In Defense of Lard

Notice how I put the picture first. That’s right, there’s lard in those biscuits. And I tell you, I have never tasted such a light, fluffy and absolutely delicious biscuit. It’s amazing how far a little lard can go!

I recently bought the Lee Brothers’ Cookbook, which is chock-full of delicious Southern recipes. What I love about this book is its focus on creating traditional Southern recipes using the finest local and seasonal ingredients. The Lee brothers have a small section in the book where they extol the virtues of lard, and well, it didn’t take much to convince me. I had already done some research on it, because while much maligned, it actually isn’t as bad for you as some would have you think. In fact, in moderation, it’s actually GOOD for you. You can read more about lard here.

 

So, with my sights firmly set on creating the ultimate buttermilk biscuit, I went in search of some lard. The good news is, I didn’t have to search for long, as I knew the exact person who could set me up: My friend Kirk at the Farmer’s Fresh Market! He very kindly sent me a pound of lard with my order of other Fresh Market goodies (stay tuned for more on that).

So last Sunday, I whipped up a batch of the Lee Brothers’ Bird-head buttermilk biscuits. I’ve been making buttermilk biscuits for quite some time,  and Scott (my husband, and official taste tester) has said on more than one occasion that my biscuits are one of the best things to come out of my kitchen. But I tell you, these biscuits set the bar even higher. They just melt in your mouth and are absolutely lard-o-licious. I also took the Lee brothers’ advice and whipped up a little batch of sorghum (molasses) butter, using up some of the sorghum I had leftover (also procured through the Farmer’s Fresh Market). Talk about a revelation. Josh tries to spread that sorghum butter on just about everything now. The rest of breakfast was almost an afterthought… well, almost. Soft-scrambled eggs with goat cheese and tarragon: The tarragon from my garden and the goat cheese from Looking Glass Creamery, also procured through… well, you know where. Delicious!