Anonymous wrote:Thank you, I will check it out on Amazon.

I just remembered that my grandmother used some diced, white animal fat that she got from the butcher. Anyone care to guess what that was?

Sounds like lard to me! I use butter most of the time, but after going on a recent no-dairy, no-soy (Crisco is made from soy) diet for my breastfeeding daughter, I used lard for this summer's pies so far. It's very good -- great texture for the crusts. I just use my normal crust recipe but sub in lard instead of butter or Crisco (same amounts).

I bought my lard at Wegmans, but I'm sure you can also get it from the butcher, or other stores.

I've made this one from the Pioneer Woman a few times and it turns out great (uses crisco):

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/12/p-p-p-pie_crust_and_its_p-p-p-perfect/

I make Julia's pie crust and posted her recipe and my instructions...

http://www.babiesdesignfood.com/2010/12/pie-crust.html

Have you been to Dangerously Delicious Pies??? YUM!!!

Maybe PP means Rose Levy Bernbaum?

Amy(?) Birnbaum's Pie and Pastry Bible has a number of crust recipes that use lard, I haven't practiced any of them enough to be very successful with them. I like the new Joy of Cooking's extra flaky pastry crust.

Anonymous wrote:You can do it yourself, but as a vegetarian, I know that the Pilsbury pre-made, rolled up, refrigerated pie crust has lard in it.

No!!!! No store-bought crust.

You can do it yourself, but as a vegetarian, I know that the Pilsbury pre-made, rolled up, refrigerated pie crust has lard in it.

This is my mom's recipe and I believe it is the absolute best. You need half butter for flavor and half Crisco or good quality lard for texture. Martha Stewart is not good at all! I have that book and the fillings are great but forget the crust.
2 C flour
1/3 C butter
1/3 C Crisco or lard
1 tsp salt
5-7 T ice water

You can do the flour, salt, and fat in the food processor but mix in the drops of ice water by hand, gently tossing the crumbles with a fork. Then press together gently into two discs and chill. It will be crumbly and difficult to work with and it takes a lot of practice to make it pretty but it's so good!

Anonymous wrote:2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, 2/3 cups of Crisco, 5 to 7 tablespoons of ice water. Sift flour and salt together in a bowl. Cut in Crisco with a pastry blender until mixture forms particles slightly larger than grains of rice. Sprinkle with ice water 1 tablespoon at a time. Toss gently with fork until all particles are uniformly moistened and will barely stick together. Shape mixture into a ball. Divide in half. Roll out each half on lightly floured surface. Makes a double crust for a 9-inch pie.

This crust has never failed me.

This is also my grandmother's recipe. Never fails me either.

Substitute lard in a standard crisco recipe. It works fine.

Anonymous wrote:2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, 2/3 cups of Crisco, 5 to 7 tablespoons of ice water. Sift flour and salt together in a bowl. Cut in Crisco with a pastry blender until mixture forms particles slightly larger than grains of rice. Sprinkle with ice water 1 tablespoon at a time. Toss gently with fork until all particles are uniformly moistened and will barely stick together. Shape mixture into a ball. Divide in half. Roll out each half on lightly floured surface. Makes a double crust for a 9-inch pie.

This crust has never failed me.

This sounds like my moms recipe, she always used crisco for pie crusts. I think the texture is different with crisco vs butter. You can mix the two half and half if you want the crisco texture with butter flavor

2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, 2/3 cups of Crisco, 5 to 7 tablespoons of ice water. Sift flour and salt together in a bowl. Cut in Crisco with a pastry blender until mixture forms particles slightly larger than grains of rice. Sprinkle with ice water 1 tablespoon at a time. Toss gently with fork until all particles are uniformly moistened and will barely stick together. Shape mixture into a ball. Divide in half. Roll out each half on lightly floured surface. Makes a double crust for a 9-inch pie.

This crust has never failed me.

Thank you, I will check it out on Amazon.

I just remembered that my grandmother used some diced, white animal fat that she got from the butcher. Anyone care to guess what that was?

Martha Stewart has a "Pies and Tarts" cookbook that is full of excellent butter and cream laden recipes (savory and sweet), some French, some American, that might meet your criteria.
I don't think it has any lard (except for bacon) or Crisco recipes though, if you're set on those (I tend to think of lard and Crisco as the poor man's butter--ie. less tasty--so I find the latter more satisfying...)

The kind your grandmother made in the 1930s without a second thought about heart health. I don't want diet pie. I want lard, or Crisco, or something.

My grandmother's recipe, which I regret that I never wrote down, involved drops of cold water I think and a lot of fat. Do you have a tried and true recipe like this???