Butter, lard and breakfast

Butter, lard and breakfast

Rachel's comment about confusing the spanish for "butter" (mantequilla) with "lard" (manteca) reminded me of a similar issue for me. I have no ear for languages, hundreds of dollars have been spent of various language courses, with not result. Considering how much I travel (or did) this can be a problem.

In Sanlúcar de Barrameda they served a fantastic breakfast down near the market, crusty toasted rolls with  a toppping of your choice. One fantastic choice was the fat from cured hams, rendered down then whipped until light and fluffy and studded with chunks of ham. Lovely spread on toast and dressed with freshly crushed tomatoes. Try as I might to say "manteca", I nearly always ended up being served "mantequilla".

Another very popular rendered fat in Andalusia is "manteca colorá" (coloured lard). Also a common choice as a spread for breakfast toast, it is sold in huge tubs in the local markets. From the flavour profile I would guess it is flavoured with bay leaves and marjoram. The colour I would like to think come from pimenton (paprika), maybe made from the excellent sweet nora peppers, but maybe not.

Interestingly, at a more up market hotel in Jerez the breakfast toast was served with a selection of spreads which played with the local "manteca" choices. While it may look like butter, manteca colorá and whipped manteca as described above, it is actually butter, carrot conserve and whipped honey.

One last thing that you may not see mentioned in any Spanish cookbook for English readers. A lot of that bright orange-yellow colour typically of Spanish cooking comes not from saffron or pimenton, but comes from an artificial dye. You can judge how popular it is by the volume it (bright orange powder) takes up at this stall in the Jerez market. There is no stigma attached to using this product locally.

Comments

[Rachel Laudan]

And then there's that great German lard spread with apple and onion. Is it called Himmel und Erde or is my memory playing tricks?

I know of no British lard spread. It was a sign of being so poor you couldn't afford marge when I was a child. But there was dripping. Oh glory, the soft beef fat with the rich brown goo underneath (never enough to go round)spread on bread and sprinkled with salt.

I don't see any sign of Mexicans using lard as a spread. Mayonnaise is the preferred spread.

[Basil K]

"Lardy Bread" is quite common here in Hungary. It is an unpretentious, rural kind of food. Looked down upon by yuppies, it is regularly sold in student bars topped with red onion and sweet paprika. It is a "beer skate", ie. a cheap snack that facilitates downing pint after pint of beer.

[Basil K]

Oh, and the lard used is pure white pig fat, sold by the kilo in supermarkets.

[Adam Balic]

In Hungary you may have heard of the Mangalitza breed of pig? These are famous for their woolly coats, but also are a produce very good quality lard. I bought a slab of smoked lard from this breed of pig last time I was in Vienna. Unfortunately, there is little room in the modern world of pig raising for breeds of pigs which produce such an abundance of fat.

[gary]

Another type of colored lard is used by Caribbean Hispanic cooks -- the fat is heated with annato seeds (achiote), then strained and cooled for storage.

It is used primarily for its color, 'though it does have a subtly nutty flavor and curious aroma that will be immediately recognizable to anyone who has experienced Puerto Rican dishes of the Chinas Criollos variety. The colored fat was originally intended to replace the dende oil that imported slaves knew from Africa.

Hi Gary,

thank you ery much for you interesting comments. As I was reading you post I thought I the bright red dende oil used in some Brazillian dishes. I haven't used this, but by reputation it is delicious.