Lard and butter are two of the most fantastic fats available for baking. And if you got queries about the distinction between butter and lard, we have all the answers here.
Lard is becoming more popular, and for a good reason, despite the fact that butter is still more commonly used in kitchens today. Yes, lard can be used instead of butter in most baked goods recipes. Lard performs exceptionally well in cake batter, pie crust, and cookies.
Butter vs. Lard in Recipes
Lard and butter are two of the most fantastic fats available for baking. Lard is becoming more popular, and for a good reason, despite the fact that butter is still more commonly used in kitchens today. And if you got any queries about the distinction between butter and lard, we have all the answers here.
Lard is an excellent fat for baking and frying, so I always have some on hand. In fact, over the past few years, it has evolved into my preferred fat for baking. However, I still enjoy using butter in some dishes.
What distinguishes butter from lard, then? The main distinction between lard and butter is that the former has roughly 50% monounsaturated fat while the latter has a monounsaturated fat level of about 33%.
Other distinctions and similarities include that butter is a dairy product, whereas lard is made by reducing swine fat. Continue reading for a detailed explanation of butter and lard.
What Distinguishes Lard from Butter?
If you’re like most bakers, you’ve done the majority of your baking with butter. However, you might be unsure if lard is a wise choice. The quick response is that lard is a superior fat for baking. It offers a fat composition that is perfect for baking and gives baked items a unique flavor and texture. Let’s now discuss the specifics of both butter and lard.
This essential kitchen item is well-liked for a reason. Butter has undoubtedly been utilized in your baking of everything from cookies to cake to brownies. You can saute vegetables in butter and quickly prepare eggs for breakfast.
Butter is a staple in almost every kitchen and has many uses. Butter is created from dairy cream by churning it until it has a recognizable creamy feel. Butter contains about 80% fat. The remaining 20% is made up of milk solids and water and is rich and creamy.
Use the butter your specific recipe calls for because that’s the key. Both salted and unsalted butter are available and can be used in baking and cooking. While salt plays a crucial role in enhancing food flavors, using too much can ruin the flavor of your dish’s finished product. You ensure the right amount of salt is used; make sure to use the sort of butter your recipe specifies for.
When baking, butter is an excellent fat to utilize. It will give all kinds of baked items a terrific flavor and a rich texture. You might not like lard, but it was the preferred fat in US kitchens for many years. Most of that bad reputation is unwarranted. Lard is an excellent fat to use in baking. Lard is made exclusively from rendered hog fat.
In fact, the content of lard is close to 100% fat. One of the main distinctions is that this is significantly higher than butter. Cakes, pie crusts, frying, roasting, biscuits, and pastries can all be made with lard. Any baked recipe will benefit from the delicious flavor and texture of lard.
Lard is a good fat that should be kept on hand in any baker’s kitchen, even though you won’t want to put it on your toast in the morning.
How Do I Use Lard In Baking?
Lard may essentially be used in your kitchen in the same ways as other fats. Use a tablespoon of lard in your skillet rather than canola oil. Use equal parts of lard in a cake instead of margarine. Use lard substitute, or a mixture of half butter and half lard, in place of butter while making cookies.
Compared to other oils, it does behave differently. This is because when lard melts, the fats do not separate. In contrast, the butter separates the oil from the milk at higher temperatures. Cookies prepared with butter will be crispier, and cookies made with lard will be chewier because food containing more oil is more likely to become more rigid when it cools.
Additionally, lard-based pastries such as biscuits, pie crusts, and pastries are incredibly delicious, flaky, and light.
Tips For Substituting Lard For Butter When Baking
- Lard can be used in a 1:1 substitution for butter.
- To retain some of the butter flavors while incorporating the health advantages of lard, you may also use a mixture of half butter and half lard in any recipe.
- Again, experiment with tiny flavor additions to dishes where you’ve substituted lard for butter. Lard is flavorless (unless it’s improperly rendered, in which case it tastes like bacon), but butter delivers an authentic flavor. Learn more about appropriate rendering methods here.
- Adding chopped mint to chocolate chip cookies is my favorite application of the advice mentioned above. Although you can hardly taste the mint, the overall effect is incredible. See my recipe for lard-based chocolate chip cookies here.
- To compensate for the lack of butter, consider including a few additional pinches of salt or sugar.
- Butter biscuits should be spaced at least 2 inches apart on cookie pans since they tend to run. Because fat prevents cookies from running, so you can space your dough balls together.
- When using butter in a recipe, I frequently bake the products for a few more minutes than when using lard.
- Before taking them to a cooling rack, I always let freshly baked butter biscuits cool on the cookie sheets. However, I never do this when using the same recipe using lard in place of the butter; instead, I immediately remove the cookies from the hot trays and place them on a cooling rack. Since lard solidifies more quickly into chewiness than butter, I don’t want them to become overcooked on the hot trays.
- To make it simple to use instead of butter in any recipe, I reduce my lard and freeze it in molds that resemble butter. (The molds even include TB marks, so you can use the lard by the TB.) What an excellent idea.
- You may use molds similar to mine to manufacture sticks of lard, which you can then store in freezer-safe containers so you can easily retrieve one or two bars for your following recipe.
Why Use Fat In Baking?
The reasons animal fats fell out of favor have a long and tumultuous history. Still, I firmly believe that the slight resurgence of interest in real fat from humanely raised animals rather than synthetic sources is good.
Let’s examine the benefits of animal fats, nevertheless. Our body needs the cholesterol and saturated fats in animal fats like lard and tallow for various functions.
Here are a few ways why lard is good for our health:
Cholesterol Is Essential For Healthy Organ Function
Our body’s cells all contain cholesterol. At a very fundamental level, we require it. A waxy, whitish-yellow lipid called cholesterol is essential to cell membranes.
It Is Necessary For A Healthy Brain And Emotions
Cholesterol is necessary for the production of neurotransmitters in the brain. Numerous research (source) have demonstrated a connection between severe depression and a low-cholesterol diet. It’s intriguing to consider whether the occasional brain fog we feel results from not eating any fatty (good fat) foods recently.
In scientific studies, less fat consumption was observed to be associated with an increase in violent crime and suicide. Although we cannot claim with certainty that a correlation exists in such cases due to the abundance of other factors, it is undoubtedly important to note.
It Strengthens Our Defenses
Who would have imagined eating fat would help us have a more muscular immune system? But it’s accurate. B vitamins are abundant in lard and are crucial for our immune system’s function.
Vitamin D Is Abundant In Lard
One of the limited foods rich in vitamin D is lard or all items we can consume from pigs raised on pasture. Pork lard produced from back fat has an extremely high vitamin D content because it comes from a pig’s back. Which is reasonable. The pigs spend their entire lives soaking up the light via their skin.
A tablespoon of fat from pastured pigs contains 1000 IU of vitamin D. According to recent studies, we need 250 milligrams of vitamin D daily. How much lard made from back fat should you consume daily to get 250 micrograms of vitamin D? Just one spoonful. I’m done now.
Lard Aids In The Absorption Of Vital Vitamins
Lard not only contains a ton of vitamins but also aids in their absorption. Without fat in our diets, our bodies would be unable to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. The fact that the good fats fill us up is beneficial because it keeps us from succumbing to the urge to consume processed foods laden with hydrogenated oils, which are really bad fats.
Consuming fats with your meal prevents a spike in your blood sugar. Consequently, you don’t experience post-meal crashes or fatigue. Authentic food, which contains real fats, does not result in a “crash,” in contrast to processed, high-sugar foods, which make you feel awful 10 minutes after eating them.
In the end, you should consume fats with each meal and consume 30% of your calories from them. Fat offers nine calories per gram. Proteins and carbohydrates both contain four calories per gram. However, keep in mind that moderation is vital.
Hiiii! My name is Ruth and I am an experienced chef with a passion for food and cooking. My love of baking began when I was nine, and I have since been refining my skills in the kitchen ever since.
