knit•er•a•cy |'nitərəsē, 'nitrə-|

Ah, sorry. I thought just the brand name was unfamiliar. It's a fat product made from vegetable oils, rather than animal, as lard is. Vegetable lard, I guess you could call it. Massively hydrogenated to be solid at room temperature. One can certainly bake without it, for millenia, even, but it sure comes in handy. Here, at least, it's cheaper than butter and can be purchased in large cans. Some lesser-quality brands combine animal and vegetable fats, but Crisco is one of the few brands I'm loyal to. It's essentially flavorless, so for some things it's more practical than butter. I have several cookie recipes that simply won't work with butter.