Posted on 12/12/2010 8:45:11 AM PST by Red_Devil 232
You WHAT?!" said my friend, making the most disgusted face I've seen someone make in some time. I rendered some lard over the weekend, I repeated. "WHY on EARTH would you want to do THAT?!" she cried.
I wasn't surprised. North American culture is so fat-phobic we demonize some of the very foods that are best for us, and among those foods is homemade lard. The store stuff isn't worth bothering with; it's hydrogenated to make it shelf-stable. What I'm talking about is lard from the fat of well-raised pigs, not factory farmed pigs. To get it, you're going to have to make it yourself. Luckily, that's not hard.
What you don't know about lard
Not only does lard make the best pie crusts, it's lower in saturated fat than butter--if saturated fat bothers you. It doesn't bother me, in fact, the plaque levels in my heart have actually improved since I've started eating good saturated fats. (They've actually gone and looked, so I feel safe in saying this.)
Technically lard isn't even a saturated fat; it's a monounsaturated fat. And it's one of the best dietary sources of vitamin D. It also contains no trans-fats. If there's fat to be avoided, trans-fats are the ones.
Finding fat
The hardest part of making lard is finding a good source of pork fat. You're going to have to do a little digging, and it's important that you not just use any pork fat you find; you want to make sure the pig was properly cared for and fed right. Your average supermarket "butcher," and I use that term loosely, isn't going to have it; that pork is all factory farmed, and very few supermarket butchers cut whole carcasses any more. You may have more luck at a specialty market like Whole Foods, Wild Oats or the like, but be sure to inquire after the feeding practices.
If there is a farmer's market near you, look around and ask questions. That's how we stumbled onto our farmer, who is really in the goat cheese biz; he raises pigs on the leftover whey. We've bought two (incredibly delicious) pigs from him in as many years, and surprised the butcher by asking for all of the fat--and as much of the offal as we could get, but that's another article. Hey, we were paying for it. If you don't have a farmer's market, try EatWild.com where you can find farmers with good growing practices, and not just for meat.
Making it
Once you've found your fat, decide what you want to use it for. If you want it for pastries, try to find and use only the fat from around the kidneys--what's called "leaf" lard. I don't make much pastry, so I don't care about that.
Chop the fat into at least 1" cubes, taking any meat chunks off in the process. Some folks put it through a meat grinder. In any event, you want small pieces; otherwise you won't get as much fat out.
Heat your oven to 225°F. I use my cast iron dutch oven to render lard in. Put about a quarter-inch of water at the bottom of the pot; this keeps the fat from browning too much at the beginning, and it'll burn off in time. Add your chopped-up fat. Pop it in the oven for at least a couple of hours, stirring now and then. Eventually the chunks won't give up any more fat--it'll become obvious, the chunks will look the same after an hour as they did before.
As you're doing all this there will be a distinct smell. Some people like it, some people don't. It's a little too intense for my comfort, frankly, which is why I try to do a bunch of lard at once. If you can do this outside, or in a canning kitchen if you have one, so much the better.
Let the lard cool to lukewarm; while it's cooling is a good time to gather up your jars and lids and make sure they're clean and ready to go. There are various methods to filter out the bits of meat and unrendered fat--the cracklings--from the lard, but what I use is a paper coffee filter and cone. Ladle the still-liquid lard, skipping the bigger chunks, into the filter.
Refrigerate the lard and use it within a month. If you've made more than you can use in a month, it freezes well.
Using it
Use it anywhere you'd use butter or shortening: To pop popcorn (the best!); to make pie crust; to fry eggs. In some cultures it's even spread on bread, topped with onions and salt, and called a sandwich. As for the leftover bits, the cracklings? Salt them and put them on salads or just munch on them. Josie loves them. We got more cracklings than we could eat, so we fed a lot of them to the chickens and used them as doggie and kitty treats.
Eggs demand pork fat
Dat sounds good!
I made a huge brunch for us..
Later this evening we will have roast pork.
It’s raining it’s guts out here, the wind is driving the rain sideways..
Ugh..
Thanks for a great thread, RD!
It ain’t southern fried chicken unless it is fried in bacon grease.
When my market has pork fat for sale I buy it and render the lard. And boy the crunchies taste so good.
Got a smidge of mustard? apple laced kraut?
That pork will make fine sandwiches
Wha? no Crisco?
Science, flintsilver? And of course it was science not so many years ago when medical doctors were using mercury (quicksilver) to treat patients. These doctors became known as quacks. Science flint?...show us some science.
Thought the subject was worth chewing the fat over.
Yep!
They are very thick and smokey..
YOM!!!
Hee hee!
People are just passionate about food, huh?
I love reading all the comments.
Both tung and linseed are discussed in the comments. Linseed and flaxseed seem to be the same, but more refined is how I read it. But someone posted that they have used linseed with no problems.
I would not use tung or linseed especially since I have a good supply of rancid grapeseed oil. Rancid oil does not effect polymerization on the cast iron, apparently. Good use for something that would otherwise be tossed!
Off subject a bit but Be cautious of Tung oil and Lindseed oil when refinishing wood projects as it is extremely combustible when the soaked rags are left in a pile in the building. On the other hand keep it in mind if that drug house becomes a problem next door, especially if it is left under a pile of newspapers and kindling on their back porch...
Where is the recipe?
My yucatan poke chops are loin chops marinated in chipolte, lime, cayenne, salt any pepper
Fried chicken, fried eggs and gravy.
The secret of the gravy is lots of pepper.
I’m missing my Mom in the worst way possible right now.
Her gravy was to die for. Just a hunk of bread dipped in it was a culinary experience.
When her current stash of bacon grease was getting a little too abundant, she made gravy to pour over dog food.
I think the beagles hunted twice as hard after her nectar.
*HUG*
Hi, Sis!
Know what I have a hankering for?
Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake.
There’s nothing better than bacon grease to for fried eggs!
My mom always used lard and buttermilk to make biscuits, and she made them everyday. Put some hot fried fatback in one of them and no king ever ate better.
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