So tomorrow we are having a Tamale party with a few of my colleagues at WSU and as some of you might know pork lard is an important part of the Tamale batter. The problem is you can't get good lard anywhere. Some groceries cary packaged lard and it is okay, but it contains a ton a chemicals so it can sit on the shelf. So what do you do? That's right, you make your own! It is actually surprisingly easy if you have the materials. What do you need?
Pork Fat and an oven. That's it. You melt the pork fat down to clear liquid skim off the cracklings (the brown bits that don't melt) and stick it in the fridge.
Which leads me to my story about food and community for the day. I called every grocery store in the area and nobody carried pork fat. Every butcher I spoke to said their pork came pretty trimmed up already, however one grocery butcher told me about a little butcher shop right outside the town of moscow called C&L Locker.
So I drove out of town and found it. It's a great local run butcher that sells the meat (and fat) of local farms and hunters. Two bucks bought me two pounds of pork fat. I spoke with one of the butchers helping me and remarked I had never known about this place. He commented that he hadn't either until he found out his best friend's parents owned it. The thought struck me that we get comfortable with the places we live but rarely do we go out and explore our cities or towns. Unless we need something we don't go and look for it, and look what I missed. A local butcher helping local farmers survive and thrive!
Later as I was making the fat I came to understand something else. It's exciting making things from scratch. Things you would never usually make like lard, butter, or cheese. These things can be homemade and we never do it. How come? It's true that it can be time consuming but it's time that can be spent as a family, proactively working together to create and share something. In the spirit of full disclosure I must admit my wife wanted nothing to do with the fat or the lard, and stated vehemently it made her want to throw up. But your family might love the novelty!
This comes to my last food thought for tonight. I have been told that homemade lard is WAY better than any store bought lard you can buy. This reminds me of an opinion that I have about Americas obesity epidemic. I think the causes of obesity are multifold however I think one thing that contributes to it is the flavor of our food. The foods that most of us have access to have been under-seasoned, travelled long distances frozen in a truck, etc. So instead of eating high flavored, delicious food which you only need small amounts to feel fulfilled, we eat huge portions of middle of the road seasoned food hoping for satisfaction. If you want to test out this idea of bland frozen food and fresh local food compare a tomato from the grocery store to a home grown one. Your local grocery chain tomato is mealy and flavorless where a home grown one is firm and full of flavor. Once again a little time on our part can provide a richer food experience.
Alright I will step off my soapbox and leave you with some fun facts about lard: It has less saturated fat, more unsaturated fat, and less cholesterol than butter. Also when you whip it looks like buttercream frosting. So spread it on your morning toast and maybe a cupcake!
So when I started thinking about this project a few weeks ago it made sense to me that the first community meal should be Tamales. To me it seems this is the one Mexican meal that everybody takes part in. No matter the age or culinary ability, everybody has there hand in the food. I love the fact that with Tamales you can sit people down, create an assembly line and just go...
