Lard Making a Comeback page

[gopintos]

Dr. Weil's Newsletter this morning. Bless his little heart. He gets closer and closer every day

Lard Making a comback

[Omni]

I have more than I can use, got some free range pork (whole pig) recently, once I finished all the cuts, cleaned up all the loose fat and skin, then rendered it down finished with around 5kg and this is on top of what I still had leftover from the last lot. We reuse all our drippings so it's like the gift that keeps giving, every time I fry I use a spoonfull, but there always seems to be more left over in the pan when I finish.

So I have started to look at making some soap or maybe candles, in a jar possibly.

[gopintos]

That is awesome! I have bought some at my dutch store but I tend to reach for the CO instead. I have been using my bacon grease more this week. I was saving a bunch of the fat and "tried" to render it down. I had the heat too high and it was getting too dark. Didnt go down as much as I thought it would but I had to turn it off. So then I had all these dark crunchy fat pieces, just sitting there draining. And I couldn't help but grab a little crunch now and then. I wasn't sure how wise that was, and how fast all the little bits might add up, and I didnt want to start yet another bacon thread to ask about it .... so I finally just pitched it in the trash. What a sad day that was.

[Penady]

I actually saw a tub of lard on the shelves of my grocery store. Flipped it around to read the ingredients (just to be sure), and sure enough...it was pork fat mixed with hydrogenated oil. BLASPHEMY!

[Omni]

That is awesome! I have bought some at my dutch store but I tend to reach for the CO instead. I have been using my bacon grease more this week. I was saving a bunch of the fat and "tried" to render it down. I had the heat too high and it was getting too dark. Didnt go down as much as I thought it would but I had to turn it off. So then I had all these dark crunchy fat pieces, just sitting there draining. And I couldn't help but grab a little crunch now and then. I wasn't sure how wise that was, and how fast all the little bits might add up, and I didnt want to start yet another bacon thread to ask about it .... so I finally just pitched it in the trash. What a sad day that was.

To render basically you cut up all your fatty bits, into a saucepan add a little bit of water so level is atleast half way up, then simmer on low heat, lowest you can to get it to simmer, it will take 3-6 hours, the water will evaporate as the lard comes out of the fat, then you finish up with a pot of simering lard, stir regularly as some will stick on the bottom in the later stages, the fatty bits float, but some of the other semi meat & gelatin bits sink and stick, once the fatty bits are really soft, most of the lard is out and they will start to change colour going more golden, this is when you want to decant the lard otherwise it gets that burnt flavour. I just pour the lard into jars through a strainer to catch all the fatty tissue bits, these are called greaves, at this stage the greaves still have a bit of lard in them so I just spread them out on a sandwich press and heat & press at low heat to extract the last bit of lard, then just brown them off till they are golden, they make a nice crunchy snack, still a little bit fatty, but quite high in protein apparantly.

[Neckhammer]

Dr. Weil's Newsletter this morning. Bless his little heart. He gets closer and closer every day

Lard Making a comback

He is coming round little by little.

[Ferti]

I actually saw a tub of lard on the shelves of my grocery store. Flipped it around to read the ingredients (just to be sure), and sure enough...it was pork fat mixed with hydrogenated oil. BLASPHEMY!

Even the lard in the refrigerated dairy section is partially hydrogenated. What a waste.

[gopintos]

To render basically you ....

Oh wow thanks! I would never have guessed you add water.

[sbhikes]

I rendered duck lard without using water. Just cut off some of the excess obesity from the duck and heated it in a pan. It became pure liquid fat with some cracklins floating on top, which I ate. I added to that all the duck fat that fell off the rest of the duck as it roasted for 4 hours in the oven. Got almost a quart of fat off one duck.

[cantare]

all together now...

Praise the Lard, and blast the dietitian
Praise the Lard, it's health's beyond suspicion!
Praise the Lard, don't hark to your physician
and we'll all stay lean!

[apologies to Frank Loesser]