I don;t believe lard has any more calories than crisco. It's a myth. Once my brother, who should know better, since he's educated and reads a lot, was piling the margarine thickly on his "lite" pancakes. (THey were indeed very dry and awful - why bother to eat them at all i wonder, if you have to make them like that). I said, if you;d put some butter in the pancake batter you wouldnl;t need to compensate with the margarine on top. He said yeah, but margarine has less calories! NO! it;s a myth, that the producers of unhealthy chemically altered products have tried to foist on the public about their criscos and margarines. They have less cholesterol, not less calories. And now they don;t even seem to know for sure if the cholesterol you eat becomes cholesterol in the blood or if it's actually the saturated fats, or other stuff that makes your body produce cholesterol. I think it will be some time before they figure this out completely and it;s probably very complex and different for different people. I'm no expert so i won;t say. But as for calories, correct me if i'm wrong, but i think fats all have about the same calories.
as for pie crust, lard is amazing. But i never use crisco, only butter.
