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LARD PIE CRUST 
I know in this day it is not considered healthy to use animal fats in our diet. This is a recipe that my grandmother used for as long as I can remember. The lard was usually freshly rendered from butchering, the stove was an old monarch wood, and the fruit inside the pie was usually home grown and canned by her. She also took first prize every time she entered them in the fair. She just left us this year at the age of 100, and not from heart disease.

I use this crust when I want to impress company with a pie.

8 OR 9-INCH CRUST:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup lard
2 tbsp. water

9-INCH TWO CRUST:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
2/3 cup lard
1/4 cup water

Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Cut in lard with pastry blender until small pea size particles are obtained. Sprinkle with water a little at a time. Mix with fork until flour is moist. Press into a ball and turn out onto a floured board. If making a two crust pie divide in half.

Roll out with rolling pin. Try not to use too much extra flour because it makes the crust tough. Roll out to desired size. Usually about 1-inch bigger around than the tin. Fold pastry in half and move up to pan. Unfold and put pastry into pan. Try not to stretch the pastry because this causes shrinking in baking. Sprinkle the top crust with a little sugar to evenly brown.

recipe reviews
Lard Pie Crust
   #165541
 Jan Niemi says:
This crust is without a doubt the best you will ever eat. Our family has sworn to use only lard in pie crusts. It's that good.
   #167207
 David (Wisconsin) says:
Lard is a non trans fat, we have been spoofed for years about it. It is way healthier than Hp Han synthetic hydrogenated junk. And it makes a flavor that is unsurpassed. I thank you for the great recipe.
   #177485
 Patricia Martz (New York) says:
I have used this recipe for many years. I am now fortunate enough to obtain organic pork fat and render it myself. This, I think it is much healthier than crust made with shortening. It is also much more delicious!
   #177911
 Becky (Texas) says:
Thank you so very much for your wonderful pie crust recipe. I thought I had gone crazy because this is the exact recipe that my mom taught me. So let me understand that you use lard instead of Crisco? Or do you use Crisco. If I use Crisco my crust does not come out well at all. Please let me know. Thanks and keep on sharing!
 #177912
 Lisa (Hawaii) replies:
Becky, lard is always best for pie crusts!
 #181274
 Jane (New York) replies:
Crisco absolutely USED to be the best, but since when they changed it to eliminate Trans fats, it has been extremely different (for the worse). I had an awful time because my crusts were coming out like rags, even though I was making them the same as always. Since then, I found really good lard, and I am making pie crusts with that now. I may add a little Crisco and decrease the lard a bit, but indeed Crisco is just not what it used to be. (Rather like the Colonel's fried chicken coating, I miss the "old recipe" there too...)
 #178958
 Lisa Higdon (Arkansas) says:
Pastry chefs in Germany & Austria, considered the best in the world, still use lard. Fat is fat, and lard is no worse than butter, but both are better than hydrogenated vegetable oil.
   #181273
 Jane (New York) says:
I've used the same recipe for decades! Actually it's been in the family and nobody's died from heart disease. Be careful making it, because you cannot use the hydrogenated, refrigeration-not-required garbage sold as "lard" in grocery stores. You need "flake" lard from a butcher shop or health food type store.

 

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