how to render lard

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Suzy Bean renders lard in her favorite way. And she talks about some other lard rendering techniques that she has tried and doesn’t like as much.

The way she likes: the stove top “dry method” (no water) in a cast iron skillet. She says a stainless steel pan would be good too. Low to medium heat.

Some ways she doesn’t like as much:

crock pot: the cracklins don’t crackle. they’re mushy. And there might be water in the lard

oven: it’s fine, but it takes a while

the wet method in a cast iron skillet: fine, but why bother when the dry method works so well

In this video, she uses “leaf lard” which is actually not yet lard. It is organ fat which will be rendered into lard. Leaf lard makes the very best lard – which makes the very best cookies, pie crusts and pastries! This is as opposed to “back fat” which makes a lard suitable for savory cooking.

Cut the fat up and toss it in the skillet. When the pork rinds look yummy, you’re ready. take the cracklings out and pour the liquid lard into a mason jar through a cheesecloth. Done.

Why do this? Because the fat does not store well. It will go nasty in a few days. The lard will keep for months or even years. Suzy confesses that she had some fat go moldy once.

I do some movie magic time lapse fast forward stuff in a coupla spots. I show the fat rendering quickly and I show the liquid turning to a solid quickly.

Relevant threads at permies:
http://www.permies.com/t/13996/cooking-food-preservation-food-choices/render-…
http://www.permies.com/t/2254/cooking-food-preservation-food-choices/good-lar…
http://www.permies.com/t/9306/cooking-food-preservation-food-choices/Lard-sta…
http://www.permies.com/t/2258/cooking-food-preservation-food-choices/preservi…
http://www.richsoil.com/cast-iron.jsp

music by Jimmy Pardo