This cobbler is reminiscent of the traditional sweet potato casserole with the toasted marshmallows on top served every year at Thanksgiving—a dish always highly anticipated by all. This version incorporates the marshmallows into the filling and has a flaky, delicious bottom and top crust. Serves 16
CRUST
¾ cup lard, cold and coarsely chopped, plus more for greasing the dish
3 cups plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose unbleached flour
1 teaspoon salt
Ice water
FILLING
4 medium sweet potatoes, washed and peeled
½ cup evaporated milk
3 tablespoons butter
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup mini marshmallows
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
1 egg yolk
3 tablespoons water
Homemade whipped cream, for serving
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 13 by 9-inch baking dish with lard and set aside.
To prepare the crust, in a large bowl, combine 3 cups flour and the salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in the lard until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add just enough ice water to hold together the dough.
Turn the dough onto a floured surface and cut the dough in half. Place one half on floured wax paper and refrigerate. Using a rolling pin, roll out the other half to fit the baking dish. Fit the dough into the bottom of the prepared baking dish, coming up the sides, and bake for 15 minutes (it will be about halfway done); set aside.
Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan over high heat, bring the sweet potatoes to a boil; reduce the heat to medium and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat but let stand in the cooking water.
Using a slotted spoon, remove the sweet potatoes from the pan and transfer to a cutting board; set aside. To the potato water in the saucepan, add the evaporated milk, butter, the remaining 3 tablespoons (or more) flour, and the sugars (more or less, to taste). Add the marshmallows, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg; blend well. Cook the mixture over medium heat until thickened, whisking often to prevent sticking and to remove lumps. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
Slice the sweet potatoes lengthwise and place on the prebaked crust. Dot with additional butter and sprinkle with a little sugar to be sure the filling is sweet enough. Pour the marshmallow mixture over the potatoes. It will be very soupy, but it will cook down.
Remove the reserved dough from the refrigerator and roll out to a ¼-inch-thick rectangle. Cut the dough into strips and place over the filling, crisscrossing the strips. Beat together the egg yolk and water and brush over the top crust.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the juices have thickened and the crust is golden brown. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before serving. Top with homemade whipped cream.
When driving through the Puyallup Valley in Washington, you’ll see acres and acres of rhubarb—with its monstrously large leaves—growing in fields just off the road: not your everyday farm crop. The region grows about 50 percent of the U.S. rhubarb supply. Rhubarb usually is paired with strawberry (and lots of sugar) to tame its tartness, but try this combination for a new take on this beloved vegetable, used as a fruit. Serves 12
1 (21-ounce) can cherry pie filling
3 cups chopped fresh rhubarb
2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons butter
½ cup lard
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup milk
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl, mix together the pie filling and rhubarb. Spread the mixture in the bottom of a 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with 1 cup sugar and dot with the butter.
Using an electric mixer on low speed, cream together the lard and the remaining 1 cup sugar; add the egg and beat well.
In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon. Alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition. Pour the mixture over the fruit.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the juices are bubbling and the crust is puffed and golden brown. Serve warm.
Fresh-from-the-farm peaches are so luscious and juicy, but how do you get those darned fuzzy skins off? For firm peaches, use a sharp vegetable peeler. For very ripe, soft peaches, blanch them in simmering water for 15 seconds, then transfer to a waiting bowl of ice water. The skins should slip off nicely. Serves 4 to 6
⅓ cup lard, cold and coarsely chopped, plus more for greasing the dish
3 cups peeled sliced fresh peaches
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoon almond extract
1½ cups sifted all-purpose unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg
½ cup milk
Whipped cream or ice cream, for serving
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease a 2-quart round baking dish with lard. Arrange the sliced peaches in the dish.
In a medium bowl, mix together 1 cup sugar, the lemon zest, lemon juice, and almond extract; sprinkle over the peaches. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
While the peaches are cooking, in a large bowl, sift together the flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, the baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in the lard until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a small bowl, beat the egg and stir in the milk; add this all at once to the lard mixture, mixing just enough to moisten.
Using a large spoon, drop the dough over the cooked peaches, spreading lightly with the back of the spoon. Sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.
Bake for 30 minutes, until the juices are bubbling and the crust is puffed and golden brown. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.
If you have a weak spot for sinful breakfast cereals, or even oatmeal slathered with butter, brown sugar, and cream, bookmark this recipe and prepare it next time you’re in the mood. Buttery and crunchy, flavored with bananas, oats, brown sugar, and spices, this dish can be served in the morning for brunch or in the evening for dessert. Serves 6
⅓ cup lard, cold and coarsely chopped, plus more for greasing the dish
3 cups diced just-ripe bananas (6 to 9 medium bananas)
½ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1¼ cups sifted all-purpose unbleached flour
1 cup uncooked rolled oats
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter, cold, cut into ½-inch cubes
Heavy cream, for serving
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 2-quart baking dish with lard and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the bananas, granulated sugar, and nutmeg; toss to coat. Pour into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, sifted flour, oats, and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter and lard until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Spread the mixture over the bananas.
Bake for 40 minutes, until the crumb topping is crisp and brown. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before serving warm with heavy cream.
LARD AND POPCORN There is nothing better than popcorn popped in lard. One of our friends, an ag teacher, raised hogs. We went over one night to play cards, and Joe made popcorn. It was completely delicious. When I asked his secret, he said, “I always pop it in lard in a big ol’ pan on the stove.”
It was well salted, of course, and I just couldn’t stay out of it.
Nancy Nemec, West Point, Nebraska
Plum duff is traditionally an English-style pudding—a moist, prune-filled dessert. But this duff is more like a cobbler, with a cakelike crust on top. Dried plums, or prunes, were a popular ingredient in pies in medieval times, but over time they came to be replaced by raisins. The recipes that called for them, however, retained the term “plum,” which can be confusing to some cooks. Use stewed plums, prunes, cherries, rhubarb, peaches, apricots, or mixed fruit in this recipe. Serves 6
½ cup lard, cold and coarsely chopped, plus more for greasing the pan
3 cups pitted fresh or canned plums, drained
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
¾ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
¼ cup milk
Warm cream or ice cream, for serving
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking dish with lard and arrange the plums in it. Sprinkle with ½ cup sugar and dot with the butter.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, and the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the lard until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg and milk; stir into the flour mixture and blend well—you’ll have a very sticky dough. Spread the dough over the plums.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. Serve immediately with warm cream or ice cream.
This is in the style of an English pudding—more like a creamy cake than a custard. The boiling water serves to enhance and emphasize the cocoa flavor; it shouldn’t be subbed for tepid water. Serve with homemade whipped cream: Beat 1 cup heavy whipping cream with 3 tablespoons sugar on low speed for 30 seconds; add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and beat on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Serves 6 to 8
1 cup sifted all-purpose unbleached flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
¼ cup lard, cold and coarsely chopped
½ cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup chopped nuts of your choice
½ cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup light corn syrup
¾ cup boiling water
Homemade whipped cream, for serving
Preheat the oven to 325°F.
In a large bowl, sift together the sifted flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and 3 tablespoons cocoa. Using a pastry blender, cut in the lard until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add the milk, vanilla, and nuts; mix well. Spread the mixture into a 1½-quart casserole dish.
In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, the remaining 2 tablespoons cocoa, and the corn syrup; blend thoroughly. Pour in the boiling water and mix carefully until no lumps remain; pour over the mixture in the casserole dish.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until firm on top. Serve warm with homemade whipped cream.
LOTS OF GOOD MEMORIES My grandmother, mother, and I have all used lard for baking and cooking. I raise heritage hogs and keep the lard for use in everything.
Grandmother’s pie crust recipe was never a cup of this and a cup of that. Measurements were stated as “more or less.” On Saturday mornings, she would don her baking apron and pull out the enameled washbasins from under the kitchen sink. The kitchen stove was already on, and the kitchen was warming up to a toasty comfort level.
She never had running water in her home; water came from the pitcher pump on the back porch and was heated on the coal stove in the living room in a large galvanized teakettle until she needed it for her pies and bread baking. She would take the 25-pound bag of flour from her pantry and get her lard and hot water to mix the pie dough in the washbasin, adding in a “pinch of salt.” She hardly ever used a measuring cup. Baking staples were poured into her basin, and lard was scooped out of the container, usually from a metal lard can, with a spoon.
Every Saturday, Grandma made the favorite 9-inch pie of her five children and their spouses, as well as a few extra pies for Sunday dinner at her house. She also made small individual pies for all nine of her grandchildren. Her children also received some of the best and the most fragrant homemade biscuits, which would measure 6 to 7 inches tall, as well as a loaf of bread. Then, after church on Sunday, all of her children and grandchildren would meet at her home for a dinner of homemade chicken dumplings or homemade beef and noodles made, of course, from lard and flour.
All of Grandma’s kitchen towels were made from the flour sacks that the flour came in, and my sister and I would pick up extra ones for her from our local feed store. We would arrive at her door, carrying armloads that the feed store had saved for her.
I have many more memories from my childhood. How about the metal cans that lard came in? Or rendering the fat to make the lard?
When you sit down to an early morning breakfast with home-processed sausage or bacon, pasture-raised eggs, homemade bread, butter, and jelly, homegrown fried potatoes, and milk from your own goats and see the sun come up for another blessed day, you wonder why it took so long to come “back home” and why more people are so slow to start on that path to self-sufficiency.
Vick L. Patton, Hudson, Indiana
If you want to wow your family and friends with a unique, yet wholly satisfying dessert, prepare these pastry-wrapped apples using organic fruit you picked from the local orchard. Serve warm with cinnamon ice cream for the perfect finish to a fall harvest dinner. Serves 4
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons lard, cold and coarsely chopped, plus more for greasing the dish
½ cup plus ⅔ cup sugar
1¾ teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons butter
1½ cups water
2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1 teaspoon salt
Ice water
4 large tart apples (Granny Smith, Pippin), peeled and cored
Cinnamon ice cream, for serving
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 13 by 9-inch baking dish with lard; set aside.
In a small bowl, mix together ½ cup sugar and 1½ teaspoons cinnamon; set aside.
In a small saucepan, combine the remaining ⅔ cup sugar, 2 tablespoons butter, the water, and the remaining ¼ teaspoon cinnamon. Heat to boiling and continue to boil gently for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut in the lard until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add just enough ice water (¼ cup, more or less) to hold together the mixture, using your hands to mix. (Don’t knead the dough or the pastry will be tough.) Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 4 balls; roll out each ball and shape into a 9-inch square.
Place 1 whole apple in the center of each pastry square. Fill each apple cavity with the sugar-cinnamon mixture. Using a little water, lightly moisten the edges of each square, then fold the corners up to the center and pinch the edges together. Dot each top with ½ teaspoon butter. Place the apples in the prepared dish. Pour 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of the dish.
Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven and add the remaining sauce; baste. Return to the oven and bake an additional 30 minutes, or until golden brown, basting occasionally. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving with cinnamon ice cream.
LOVED THE LEFTOVER CRUNCHIES! I was raised on a farm near Clendenin, West Virginia. I don’t remember the recipe, but my brother made pie crust using lard, and they were the best pie crusts I have ever had!
I can remember raising pigs to butcher most of my growing-up years. We butchered them ourselves. We have a family with twelve children, and we raised a lot of what we ate. When I was almost ten years old, I helped Mom with the rendering of fat in a large kettle (a little bigger than a half bushel). We loved the “crunchies” that were left after all the lard was rendered.
I also remember that when we ran out of lard in the kitchen, we bought it in a bucket that was 8 pounds or 25 pounds.
Marshall R. Parker Sr., via e-mail
Sand Hill plums (Prunus angustifolia) are native to Kansas. They’re found growing wild on dusty prairies, where they’re very effective at stopping blowing sand. For native Kansans, that first bite of a ripe Sand Hill plum in July brings with it a flood of childhood memories . . . searching every plum thicket within a five-mile radius for enough fruit for mom to make jelly. If Sand Hill plums aren’t available, substitute red plums, but it won’t be the same. Serve with a dollop of old-fashioned vanilla ice cream. Serves 4
2½ cups all-purpose unbleached flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
⅓ cup lard, softened
1 cup sugar, plus additional for sweetening
1 egg
⅔ cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 pints Sand Hill plums, washed, pitted, and coarsely chopped
Vanilla ice cream, for serving
In a large bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. In a separate bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, cream together the lard and sugar; add the egg, milk, and vanilla and beat well. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat on low just until combined.
In a saucepan, combine the plums with sugar to taste; heat to boiling and boil for 5 minutes. Using a large spoon, drop the dough into the boiling plums; cover and cook until the dumplings have doubled in size, about 5 minutes. Uncover, remove from the heat, and cool for 15 minutes before serving. The mixture will thicken as it stands. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
LONG LINE OF COOKS I guess I’m probably the last in a long line of lard/bacon grease users. My mom was born and raised in West Virginia, where they raised most of their own food, including hogs, milk cows, and chickens.
I grew up watching my mom cook with rendered lard and/or bacon grease, and that’s how I learned to cook. We’ve always gone to the slaughterhouse to buy our lard. That white stuff in the grocery stores called lard just isn’t the same as the real thing. The white lard in the grocery stores doesn’t have the same rich flavor as lard from the slaughterhouse.
I don’t buy as much lard as I used to because I don’t cook as much as I used to, and sometimes I do use a little bit of vegetable oil. Sometimes I use oil and bacon grease together to try to make the food more healthy. However, I just can’t seem to wrap my brain around the fact that hog fat cooked down into grease is not as healthy as some kind of oil that has been processed and reprocessed with chemicals added.
I’ve lost faith in the powers that be in telling us what is and what isn’t healthy for us, and then five or ten years down the road, they do a complete turnaround.
By the way, my mom lived to be ninety-five years old, eating lard and bacon grease, and I’ll soon be seventy-one.
Doris Mathis, northwest Illinois
This three-layer brownie cake, bursting with marshmallow crème and dripping with chocolate sauce, is just the thing when you’re in the mood for celebrating . . . or gluttony. Make it for Mother’s Day, when the guest of honor will lovingly nod your way in recognition of your effort. Serves 16
1½ cups lard, softened, plus more for greasing the pans
3 cups granulated sugar
5 eggs
3½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
2¼ cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon plus ⅛ teaspoon salt
¾ cup butter, softened
2 cups marshmallow crème
2½ cups plus 1⅓ cups confectioners’ sugar
3 tablespoons milk
Chopped nuts, for garnish
Maraschino cherries, for garnish
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease the bottoms of three 8-inch round cake pans with lard. Cut wax paper to fit the pan bottoms; place in the pans and grease the wax paper with lard. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream 1 cup lard with the granulated sugar using an electric hand mixer on low speed. Beat in the eggs and 1½ teaspoons vanilla. In a small bowl, sift together 1 cup cocoa, the flour, baking powder, and ½ teaspoon salt. Beat the dry ingredients into the lard mixture.
Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans and smooth the tops. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the brownie pulls away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Do not overbake. Remove from the oven; cool on wire racks for 5 minutes. Invert the layers onto wire racks and peel off the wax paper. Cool completely.
In a mixing bowl, cream together ½ cup butter and the remaining ½ cup lard. Add the marshmallow crème and the remaining 2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat well. Add 2½ cups confectioners’ sugar and beat until smooth. Set the crème filling aside.
In a small saucepan, heat the remaining ¼ cup butter, the milk, the remaining 2 tablespoons cocoa, and the remaining ⅛ teaspoon salt just until bubbly; stir. Remove from the heat and beat in the remaining 1⅓ cups confectioners’ sugar. Set aside to cool. If the glaze becomes too thick while cooling, thin with a tablespoon of milk.
Place 1 brownie layer on a serving plate. Spread a third of the crème filling over the layer. Drizzle a small amount of the glaze over the sides of the layer. Top with a second layer and repeat with the crème filling and glaze. Place the third layer on top. Spread the remaining crème filling over the top and drizzle the remaining glaze over the sides of the torte. Garnish with the chopped nuts and stemmed maraschino cherries.
LARD—WAY OF LIFE Using lard was a way of life when I was growing up in south Missouri. I was born in 1938. We raised our own hogs, chickens, and milk cows, and we farmed with horsepower. For me, butchering was a hated task, as I detested the smell and the long day of hard work. Mom used the lard and made the best pies, cakes, and yeast bread in the area, according to many people, even those who weren’t family. I remember the lard stand in the smokehouse and coming home one Sunday and finding it half empty with someone’s handprints in it where they scooped it out.
I used lard in the early days of my marriage, but I gradually came to believe it to be bad for our health. Now, the bad part may be the antibiotics and unhealthy food fed to commercially raised hogs.
Bettie Erwin, Odessa, Missouri
Rhubarb is the problem fruit of the kitchen. It’s extremely tart and always needs its sour nature tamed. This dish uses orange juice and sugar to sweeten rather than the usual strawberries. To further mellow the flavor, before dicing the rhubarb, soak it in a gallon of cold water for 20 minutes. Serves 6
⅓ cup lard, softened, plus more for greasing the pan
½ cup plus ⅔ cup sugar
½ cup orange juice
¼ cup water
3 cups diced rhubarb
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
¼ teaspoon salt
⅔ cup milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Whipped cream or ice cream, for serving
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch baking pan with lard; set aside.
In a saucepan, combine the ½ cup sugar, the orange juice, and water. Heat to boiling, add the rhubarb, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 7 to 10 minutes, until the rhubarb is tender. Stir only once or twice to prevent the rhubarb from becoming mushy. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly.
In a large bowl, cream together the lard and the remaining ⅔ cup sugar with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy. Beat in the egg, baking powder, flour, and salt. Add the milk and vanilla and beat until well mixed. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and cover with the rhubarb mixture.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.
“An apple pie without the cheese is like a kiss without the squeeze,” said Park Benjamin Sr., publisher of The Evening Tattler and The New World, in 1882. The traditional way to serve apple pie in England, particularly in Yorkshire and Sussex, is with cheese, which adds a rich, complex flavor. While you probably won’t find this apple pizza (with cheddar cheese baked into the crust) served across the pond, it will amuse and delight pizza lovers everywhere. Serves 8
CRUST
1½ cups plus ⅓ cup all-purpose unbleached flour
1¼ teaspoons salt
½ cup lard, cold and coarsely chopped
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Ice water
TOPPING
½ cup powdered nondairy creamer
½ cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
6 cups apple slices, pared or with peel, sprinkled with 2 tablespoons lemon juice
¼ cup butter, cold
Vanilla bean ice cream, for serving
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
In a large bowl, whisk together 1½ cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in the lard until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the cheese. Sprinkle the mixture with ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and stir until it comes together in a ball. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and roll out to fit a pizza pan (about 15 inches).
To make the topping, in a large bowl, combine the creamer with the sugars, the remaining ⅓ cup flour, the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt, and the cinnamon. Sprinkle a quarter of the mixture over the crust in the pan. Arrange the apple slices in a circular pattern on top.
Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the remaining sugar mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs; sprinkle over the apples.
Bake for 30 minutes, until the apples are tender and the juices are bubbling. Slice into 8 pieces and serve immediately with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.