More puff past piec, more crispy fried chicken, richer noodles – this ingredient does everything

At the beginning of each month, I make a new batch of Saindoux. I climb next to my local butcher’s shop and I carry back bags of the household house, the section of the pork fat in the air rope which clings to the kidney and the kidney of the pig. In its raw state, the leaf of the leaves is hard, opaque and frankly not so attractive to look or touch. But give it back in a saucepan over medium-low heat for an hour or in a pot in the oven for a few hours, and it slowly becomes a shiny liquid with a slightly sweet and irresistibly tasty aroma.

The Knundoux, the pork fat made, appears in almost all my favorite foods: my local Taqueria uses it to cook their meats, which makes them additional. I slide it into the peanut butter noodles instead of oil or butter for more creamy, stir it in my spanking oil for more crispy results, or fold it into a pie pulp for a more puff past. Traditional moon cake recipes almost always call for the lank – in fact, it is the fat that most Chinese bakeries turn for its lip cachet flavor, the way it crops and awaits pastries, and because it helps to fully use the pig. If you are new in the kitchen with Saindoux, you can assume that it gives a note of pork and salty to everything it touches. According to the lot, the flavor of the healthy

The rendered lard can come from several parts of the pig. The leafy havenoux is highly appreciated and produces the white and most neutral fat, which makes it ideal for pastries, such as pies, cookies, breads (including conchas) and moon cakes. However, its yields are small: each pork has only 1 to 2 pounds from Saindoux in leaves, against 5 to 10 pounds of fat. The fat, found just under the skin, is more fluid, but can contain strips of meat that make a greater tasty fat. Pork grease can also be returned, but because it contains more meat and connective tissue, it tends to brown and load, giving the lard a more fleshy flavor.

Prized to vilipped and again

Breana Lai Killeen, editorial director associated with Food and wine And a recorded dietitian is also a fan of the Saindoux. In her farm in Vermont, where she sells Saindoux, she noticed a renewed interest in fat. Customers frequently tell him that they appreciate his sweet flavor and many uses. Unlike delicate frying oils, such as sesame oil, the Knundoux is stable over high heat (374 ° F / 190 ° C). The cuisine with a mastoux also connects many of its customers to a long tradition of whole animal cuisine in many cultures. “Part of this comes from the wider movements of the nose to the tail and sustainability, where people are more aware of reducing food waste,” she said. “Why throw something so versatile?”

Not long ago, the Knundoux was vilified for its saturated fat content, in particular during the craze for low fat diet of the second half of the 20th century, when all animal fat was deemed unhealthy. But the science of nutrition has since moved conversation. “People always confuse natural saturated fats with artificial trans fats,” said Killeen. (The United States has prohibited trans artificial trans fats – created by hydrogenous vegetable oils to make them solid and stable – in 2015, and the prohibition entered into force in 2018. On the other hand, small amounts of natural natural fats occur in meat and dairy products of ruminating animals, but they are structurally different and not considered harmful than artificial products.).

“The Saindoux rendered, in particular from the brewed animals of pastures, is not hydrogenated like the old commercial shortcuts”, explains Killeen. “It contains a mixture of monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated fats and, in fact, has more monounsaturated fats and less saturated fat than butter.”

How homemade chefs and cooks use the lank in their kitchen

The Keundoux is often used in traditional Chinese, Mexican and British pastry recipes. Although butter is regularly recommended as a practical substitute in these recipes, the two fats are not interchangeable. They differ both by the flavor and the composition: the leaf of the leaves is 100% fatty and has a neutral flavor, while the butter generally contains about 20% of water and has a clearly creamy taste. The butter melts faster than the Knundoux, softening around 58 and 69 ° F (14 to 20 ° C). Meanwhile, the Saindoux has a melting point of around 95 ° and 118 ° F (35 to 48 ° C), which means that it does not soften as quickly while you manage it.

The contributor of Serious Eats Tim Chin tested a lank against butter while developing his recipe for Daan Tat, Hong Kong -style egg tart. Although he finally preferred the flavor of Butter, he noticed a marked texture difference while using lard: “After comparing the method of bacon dough to a more traditional puff pastry formula (and even quick cutting -edge methods), I found that the Saindoux paste was more tender, and the layers more delicate during cooking.” The compromise between the flavor of the butter and the upper texture transmitted by the Knundoux is that many bakers accept, which is why pastry and other good recipes cooked in the oven often require a mixture of the two fats: butter for flavor and lard for a crisp and delicate texture.

At the Killeen farm, where she manufactures and sells her own Saindoux, her customers impatiently remove pots to make pies and gingerbread, fry chicken and even cooking cookies – just like many bakers in the south, including the famous famous author of Edna Lewis cooking books, have not been doing it for a long time.

Of course, I do not always have time to make my own arundoux. Fortunately, you can often find it in producer markets or in Mexican and Dominican grocery stores. It is also sold by companies such as Fatworks and Møsabi, a company based in San Francisco specializing in leaf. On its website, Møsabi notes: “The labels of the leaves is also the equivalent of butter in the Chinese kitchen, appreciated for its ability to add a rich and salty depth to wok and sautéed vegetables.”

Fortunately for me, my favorite Taqueria, Taqueria Ramirez in Brooklyn, New York, sells semi-bedroads from Saindoux. The co -owner Giovanni Cervantes does not hide the importance of bacon in his kitchen. Under the Pastor’s menu, registered by the store (roasted pork ass), Longaniza (spicy chopped pork similar to chorizo) and tacos of nopales (cactus), a note can be read as follows: everything can contain arundoux.

For cervantes, this ingredient is fundamental for Mexican cuisine and deeply nostalgic, evoking memories of the Taquerias with which he grew up in Mexico. Since the opening of the shop in 2021, Cervantes and its staff have fueled a “mother -in -law” in the kitchen, a bit like the starter of the leaven of a bakery. Each day, the Knundoux is loosened by an equal amount of water to create a tasty embers for the meats of the day. This water evaporates in several hours and, at the end of the day, the cooks filter the remaining fat through a fine mesh sieve and store it in a cool and dark place until used the next day.

The Saindoux of Taqueria Ramirez, initially coming from the Casablanca meat market in East Harlem, had a clear and salty flavor to start. But once the restaurant has started to add Longaniza, pastor and other basic fatty cooking fat, its flavor has deepened and has taken the salty complexity of dry meat. This Keundoux requires a little more effort to preserve that the type freshly rendered – the warders must stretch the solids to minimize the risk of deterioration – but maintaining the mother’s mastoux is essential in the shop.

“If you continue the Knundoux over the years, it becomes the identity of your food,” he said. “It’s generational [in Mexico]Also. If your grandfather dies, they give you their Baks. “Le Saindoux de la Taqueria is not exclusive to the restaurant.

Like Killeen and Cervantes, the Saindoux is an essential part of my kitchen. Each pot reminds me of the time spent making fats in the stove, and this flavor raises both traditional dishes and new experiences. Doing my own la Saundoux is a relatively new ritual, and one that I am impatient at the beginning of each month.