Compound Lard Butter with Smashed Potatoes

This post just makes me happy. I’ve been meaning to write about lard for a while now. After receiving a review copy of Beyond Bacon, my mind was opened up to the possibility of not only using lard, but also rendering it myself. I’ll save the juicy details for dedicated post about that process. Though I can’t help but share a peek at how I arrived at the staple ingredient for the featured recipe.

 
So not only am I advocating for rendering and using lard regularly, but I’m going to post my first recipe incorporating *gasp* baby red potatoes.  I think only dairy is debated more than potatoes in Paleo. Let’s get down to brass tax. Potatoes are tubers, tubers are Paleo, therefore potatoes are Paleo.

Now because we all are practicing this lifestyle for different reasons, be sure to educate yourself as to whether or not it’s best that you eat them and be sure to determine how frequently you should as well. I still favor the sweet potato, however, white potatoes are certainly whole foods perfectly within Paleo perimeters. Just be aware that the glycemic load of these babies may not mesh so well with your weight loss and/or hormone stabilization goals. Do your homework, make an informed decision.

Now, onto the taters.

A friend emailed me a Pioneer Woman recipe for Crash Hot Potatoes that had me at hello! I couldn’t wait to make them! Buuuuut seeing as how I have a list of about fifty things I can’t wait to make, here I am finally getting to it three months later. Pull up her recipe and make them as she directs up until the part about seasoning with olive oil, salt and herbs. Leave that stuff off. Also, bake them at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes instead. Without the olive oil added, the potatoes won’t fair so well if cooked hotter and longer.

While those rock and roll in the oven, it’s time to get to the star of the show: Compound Lard Butter.

So you’ve probably had compound butters before. It’s just a fancy way of dispersing a lot of flavors, typically herbs and garlic, via the melty goodness of butter. It’s classic on a nice steak or piece of fish. But why not use lard?

Ingredients:
1/3 cup freshly rendered lard, solid & room temp
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp fresh basil, chiffonade
1 TBSP fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped
1/4 tsp well-minced garlic (about a clove’s worth)

Prep:
Mince the garlic finely, chop the flat-leaf parsley, chiffonade the basil. Add these to room temp lard (solid, but not stiff) along with the salt. Mix together until well combined.

When the potatoes are done baking, transfer to a serving dish and add a dollop of Compound Lard Butter to each of them. That’s it!

I served this as a side dish to the Stuffed Pork Loin recipe I just posted and it was very well received. In fact, I also made a grass-fed compound butter and had my dinner guests compare the two. Would you believe the lard won? The butter was rich and heavy compared to the clean silkiness of the lard. Pigs: 1, Cows: 0.

In case you’re not convinced about this lard business yet, just substitute with grass-fed butter (same measurement). It is very tasty! This morning I used the last of my batch in some scrambled eggs topped with goat cheese. Quite possibly the best eggs I’ve had all year.

And my parting thought: