Does anyone know if Italy has the equivilent of the USA product called Crisco? It's a type of solid shortening (lard). My son has a science project and he needs this to test how penguins keep warm. My question is what is it called here and can I buy it at a supermercado?
Thanks in advance.

No Crisco in Italy but he probably can use lard instead, you find lard at the butcher.

What is lard called in Italian?

It's lardo, isn't it? And it's in the refrigerated case in the grocery store, with the cheeses etc.

Be careful you don't get the salt-cured stuff, also known as lardo. I'd ask for grasso di maiale--crudo.

Thanks to all - I think you have answered my question.

It is called STRUTTO not lardo in Italian and it is like the manteca/lard I used to use in the U.S. Lardo is cured belly fat, it is not rendered as is lard. This is a kind of false friends type situation.

There is no vegetable shortening like Crisco though.

Thanks Cristina, it was one of those words on the tip of...and of course strutto is rendered, not like grasso di maiale, straight off the beast itself.

FWIW, I found Crisco in Eastern markets in France where it otherwise doesn't exist: since it gives crispiness to fried foods, oriental food markets just might carry it, especially in large cities. Worth a try? (I'm from the South where Crisco is a staple, totally unhealthy but most southern food is!)

But for the penguin project, I should think strutto ought to do the trick.

quote:

Originally posted by Cristina:
It is called STRUTTO not lardo in Italian

Thanks Cristina, I kept thinking that lardo wasnt right but couldn't think of the word strutto to save my soul! I don't have any in the frig right now, but luckily I DO have some Crisco!

quote:

Originally posted by filomena:
since it gives crispiness to fried foods

Strutto (in southern regions it's called sugna) gives to fried foods the same crispness. The trick is provided by heat: strutto/sugna can withstand much highier temperatures than oil before smoking. This means that the pieces of food that you fry can form an outer layer of caramelized and impermeable "crust" faster. Therefore, the fried food turn out crispier and dryer. Contraty to what one may expect, a food that has been fried in strutto/sugna is healthier than one fried in oil, and even lower in cholesterol, for the very reason that it has absorbed much less fat: it has been fried in a less healthy fat, but the fat has been left out instead of being abosorbed.

I just recently ran into a strutto versus lardo situation while planning to make tortillas. I accidently asked my mother in law to pick me up some "lardo" at the grocery store. Thank goodness I read the container first. Needless to say, I was in the car and off to the store to get the "strutto". We now, however, have enough "lardo" for two years. I hope I can figure out something to do with it.

If you got lardo it means you got the fresh stuff not cooked right? What to do, cut it into cubes, put it in a thick bottomed pot and slow cook it to render it. Then strain it a few times and put it in a glass container to solidify. Then use as strutto (although this has much more flavor that the prepackaged stuff).

Or render it then add spices like I described in the thread about macellaii in Certaldo a few minutes ago.

Or use it to make pasta sauces, add some bits to roasts, both in the pan or sticking it in the meat if too lean, add to vegetable dishes to flavor them, add to frittate... If you use lardo to cook, you do not usually need to add any other fat, just allow the fat to melt in the ot pan before adding the other ingredients.