Hastings’ Holly butchery launches New Zealand’s first ‘liquid bacon’ – Mark Story

Produced in Holly’s Hastings butchery, Holly Gold has been entered in this year’s Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards as an emerging product.

Home cook, big eater and deputy editor Mark Story has an appetite for the region’s moreish food products. This week he rediscovers lard – but not as he knew it.

Lard isn’t unlike me in that it’s calorie-dense.

But unlike me, it’s highly regarded in kitchens.

So much so, its standing in savoury cooking is essentially what chocolate is to sweet.

Now in a new form, thanks to Hastings’ Holly butchery, ”New Zealand’s first liquid bacon” looks poised to push duck fat off its lofty perch.

This boutique meatery has “reimagined” traditional lard and come up with a way to enjoy bacon’s fatty goodness from a jar.

Dubbed Holly Gold, the product dawned as the brainchild of fifth-generation manager Ellie Vogtherr-Pulford.

“Smoky and salty”, the old-school goodness is “nostalgic, it’s exciting”, she said.

“People love the flavour of bacon, but you don’t always want to cook a whole packet to get that taste.”

Holly Bacon's Ellie Vogtherr-Pulford juggles a jar of "New Zealand's first liquid bacon". Photo / Mark Story

It’s similar to traditional pork lard, but with key differences.

“This product is fat which we have cured (salt only) and then triple-smoked in our smoke house. Some of it is a biproduct of fat trimmed off our bacon, but to top it up we also use fat specifically for this product,” Vogtherr-Pulford said.

The idea rendered at night.

“Often I have my best ideas just before I fall asleep. I’d seen someone saving bacon fat to make mayonnaise, and I thought that’d taste amazing if we could do that somehow,” she said.

So far, it’s found its way to the kitchens of both the Mission Restaurant and celebrity chef Josh Emett.

Its emergence coincides with a new reckoning, where healthy animal-fats are trumping cooking oils.

A stable body, savoury depth and a high smoke point are big culinary drawcards.

While duck fat, ghee, lard and dripping have been evergreens with professional chefs, their stars are now rising in home kitchens.

“People are more aware of what’s going into their products ... they’re keener these days to do the research on what’s in their food, traditional cooking, going back to Keto and Paleo-type ideas of natural fats,” Vogtherr-Pulford said.

Amen to that.

Healthy animal fat is home cooking’s recent revenant – awake and unashamedly threatening our wincingly outdated food pyramid.

Holly Gold has been entered in this year’s Outstanding New Zealand Food Producer Awards as an emerging product.

So, the obvious question: could a super-hungry punter double down and cook bacon in it?

“Well, you could, but our bacon is tasty enough already,” Vogtherr-Pulford said.

And her favourite use?

“I like it simple, drizzled over scrambled eggs, or used to roast potatoes of course.”

Review

Holly Gold $20 for 220 grams, ($24 post-launch price)

I took her advice and went unfussy.

A tablespoon of Holly Gold in a hot pan until shimmering. Ladled in three generous corn fritters. Four minutes on each side served with homemade tzatziki.

How good?

A more delicate bacon flavour than I had expected, but still a moreish, porky presence. A fatty, stable heat gifted golden crusts and a smoky-swine finish. Marvellous.

Corn fritters are next-level if cooked in "liquid bacon" fat, Mark Story reckons. Photo / Mark Story

* Do you know of a rising Hawke’s Bay food or beverage product worth a profile? Contact mark.story@hbtoday.co.nz