Theres no crepe/pancake without lard, in other cakes i would expect butter or its vegetable equivalent.. so you HAVE to be very cautious.
Do the Czechs have the equivalent of French rillettes? It's a preserve of meat (pork, goose, duck) in lard. We spread it on a slice of bread. Scrumptious. Russian friends who were visiting Paris tasted them, and liked them a lot, but said they didn't exist in their country. Incidentally, last year, for my flight back, I bought plenty of Czech pork produce at the airport. All of them were excellent.
Some years ago, Czech friends took my wife and me to a rather upmarket restaurant in Třinec, and the menu proudly displayed in English: Have a tub of lard with us! Before our soup arrived we were provided with bread and lard, which our Czech friends proceeded to devour with gusto, and to recommend to us. High cholesterol had led to my first heart attack just a couple of years earlier and a subsequent quadruple heart bypass, so I wasn't about to join in the lard spree! Having said that, bread and dripping (mucky fat, or used lard!) was a staple of my childhood!
Ah Memories......Hot toast with a think spread of dripping washed down with hot Bovril! Those were the days!
I wont go as far as to say “lard is good for you”, however please keep in mind that majority of lard you come across in Czech is “natural”. I guess it could be called “organic”, because it has no preservatives, no funky chemicals and it’s molecules have not been split in no weird ways to make it last longer. Basically given a choice between U.S. off the shelf oil (not counting olive) and Czech lard I would be willing to bet the lard is less harmful. You body actually needs certain amount of fat, it just doesn’t need all the crap processed fat has been treated with. :wink:
You don't happen to remember what the restaurant was called do you, Chris? My father was from Třinec. I've been there once since I came to live in Prague for a fleeting visit but we're planning a longer visit next summer. And that explains Dad's passion for lard on brown bread, with onion. I can still see him sitting in front of the TV, tucking into a plate of it! Needless to say, as children, we thought the idea was disgusting but I'd love to try some now.
I don't think so but I'll have to investigate. You're right, it's delicious. It's the texture that makes it so special, I think. There are one or two specialist French food shops in Prague who are bound to sell it - at a price - but as it's my birthday, I might just go out and treat myself!
Huuuum. Since Czech farmers have all the basic ingredients, and of good quality, they should have a go at making rillettes.
Did you mean this?! http://olivovakucharka.webgarden.cz/recepty/rillettes-de-connerre-rijet-d.html Iam little suspicious about it..
