Dinner tonight was charcoal-grilled fajitas

M

melissa-dallas

Well-known member
pico de gallo, peppers & onions sauteed in some of the fajita marinade, homemade refried beans in real lard from the carniceria, cheese, sour cream, tortillas. Sadly, neither of my avocados were good, so no guacamole, but it was a good dinner anyway.

 
You had me at "real lard."

I almost always ask for "whole beams" (just boiled--not fried yet. Usually Mexican restaurants have a pot on the stove for themselves and for tomorrow's refried, even if it's not on the menu.)

But when I do sin I want to enjoy it! It's gotta be real lard. And if it's home-rendered lard it's probably healthier that processed oil or shortening.

 
One of the best things about the little Mexican meat markets

They render & sell their own lard. It makes the absolute best divinely crispy fried potatoes. I don't cook them very often, but potatoes fried in lard with a side of over-easy eggs is about my favorite breakfast.

 
Back in the mid-80's we had a favorite family-run mexican restaurant here...

...that rendered its own lard. They made a ton of pork items (tamales, enchiladas, carnitas, etc.) so they always had enough lard for their beans.

I still have DREAMS about the taste of those beans! So creamy, smokey and PERFECT. They always told me it was because of the lard. I believed them, but even when I eat re-fried beans today that use real lard, it just isn't the same. I don't know why.

That restaurant is long gone, but I'll never forget those beans! If it was possible, I'd probably have them as my "last request". They were THAT GOOD...

Michael

 
And then there was my German Mother who made her own schmaltz. She boiled lard with...

...chopped bacon, onions, etc. If I remember right, she used a low temp so the lard just simmered -low enough so the additions didn't deep-fry. Once it was done to her liking, she let it cool just a little, and while still hot she strained out the solids. She would then pour the lard into a brick-shaped ceramic dish and put it in the fridge to solidify. Once solid, she would take nearly 1/2-inch slices and eat it on dark German bread.

She loved it. She didn't eat it every day, but I'm sure it contributed to her early demise. Her arteries were FULL, God rest her soul. I'm sure she would say it was worth it though.

Michael

 
I'll bet it's because the PIG was so tasty...its fat would carry the flavor.

Commercial boxed lard is flat-tasting versus the one I made from scratch using leaf lard. I kept that precious jar in the freezer and augmented butter pie crusts with it.

Sigh. I can't imagine how much better it would have tasted 30 years ago when pork tasted like pork.

 
I remember the old original Garcia's in the early 80s. They served meals with such

huge, real flavours. The restaurant had those old wreaths of fruits hanging on the walls. Aaah, eating around the world is such fun.

 
I render my own lard when I make tamales. Rick Bayless's instructions are....

...easy to follow, and the supermarkets that cater to mexican customers here tend to have raw pork fat in their meat cases year-round. It's cheap too!

I've never used the supermarket snow-white bricks.

Michael

 
Here, we buy fatback at the Asian market. Find it next to the whole pig head. smileys/smile.gif

 
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