Lard
Sus scrofa domesticus (rendered fat) · Oil
Top 10 pairings
Lard is rendered pork fat — pig fat melted slowly until it separates from the connective tissue, then strained to a clean, soft, snow-white fat that sets to a smooth, spreadable solid at room temperature. Softer and lower-melting than beef tallow and milder in flavour, it is the foundational fat of flaky pastry, refried beans, tamales, and countless traditional cuisines from Mexico to Central Europe.
Picking a good onedrag
Snow-white, soft, clean and faintly porkyYellow-rimmed, crayon and old paint
Sealed in the crockEveryday bestStrained clear it is near-pure fat, with no water in it to spoil. Refried beans, tamales, carnitas, roast potatoes, everyday frying.
Colour through the tubCreamy, or warm tan from a dry render — but even
How it takes a knifeFirm from the fridge, still even and smooth throughout
Smell at the tubFrankly roasted and porky, the dry-rendered fatback
Read the tubPlainly rendered lard, kept cold, nothing added to it