This Thanksgiving, Coast Packing Co. Urges Creative Cooks to Put the Accent on Flavor with Traditional Animal Fats

Hungry yet?

With Thanksgiving just a week away, the right combination of family, fun and food means a memorable holiday — and Coast Packing Company, the West’s largest supplier of animal fat shortenings, is offering a trio of recipes to help make that happen.

“Lard, beef tallow and animal fat shortenings are so much a part of the season that the holiday wouldn’t be complete without them,” said Eric R. Gustafson, CEO of the 96-year-old company.  “We believe in minimally processed food, which is why the natural makeup of both lard and tallow matter so much.  Neither contains the artificial trans fats found in hydrogenated shortenings, so this Thanksgiving, everyone ought to celebrate food that is traditional, authentic and flavorful.”

In appreciation to recipe authors for their creativity – Elizabeth Yetter of SpruceEats.com, The Heal Your Gut Cookbook from Hilary Boynton and Mary G. Brackett, and Grace Parisi of Food & Wine — Coast Packing is pleased to provide a few suggestions for Thanksgiving 2018:

Thanksgiving Lard Bread (from Elizabeth Yetter)

https://www.thespruceeats.com/thanksgiving-lard-bread-427483#ingredients

This white lard bread is the perfect, versatile bread for the Thanksgiving season. Serve it warm for Thanksgiving dinner or prepare it a day or two ahead of time and make it into bread stuffing or potato filling.

• Total: 3 hrs.
• Prep: 2 hrs. 15 min.
• Cook: 45 min.
• Yield: 2 medium loaves (20 servings)

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups water (room temperature)
• 1 tablespoons active dry yeast
• 1 cup milk (room temperature)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons lard
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 7 cups bread flour
• Optional: egg white]

Directions

1. Gather the ingredients.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the water and yeast.
3. Add milk, sugar, lard, and salt and stir to combine.
4. Add 4 cups of bread flour and mix well. Slowly add in remaining flour, enough flour to make a dough that follows the spoon around the bowl.
5. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 minutes, adding more flour as needed until the dough is soft and smooth to the touch.
6. Place dough in a large greased bowl. Turn dough over in a bowl so that the top is also lightly greased.
7. Cover with clean cloth and let rise in warm, draft-free place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
8. Punch down dough.
9. Turn dough out onto a lightly-floured board and knead for 8 minutes or until the bubbles are out of the bread.
10. Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Shape each half into a loaf of bread.
11. Set loaves into greased 8×4-inch bread pans. Cover and let rise in warm, draft-free place for 45 minutes or until doubled in size.
12. Brush loaves with egg white to give the loaves a shiny finish when baked.
13. Slash tops with sharp knife or razor.
14. Bake at 375 F for 45 minutes or until the bread is golden brown.
15. Remove loaves from the sheet and let cool on a rack.
16. Serve and enjoy!

“Slow and Low” Roasted Leg of Lamb

From The Heal Your Gut Cookbook by Hilary Boynton and Mary G. Brackett

(https://www.chelseagreen.com/2018/thanksgiving-main-course/)

Ingredients

Serves 8 to 10

1 4-pound leg of lamb
1/4 cup animal fat of choice, warmed: lard, lamb, or beef tallow
4 red onions, quartered
4 carrots, roughly chopped
4 celery stalks, roughly chopped
2 cups broth or stock
1 bottle dry red wine
1⁄4 cup chopped fresh herbs of choice (I like rosemary and thyme)
1 bay leaf
5 cloves garlic, slightly crushed with side of knife
Sea salt and pepper

Directions
Take the lamb out of the fridge, and allow it to come to room temperature (about 30 minutes).  Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Heat the fat of your choice in a Dutch oven, and sauté the vegetables for 5 minutes. Add the lamb, broth or stock, wine, herbs, bay leaf, and garlic, and cook, covered, in the oven for 3 1⁄2 hours. (You can also transfer to a Crock-Pot and cook for 6 hours on low.)  Season with sea salt and pepper.  The lamb will be very tender and juicy. Remove the lamb and vegetables to a serving platter; conserve the drippings for the gravy.

Flaky Pie Dough (by Grace Parisi)

(https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/flaky-pie-dough-august-2007)

Active time: 10 min.

Total time: 40 min.

Serves: Makes enough dough for one 9 ½ inch deep-dish, double-crust pie

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into ½ -inch dice
• ¼ cup lard (2 ounces), frozen and cut into ½-inch cubes
• ½ cup ice water

Directions

Step 1

In a food processor, pulse the flower and salt.  Add the butter and lard, and pulse 5 or 6 times, until they are the size of peas.  Drizzle on the ice water and pulse just until the crumbs are moistened.

Step 2

Press the dough into a ball.  Divide the dough into 2 pieces, one slightly smaller than the other.  Flatten into disks, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes.

Step 3

Add your filling of choice and bake.

About Coast Packing Company

Now marking its 100th year in business, Coast Packing Company (www.coastpacking.com), a closely held corporation, is the number one supplier of animal fat shortenings – particularly lard and beef tallow — in the Western United States. The company sells to major manufacturers, distributors, retailers, smaller food service operations and leading bakeries. The company participates actively in diverse ethnic markets – from Hispanic retail chains, with its VIVA brand, to various Asian specialty markets. Based in Vernon, Calif., Coast Packing Company is regional, national and, increasingly, global. In some cases, supplier relationships are multigenerational, extending back 50 years and more. Coast is a founding member of the Healthy Fats Coalition (https://www.healthyfatscoalition.org/).

For more information about Coast Packing Company, visit: www.coastpacking.com. Follow us via social media on Facebook at www.facebook.com/coastpackingco, Twitter @coastpackingco and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/coastpackingco.