episode that lard was considered to have medicinal properties, but it also served ceremonial purposes in that certain livestock had to be cooked in lard in order to transform them from ordinary meat to celestial offering.
It is really interesting that your parents and their generation ate lard on bread. I wonder what lard they used and if it had the aroma of pigginess that Chinese chefs over the centuries have tried to tame. It is a shame that lard has gone out of fashion, and it seems the nutrition industry hasn't really made its mind up about whether it is a good or a bad fat.
- Mukta