Lard Vs Tallow: What's The Difference And When Should You Use Each?

Olive oil gets all the praise, but there are dozens of oils that deserve ample use in your kitchen. While most of these oils are plant-based coming in the form of vegetable, soy, corn, coconut, and avocado (among others); a few animal fats really shine when used for cooking.

I am partial to schmaltz myself, which is the Yiddish name for chicken fat, but it's more likely you would come across lard or tallow more regularly in day to day life. The similarities that exist between lard and tallow (also referred to as pig fat and beef fat, respectively) make it so they can sometimes be used interchangeably — when used as a lubricant for baked dishes or to coat a sauté pan, for example. But both lard and tallow have their own unique qualities that make them good for specific use-cases, which means you can't always switch them out with one another.

Lard is rendered from pigs and notably has a mild, neutral flavor. Lard has a smoke point of 370 degrees Fahrenheit, which is relatively high compared to other fats derived from animals; making it heat stable and good for frying. (You'll still want to check your oil temperature, though.) Lard is especially popular in the South, where pig farms are plenty. You can seen this play out in traditional Southern recipes like fried chicken and Louisiana beignets getting fried in lard.

Besides frying and sautéing, lard is also great when used in baked goods. Whereas butter in a pie crust contains a percentage of water, lard is 100% fat which makes for more tender and flakey layers. Some people are even known to eat lard similar to how we eat butter, by spreading it on a slice of bread with a sprinkle of salt. Although lard is often stereotyped as the more artery-clogging fat, it's not completely without its health benefits. Lard is high in vitamins A, D, and E and helps raise good cholesterol.

Tallow can be derived from either beef or sheep, but beef tallow is usually easier to find. It's white and firmer than lard when at room temperature, more akin to vegetable shortening. Tallow has a distinct, beefy flavor which adds dimension to whatever it is cooked with. Some restaurants (particularly steakhouses) will cook french fries in tallow for extra crispy and flavorfully rich frites.

The stiffer texture makes tallow functional for several uses outside the kitchen too, like cosmetics, and can also be used for conditioning your wood cutting board. Beef tallow is best used as a cooking fat with a flavor enhancer, typically when cooking beef-centric meals like searing off a steak in a skillet or cooking a prime rib roast in the oven. Tallow can also help bridge the flavors of your side dishes to go along with beef dinners, like tossing potatoes and vegetables in tallow before roasting them to crispy goodness in the oven.