[s_wilwerding]

You can also just buy lard - essentially the same thing, and it costs about a buck a pound (Snowcap is my personal favorite). About once a month, I make my great-grandmother's dinner rolls - they call for 1/8 cup of lard, and man, do they taste good. I just leave the lard in the refrigerator, and use to grease pans, in place of shortening, etc. In fact, now that they've taken trans fats out of shortenings like Crisco, it is nearly impossible to make a good pie crust without using lard.

For those interested, here's the recipe - best dinner rolls ever (it helps to have a KitchenAid mixer, as mixing by hand gets pretty tough):

Mix three packets of quick rise yeast with one tablespoon of sugar and 1/2 C of warm (115 degree water). Let sit until it starts to "bloom".

Beat three eggs.

Put 3 C of bread flour, 1/8 C lard, 2 C of warm (115 degree) water, 3/4 C sugar, and 1 tablespoon of salt into a mixer and beat.

Add yeast mixture until combined. Add eggs and combine. Stiffen with 5-6 cups of bread flour (until the dough is no longer sticky), let raise and beat down, then again raise and beat down. Form rolls (about the size of a racketball) on a greased pan. Let raise. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes until brown on top. Should make 24-30 rolls, depending on how big you make them.