I've known people partial to it in a sandwich.

Pork dripping but never beef, the bloody stuff's too hard to spread

The bottom of the beef dripping pot where there is a bit of jelly and bit of meet juices and some fat, bloody lovely on toast.

there is nothing at all wrong with lard, it's just an obsession for the last 15 years telling us it goes straight to your heart and stops it beating, like anything, it's fine in moderation.

ALSO.....

sharpening knives, how best to do it?

Buy your local butcher a couple of pints and get him to teach you.

For my Global knives I use a Mino Sharp Plus 3. The others I'll use an oilstone to get the edge and then a couple of strokes with a steel to keep it.

I think it's been longer, really: at least 30 years. The idea that fat per se was bad - and saturated fat would kill you in an instant - goes back to at least then and possibly a little earlier, as seen in the widespread diet advice that was certainly around then and seen as utterly normal and un-faddy, to cut all fat and fill up with complex carbs. Which of course turned out to be part of the problem.

There is also the point that the so-called healthy alternatives - man-made fats as opposed to natural ones - cost a lot more.


On knives, I've been using a steel for some time, but it took me a while to get it right and I might have helped wreck a knife in the process (although there may have also been a fault from the manufacturing process: I really don't know).

Mintball wrote: On knives, I've been using a steel for some time, but it took me a while to get it right and I might have helped wreck a knife in the process (although there may have also been a fault from the manufacturing process: I really don't know). If it's a decent knife, it may not be a write-off. Get in touch with Nella. Contrary to popular belief, all thos expert & celebrity chefs do not sharpen their own knives, they use a sharpening service and Nella is far & away the best. Meanwhile, this pdf makes interesting reading

Mintball wrote: On knives, I've been using a steel for some time, but it took me a while to get it right and I might have helped wreck a knife in the process (although there may have also been a fault from the manufacturing process: I really don't know). If it's a decent knife, it may not be a write-off. Get in touch with Nella. Contrary to popular belief, all thos expert & celebrity chefs do not sharpen their own knives, they use a sharpening service and Nella is far & away the best. Meanwhile, this pdf makes interesting reading

cod'ead wrote:Get in touch with Nella. Contrary to popular belief, all thos expert & celebrity chefs do not sharpen their own knives, they use a sharpening service and Nella is far & away the best. Not heard that name for a while You can see their vans dart between decent London eateries is you are around early enough. The old adage used to be "never trust your knives to someone without an Italian accent"

cod'ead wrote:Get in touch with Nella. Contrary to popular belief, all thos expert & celebrity chefs do not sharpen their own knives, they use a sharpening service and Nella is far & away the best. Not heard that name for a while You can see their vans dart between decent London eateries is you are around early enough. The old adage used to be "never trust your knives to someone without an Italian accent"

Got 2.8kg of pork shoulder in the slow cooker with some garlic, shallots, dark soy sauce, sesame oil, bit of chicken stock and chinese five spice. When its done about 6 hours will have it pulled with some homemade egg fried rice.

MMMMMMM