42 replies to this topic

[clinky]

I've come home to pots and pans of cooked food in my fridge, from my MiL. There's a strange chicken, vegetable and tomato combo in a pan which I didn't know what to do with so I decided to whap it in a pie.

Thing is, all the times I've made pastry I've used lard.

Can people tell me a substitute for lard or fat in Turkey.

Is there a ready made package thing?

[Abi]

Not sure where you would get lard from, isn't it made from pig fat?. I think if you were in a tourist area in the south where they sell a lot of pork products you may be luckier.

It's a shame you didn't ask me about suet because I could have answered that.

[IstanbulWhiteboy]

Any solid fat will work: butter, margarine or vegetable shortening; oil or melted fat will not work, so ixnay on the olive oil

[sunny]

Spot on IWB. I've always used margarine to make pastry.

[KKW]

Most Turkish Mums use margarine to make their pastry. It's readily available in most shops.

[clinky]

Yes I know about the margarine, I'm not a complete cooking novice. It's just that whenever I make pastry I use a mixture of margarine and lard. I wanted to know a suitable substitute for lard.

I usually freeze the lard and grate it into the mixture as I kneading the dough, bit by bit.

[sunny]

Alternatively you can buy frozen pastry!

[clinky]

I searched long and hard for that Sunny, tell me where from?!

[sunny]

Oh! Well, in the freezer compartment in Tansas or probably most supermarkets, I think.

[Quinn]

Hi Clinky!

I make pastry from butter. The butter has to be cold and hard to work. My favorite recipe is 1 stick butter, 1 and 3/4 cups flour, 1/2 tea salt and 1/6 to 1/3 cup ice water. Put the flour and salt in a food processor. Cut the butter into 1/2 tablespoon slices. Pulse in the food processor until the mixture looks like course sand. Add a wee bit of the water through the hole in the top of the processor; I often only use a bit more than 1/6 of a cup, although the recipe calls for 1/3. It will start sticking together and that when you know you have enough water. If I'm throwing caution to the wind, I use 1 and 1/2 cubes of butter. BTW: A cube of butter here is 1/2 cup.

I actually found a video on youtube:



Super easy, super fast. Less than 5 minutes. I then refrigerate it for an hour so that it rolls easily.

Maybe this helps?

[IstanbulWhiteboy]

another option (known in the kitchen industry as "the long-term painstaking method") is to save all your drippings from cooking meat (put it in one of those empty jars I told y'all to save!). melt the solidified fats in the jar before adding fresh fat. when it cools, the solid white layer at the top is lard. Scoop it out with a spoon, melt it, and strain it through cheesecloth or a clean towel into an empty jar; it will resolidify without any of the food bits in it. Eventually you'll have a nice big ol' jar of free lard. doesn't matter if it's pork or beef, it's all the same.

[Aston]

It's a shame you didn't ask me about suet because I could have answered that.

I am in interested and asking about suet

[sunny]

Now I know why I don't like cooking, far too fiddly!

[IstanbulWhiteboy]

Sunny there's a big difference btwn cooking and baking... baking is more rigid as far as following recipes and ingredients, whereas in cooking its easy to throw a bunch of crap together and have good results

[KKW]

I am in interested and asking about suet

Dead easy. Go to a butchers and ask for Beef Fat / Dana Yag. The best is from around the kidneys, but any fat will do. Put it in a pan on a low heat and as it melts, pour it into cold water. It'll form small globules. Strain the water/fat mix through a sieve. Dry the fat globules on some kitchen towel and then put them into a sealed container with some flour, give it a shake and you've got simple suet.

[sunny]

Semantics IWB, semantics! Whatever, I'm still not keen!

[Aston]

Thank you KKW, I do like cooking and that is straight forward so I will give it a whirl.

Must be honest though I thought Abi might know where it could be bought ready made

[Abi]

Sorry Aston I've only just read this thread again. Actually I would have given you same reply as KKW as I haven't seen it for sale here and if it was I dread to think how much people would pay for it, not that I would eat the packet suet as I don't eat pork products.

[Aston]

Thanks Abi for the reply. By the way all suet is made from beef or mutton fat even the packet ready made suet is made from beef, never from pork. There is also vegetable suet available from Atora

[Abi]

Yes, you're right Aston and don't know why I said it as I know it's made from beef or mutton fat and would have given you the same answer as KKW, For some reason I was thinking about lard when I made the comment about pork.