Lard

[vellocet]

So, after hearing that seed oils are bad for you, I decided to start cooking with lard instead.  Since all the hard-to-find ingredients are found on apps these days, I decided to take a reasonable guess and search the supermarket section or ele.me for 牛油. I found butter, products made with butter, and avocados. No lard. No dice on Taobao either. I did find a can of stuff that looked like lard but turned out to be made from pigs instead of cows. I already save bacon grease in the fridge so no need there.   I consulted Pleco and it said  牛油 means lard. Anyone know?

[honglam]

Well I think you question is a little bit unclear. I looked up in online Cambridge dictionary and it gave me the answer that "lard" means oil from pig fat, which is equivalent to "猪油" in Chinese. And "牛油" is easy to be understood: 牛 = cow, and 油 = oil, so 牛油 is the oil made of cow fat. So what are you looking for? "Pig oil" or "Cow oil"

[Jim]

Lard being pig fat is my understanding too, also known as 大油 in Chinese. Beef fat similarly rendered is called tallow, though we usually encountered it as beef dripping as kids, which is just saving it yourself in a little dish then using it as a spread on toast. There's also suet, used for dumplings etc. which is specifically the fat from around a cow's heart IIRC.

[Tomsima]

Similar to Jim, lard has always been referred to as 猪油 in our house

[vellocet]

Well I'll be damned, lard does mean pig fat.  Who knew?  I don't know why but I've always assumed it meant beef fat.  I knew the word tallow but OK.  I guess I'll get the can of  black pig fat and start cooking with that.  Bacon grease goes give a flavor to the food, which is something I may or may not want.  I looked it up in Pleco again and it says 猪油.  Don't know how I got that.  I've been very forgetful lately which hasn't helped in my studies.  I just tell myself repetition works, even if I can't remember it five minutes later.