A Question For Mr Kipling

[poliphilo]

Khan came to the door last night with a fruit cake. His wife had bought it at the shop and one of his kids had read the box and discovered it contained pork fat. Instead of throwing it in the bin, he thought of me...

Now, seriously, why would a major manufacturer use an ingredient that puts its product off limits for Muslims and Jews? It's not as if pork fat is an essential ingredient of fruit cake. What's wrong with butter, or vegetable fat or vegetable oil? Don't they want to reach the broadest possible market? 

Nice cake, by the way.

PS; Ailz has worked in a bakery. (A big one). They didn't use pork fat: partly because they were working for the "high end" market and partly because it would have entailed operating under "meat regulations"- which (for obvious reasons) are tighter than those governing other foodstuffs. For instance they'd have had to have the premises tiled- like a butcher's shop. Clearly the pork fat didn't arrive in Khan's cake without decisions having been made at a high level...

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I prefer to use butter in pastry, but lard is fine.

I can't think I've ever seen a cake recipe that called for pork fat. If I did I would turn the page quickly.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Really? I find butter can make pastry tough. When I make pâte brisée, I use a mixture of butter and lard at a ratio of four to one.

When I make biscuits -- not your biscuits -- I invariably use lard. For the record, I seldom make biscuits.

I don't think I have ever seen lard used in a cake recipe of any description, though.