For the most perfectly golden, shatteringly crisp fried chicken, the flakiest of pie crust and most tender of buttermilk biscuits, reach for the lard. So too for tender tortillas and toothsome scallion pancakes. For superior french fries, a dip in tallow; for the tastiest matzo balls, a spoonful of schmaltz.
Generations past of home cooks knew as much. People around the world have been cooking with animal fats for millennia, and up until the early to mid-20th century, they were staples in American kitchens.
