A lot of people are quick to say "no" to lard as a cooking ingredient. That's unfortunate. They certainly have their reasons, and some are well-founded, but lard isn't the bad guy that many people make it out to be. Moderation is the key, and a well-timed fish fry or a deep-fried chicken dinner in lard will leave everyone smacking their lips. Let's look at the facts.

Yes, lard is high in saturated fat, and saturated fats are high in LDL cholesterol (also known as "bad" cholesterol). But according to Harvard Health Publishing, trans fat is what you really need to worry about. You don't want to ingest a single gram of it.

Saturated fats, on the other hand, are all right in moderation. In fact, a meta-analysis of 21 studies was unable to find a significant link between saturated fat and heart disease. Doctors say you should still keep saturated fat at 10% of your calories or less just to be safe, but there is no reason to remove it altogether.