Lard has something of a negative image due to all the bad press given to saturated fats (which is actually attribuatable to man-made rather than natural saturated fats but that's beyond the scope of this post) and is something that I had never used until recently. I was inspired to use it by Amanda who actually renders her own lard although I have not gone that far and just buy it from the supermarket.
I first tried out lard in baked porridge (oatmeal). I did it half and half which tasted fine and have since had it with just lard which still did not taste significantly different to when I made it with butter. I use 4oz in the recipe which at £1/250g is 44p for butter and at 28p/250g is 12p for lard (or 28p if I do half and half). Since lard is 72% cheaper, the savings can add up over a year.
I also discovered another advantage of lard. I've always used margerine or butter or oil with flour to stop biscuits, bread, cakes etc. sticking to the tins. Unfortunately this has never been very successful and I have often had trouble getting things clean or even getting the contents out of the tin in one piece. One day however I decided to try out lard mainly because it was cheaper so I figured I might as well try. The difference is amazing. I have just greased the tins by rubbing the block of lard on them (without adding flour) and everything comes off really easily. It has been so effective with bread that the tins almost don't need cleaning afterwards. Even if you are not convinced of the healthiness of actually eating lard, it is worth using just for this.
