is lard ok

Welcome to the forum, Gene.

If we are talking about clean storebought lard, I don't think you will get the same or as good a result as you will with a big fatty shoulder or butt, plus you can't make pulled pork sammiches with the lard.

good point

Gene, I have never heard of anyone doing this before, so I don't know how it would work. You might try it and if it doesn't get you good results, go with a big ol' brisket or butt as GLH suggested.

What's the purpose of the lard?

Well, LABBQ, we've always done it that way.

And I am not kidding. I have never compared the difference between a smoker seasoned with smoke only and one seasoned with fat and smoke. It might be a myth. Have you tried one of the urban legends websites?

Using a fatty piece of meat to season a smoker was handed down from my Dad, who invented Cookshack smokers, so I just believed him. I think the idea is to tone down the smoke-only taste that would result from using only wood.

I would like to hear how different people have seasoned their smokers ...

Seasoning with lard, oil, shortening, etc is a requirement for cast iron cookware, like dutch ovens. The pantene created by this type of seasoning protects the DO and even creates a non-stick surface. Even a lot of steel pits can and should be seasoned.

But the Cookshack is SS, and doesn't need the same type of seasoning. I'm not even sure a pantene will adhere to the SS interior.

Seasoning the Cookshack with smoke is more to cook out any residues left from the mfg process and make it food-ready. Me thinks.

Well now,if it's good leaf lard,I'd not be wastin' it on seasonin' a cooker.

I'd be baking some cobblers,or biscuits,while the cooker went ahead and did it's thing.

Now,if it is cheap lard,and you want to get rid of it crush some bird seed in it and put it out for the birds.

If you don't want birds messin' things up,throw it out.

Personally,I thought slo/lo cookers were built to render fat and break down collagen,but maybe that's just me.

Now ,if I was wanting to pretend I had me a big old unseasoned black iron cooker,I'd get me a quart of vegetable oil and rub it around the innards real good.

Wherever you are, there you go! Get out the Crisco!

Ah ha! Now I know why my very first ribs (my very first smoke) were bitter. I seasoned my ST as instructed w/4-6 oz of wood then smoked the ribs. Now If I woulda smoked a butt or brisket them ribs I ended up tossing may have been worth eating. Seasoning is really a two-step process, first with wood then with fat/lard/oil whichever. This may explain why so many newbies complain about their first smoke being bitter. Only took about three years but I'm catching on! Now if I could only learn to type without making so many darn mistakes!

We must have missed the application of lard in the seasoning instructions. I would think if you season with the wood smoke, then cook a couple of nice fatty pork butts or picnics, you'll be ok, plus you have some great pork to pull( or slice if you keep the time down.)
We're using the SM150 and it has done just wonderful for us using the pre-smoke seasoning. I think you'd be fine just using the smoke during your usual cooks. I wouldn't add lard to the smoker, if you're talking about coating it.
Really, I doubt if the pre-smoke seasoning is really necessary. Is it? I can sure tell a differnce if the cast iron isn't seasoned, but I'm not sure about the smoker. I think just use it and enjoy it would be the best advice.
Peggy


Peggy

Peggy, - I was thinking along the same line. First thing to do (in hindsight) is to throw a butt in the smoker with 4-6 oz of wood and let er' rip! That way you get your blend smoke and fat/grease. Now, I am not advocating any newbie to do that but now that I think of it it sure makes sense to me, but that doesn't always mean it's the right thing to do lol

2greyhounds had the right idea...use the ribs or butt or brisket first...then fry a pound of bacon on the stovetop and let the grease from the bacon solidify and smear it inside your grill,smoker grill,smoker oven and you have the BEST seasoning available to mankind.Also smear it into cast iron cookware too!!!Best I have EVER done was due to bacon grease!!Enjoy!!

Gene,

I broke in my CS55 by washing the insides with bottled lemon juice, on advice from 2greyhounds, and then used six ounces of wood and smoked it for two hours. Then I smoked/cooked a Boston butt till the internal temperature got to 190 degrees. I am waiting for my new AmeriQue and I will break it in the same way.

smokemullet

dennis-ut,
thanks for pointing out the s/s thing. i was afraid to as sometimes people take me the wrong way but there is just no way that a stainless steel will need to be cured like a porus metal like cast iron and i tip my hat to you.
smokemullet,
to this day i thank the good lord i had enough sense to listen to my old dishwasher about lemon juice. it is truly god's gift to chefs and cooks and glad the technique worked for you too
tom,
i'm with you!!!! gotta have good lard to make a good pie crust and i don't care what loretta lynn says bout crisco . no lard no pie crust
jack

Jack -- Just a little ot here. The Mrs makes a butter pie crust that's to die for and when you're finished you're not rubbing your tongue around the top of your mouth wondering what that greasy build -up is. She worked long and hard on it and I don't know if she'd reveal her secret or not. This is one of the few areas where she beats out my dear departed mother

Yes,lard is the best and purest form to make a crispy,flakey,light topping of a pie crust.Also,according to the latest health studies...(look at the dates of research)lard is "once again" HEALTHY for you as is eggs,bacon and butter..???Aint it weird how the food conglomerates and health professionals worked together back then and still at times do today??I'm sorry,but I watched my granpa after a triple bypass surgery at Birmingham VA clinic tear up his food eating diet and orders fresh from the hospital and went back to butter,lard,bacon grease and NEVER had a clogged artery in his last 21 years!!He did slow down on sausage(he ate about 2 pounds a day previous) and pork chops(which he ate 5 pork chops at every 4 to 5 days) to 3 pork chops a month.And he did away with blood pressure meds and chloesteral meds by going back in time to taking omega 3 fish oil capsules twice a day and "flush free" niacin tabs 1 per day and got along great till his muscle tissue was deteriorating around his heart valves 21 years later.They offered to put in pig valves in his heart,but he declined the offer.So,go back in time to youre ancestors and eat what they ate,which was a VERY well rounded diet and you will fare better.

Uh, I don't think anyone's saying lard is healthy for you. Rather, it's less unhealthy than its hydrogenated counterparts.

For pie crusts, I use a combo of butter for the flavor and crisco for the flakiness. I'll try replacing the crisco with lard on the next one though.

Any food is fine, in moderation. A glass of red wine is good for you every night after dinner, but try drinking a bottle every night and see where you get.

wheelz,
butter is what my daughter and i use when we make the shells for the caramel walnut tart with a ganuache topping. it is great fun to do in the florida heat. take the dough out work it a little and back into the frige to cool the butter back down the results however are worth it!!!
your wife for sure sounds like a really great baker and you are one lucky man!!!!! just be sure to make her leave the recipe to the grandkids one day.
dennis-ut,
for my money lard is easier to work with than butter due to the heat here but on some things like the tart it has to be butter just cause the french say so. i guess the best part is the chilled butter releaves the pain which comes when you whip in heavy cream which boils at 212 into a hot sugar mixture that you pull around 335 when the cream goes in. this stuff has to be illegal under geneva convention rules for war as it sticks and stays real hot on an exposed skin so maybe them ole frenchies had a method to the madness.
jack

Oh, Jack's tart is delicious, but we get off the subject! I've given up on making piecreust. I think I need piecrust 101!

I do love cleaning out the smoker with lemon juice. It takes off any fat without taking off the seasoning of the smoke. And it's a food product so you don't have to worry about chemicals.

I don't think rubbing lard on your smoker insides would be a good idea. We got a smoker fire in the FEC due to too much chicken grease. I don't want to add any more grease than the meat naturally adds.

My mother, at 84 has a better bone density score than I do. She ate lots of pork cooked into her greens, wasn't shy about fried food, has eaten lots of cornbread. I think the cornbread and greens are the secret. And you have to have the pork to help digest it all!
And she is a bigger woman than me. Weight bearing exercise is supposed to be good for us.

So, pick up your pigs, or do squats with your butts!

Wow, I got off the subject too!

Peggy