IngredientsDairy & fat
Schweineschmalzpork lard
Rendered pork fat: white and firm cold, clear in the pan. No water, no protein, so it does not spit and it burns late.
It goes into fried potatoes, into Sauerkraut, under a roast, and onto bread with crisp bits of crackling. It tastes of something, and that is the point.
In Mexikoin Mexico
Manteca de cerdo is in every carnicería and every mercado, often freshly rendered and ladled into a tub.
The fresh market kind is usually better than what a German supermarket sells. It smells of pork rather than of nothing.
Vorsichtwatch out
Manteca vegetal stands right beside it under an almost identical name. That is hydrogenated vegetable fat: it tastes of nothing and turns fried potatoes into a flavourless fry-up.
The tub has to say de cerdo. If it does not, put it back.