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Make Your Own Lard (Believe it or not, it's good for you)
The New Homemaker ^ | 2007 | Lynn Siprelle

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.


TOPICS: Food
KEYWORDS: food; lard; lardmakinglard; makinglard
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To: MS.BEHAVIN

Mayonnaise! LoL

Actually I adore the stuff


181 posted on 12/12/2010 1:51:05 PM PST by mylife (Opinions ~ $1 Half Baked ~ 50c)
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To: Red_Devil 232; glock rocks; Pete-R-Bilt; B4Ranch; SouthTexas; NormsRevenge; Roccus; happydogx2; ...

Nascar Type Food Ping...


182 posted on 12/12/2010 1:53:10 PM PST by tubebender (If you can not read, this thread will tell you how to get help)
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To: TASMANIANRED

She ever make real red eye gravy? Not the nitrated stuff but the sugar cured natural stuff?

Add salt and pepper....


183 posted on 12/12/2010 1:53:59 PM PST by mylife (Opinions ~ $1 Half Baked ~ 50c)
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To: Randy Larsen

Agreed


184 posted on 12/12/2010 1:54:44 PM PST by mylife (Opinions ~ $1 Half Baked ~ 50c)
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To: mylife

I have only ever had Windsor Loin Pork Chops in a restaurant.
It is a thick loin poke chop that is smoked..
Can’t be too hard, I think!


185 posted on 12/12/2010 1:55:25 PM PST by MS.BEHAVIN (Women who behave rarely make history)
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To: weezel

Awesome!


186 posted on 12/12/2010 1:56:25 PM PST by mylife (Opinions ~ $1 Half Baked ~ 50c)
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To: mylife

You are a true son of the South, even though you were born above the Mason Dixon.


187 posted on 12/12/2010 1:57:38 PM PST by TASMANIANRED (Liberals are educated above their level of intelligence.. Thanks Sr. Angelica)
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To: HungarianGypsy

PING!!


188 posted on 12/12/2010 1:58:09 PM PST by MS.BEHAVIN (Women who behave rarely make history)
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To: mylife

You like Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake?
Yummy stuff!


189 posted on 12/12/2010 1:59:11 PM PST by MS.BEHAVIN (Women who behave rarely make history)
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To: listenhillary

I don’t have the
nail’s it” Graphic. But you win.


190 posted on 12/12/2010 1:59:28 PM PST by TASMANIANRED (Liberals are educated above their level of intelligence.. Thanks Sr. Angelica)
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To: kanawa

Pour it over fresh mustard greens and green onions, we call it wilted greens.


191 posted on 12/12/2010 1:59:43 PM PST by Hotmetal (An Irishman is not too drunk if he can hold on to a blade of grass and not fall from earth.)
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To: TASMANIANRED

****! You grew up 200 miles from me LoL


192 posted on 12/12/2010 2:00:49 PM PST by mylife (Opinions ~ $1 Half Baked ~ 50c)
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To: mylife

You are a man after my heart.


193 posted on 12/12/2010 2:01:35 PM PST by TASMANIANRED (Liberals are educated above their level of intelligence.. Thanks Sr. Angelica)
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To: MS.BEHAVIN

Never heard of it.


194 posted on 12/12/2010 2:02:23 PM PST by mylife (Opinions ~ $1 Half Baked ~ 50c)
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To: MS.BEHAVIN

We rained for the past 2 day’s.. colder than a witches hooha out there right now.

The good news.. Is I think the snow is coming your way.


195 posted on 12/12/2010 2:04:01 PM PST by TASMANIANRED (Liberals are educated above their level of intelligence.. Thanks Sr. Angelica)
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To: mylife

Last can of Crisco I bought went bad from sitting on the shelf.

I only add it when my bacon grease gets low.


196 posted on 12/12/2010 2:05:29 PM PST by TASMANIANRED (Liberals are educated above their level of intelligence.. Thanks Sr. Angelica)
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To: TASMANIANRED

Good news for WHO?
LOL


197 posted on 12/12/2010 2:06:16 PM PST by MS.BEHAVIN (Women who behave rarely make history)
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To: MS.BEHAVIN

Me too.


198 posted on 12/12/2010 2:06:35 PM PST by TASMANIANRED (Liberals are educated above their level of intelligence.. Thanks Sr. Angelica)
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To: MS.BEHAVIN

Well the idea may seem odd to some but it suits me.

I like rich food but am not a huge fan of sweet food.
Chocolate, when it is done right is very nice.
I dont like that milk chocolate sugar thing that people do.

The sugar ruins it for me.


199 posted on 12/12/2010 2:07:38 PM PST by mylife (Opinions ~ $1 Half Baked ~ 50c)
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To: mylife

Try it some time.
it can be ordered by mail.


200 posted on 12/12/2010 2:08:05 PM PST by MS.BEHAVIN (Women who behave rarely make history)
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