The first is to cut the fat into 1/2″ chunks and place in a deep pot or cast iron dutch oven. Leaf fat – If you will be using lard for creating the most amazing pastries and donuts, this is the fat you will want to render. You'll know it's finished when you have beautiful, liquid fat on the bottom and little bits of meat (cracklins) on the top. Disclosure | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use, Best Duck Breeds to Consider for Your Homestead. Unless you are butchering a pig at home, you will be able to make lard on a monthly basis with a couple of pounds of fat purchased from the butcher. There are a few sections of fat on a pig including the belly (used for bacon), the fatback (on the rear of the pig and great for frying) and the leaf fat (around the kidneys and the renders into the purest lard). You’ll be glad you did. It becomes slippery as it warms up and makes it more difficult to cut up and messier. The first time I ever rendered bear fat, this is what I tried. Lard can be used in place of butter, which comes in useful if you remove dairy from your diet. Lard is actually a lot easier and less time consuming than rendering tallow. Then, they all got a bad rap. This method, however, is not any better than any other. Stir lard occasionally on low to medium heat. What you will need is the cast iron skillet, a box of lard, which can be purchased in your favorite supermarket for less than $2.00, a roll of heavy paper towels and an oven. Once you have taken the rinds out, you are left with the hot lard. Are you looking for a group of like-minded people that love the heritage way of life?? It’s incredibly versatile and makes good food amazing. (actually 1 hour and 15 minutes seemed best). The pure white stuff is amazing for making pastries and pie crusts. Remove any leftover meat from the fat. I honestly use lard in our cooking on a routine basis and have never come up with a loss as to how to use it. It needs stirred frequently. Immediately remove it from heat so your cracklins do not start to flavor your lard, you don’t want that any more than you do rendering it down too quickly. I cut them the first time and they weren't near small enough. Many of the recipes contained within those pages call for lard as one of the ingredients. Using Lard (animal fat) at 500°F for 1 hour. I fry steaks in lard. You’ll want to stir it a little more frequently and make sure you keep that heat low so it doesn’t render too quickly. Enjoy the process of rendering lard, then go ahead and dig into a bowl of crunchy pork rinds with some mustard, or horseradish, and your favorite salt on the side. Some meat attached to the fat is fine, as long as you are able to store it properly, or use up the lard quickly in the next month or so. A mulefoot heritage breed. Once it begins melting set it to “1”. Once the bits of meat begin to float to the top, your lard is finished rendering. Make sure your fat is semi-frozen when you start cutting it. I’ve become a collector of old cookbooks. and for the best fried chicken and potatoes ever. For soap making, when your cast iron needs re-seasoning, if you’re frying eggs for breakfast or making savory pastries, enjoy that snow white lard. Me too. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Cut the fatback into 1/4-inch cubes and put it into a 6 to 8 quart Dutch oven. You don't need to be nit picky about this, a little bit of pink is absolutely fine. I fancied adding some shine to our huge cast iron … Learn how your comment data is processed. But, you will utilize the fat back. You can also render lard in the oven: Place it in a heavy pot (Dutch oven is perfect) and set the oven between 225-250 degrees F. It may make you rethink your entire diet! Although we still butcher our own hogs, we haven’t rendered lard for years. Carefully strain your lard using cheesecloth into a glass container that has been warmed. Lard will keep at room temp for about 4 to 6 months as long as it is stored properly with a lid and in a dark place. Don't be afraid of removing the lid and stir it frequently if you're using a crockpot. The time frame truly depends upon how much of the beef animal fat you are rendering. I fry potatoes in lard. You can’t make those at home, though perhaps you can buy plant oils in bulk and reuse glass bottles, depending on zero-waste facilities near you. After a bit, the fat will begin to release a lot of oil, just like when you cook bacon (and yes, bacon grease is a form of lard). I seem to talk about fat all the time. How to Render Bacon Fat. Dec 2, 2015 - Think "lard" is a dirty word? Ready to render? And it was the experience of a lifetime. It may take between five to seven hours to render the suet into tallow. If you're using a cast iron pan, you do not need to add water. The heavy cast iron kettles were suspended from a heavy pipe frame. If you only utilize the leaf fat, you’re not going to render much lard, honestly. Seven families would gather and we’d butcher around 10 hogs in a day. In a crock pot, you can leave the pieces much larger — less work for you! Skinless fat produces the best results, for lard and rinds alike. It is what you will find in sausages, and it is best for frying and sauteing in. That said, if you are interested in cooking with high quality lard and have no desire to render it yourself Fatworks Foods is a great company that sells responsibly rendered Lard and Beef Tallow.. In the crockpot it will take anywhere from just a few hours, to about 12. I have a smooth Griswold if that helps as im aware some people use different seasoning techniques depending on whether its a rough cast like Lodge or smooth like a Griswold. 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. Posted on Last updated: February 13, 2020 By: Author Danielle McCoy. I really had no idea what I was doing. One of the next chores was to set up the kettles for cooking the meat and rendering the lard. (Again, the key is cooking it over low heat to produce a beautifully clean and white lard with a neutral flavor.) You will have a whole cheesecloth full of them when you pour your lard into your jars. When rendering in a cast iron skillet, the fat pieces should be cut up into smaller bits. Things like Crisco, canola oil, margarine replaced seemingly innocent, naturally rendered fats like lard. Not so long ago, every home had a lard pot in the pantry, usually an enamel pot with lid. Make sure the vessel you are storing the lard in has been thoroughly washed and dried too. The quicker you render it, the less mild the flavor. Their land and their life’s work is aptly named ForestCreekMeadows. Surprisingly, lard from pastured pigs is beneficial to your health. Many people say that lard is shelf stable. Remove any leftover meat from the fat. Grandfather would get the lard rendered to a certain point, my guess approximately 200 degrees, based on my subsequent lard rendering process. Remove solids and … You won’t have to watch it much and can just go about whatever you need to get done. I’ve read that the best way to season cast iron is by cooking bacon and wiping the pan with lard after use. Step 2: Allow it to cook down and melt. Cut the fat into small chunks. Then, add about 1/4 cup of water to your slow cooker and add the fat. They were all touted as unhealthy and synthetic alternatives replaced these natural fats used for generations. Cut pork fat into small pieces Place in a cast iron pot over very low heat As fat begins to melt, scoop out liquid and strain over a sieve lined with cheese cloth. Contrary to popular belief, lard is an excellent and healthy fat to use for cooking and baking. We use the old time 36″ cast iron kettles handed down but have upgraded to a homemade propane burner instead of wood from sawmill scraps. In the beginning, you can add half a cup of water, to prevent the frying fat from sticking to the bottom. Lard sourced from a pasture-raised pig is better than a commercially raised hog, since the fat is where all of the feed concentrates and such are stored. We’re growing our own food, cooking from scratch and taking steps toward self sufficient living on just an acre, and I think you can, too. Most people utilize the leaf fat and the fat back when rendering lard from a butchered hog. Wife, mama to three awesome farm girls, and passionate about helping others ditch the status quo to live more self sufficient lives, no matter where they live. Use cheesecloth to get as much sediment as possible filtered out of your lard when transferring it to glass jars. It is organ fat which will be rendered into lard. We like them, so the dogs will have to wait. Something to keep in mind if all you want to do is chow down at the end of your lard-making success. Use fat only from pastured pigs for the healthiest lard. I just cut the fat up into a bunch of huge chunks, put it all in a cast iron pot and let it simmer on my wood stove. Unlike Crisco, which largely replaced lard, which is created from cotton (an inedible textile crop, mind you). The history contained within those pages is fascinating to me. It should take around three hours to reach completion. I fry burgers in lard. Once you begin to fall in love with fat – rendering it and eating it -, I recommend you to read into Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient. Cook it on low, not high heat, for a more neutral flavor and strain it into a clean glass jar if you are concerned about the lard going moldy. I have three kids and not a ton of time to stand watch over a dutch oven on the stove all day, so this isn’t something I’ve done often, but it’s doable and depending on how much fat you’re rendering, isn’t terribly time consuming. One pound of lard will render down to about one pint of lard. Bring the fat to a light boil till it begins to turn golden brown. When the slow cooker is pleasantly full, cover it and set the slow cooker on low. If you don’t have access to such a store, lard is a wonderful alternative. The best part is, lard does not require refrigeration – it is about as basic a food as you can get. I fry ham in lard. Or you can put them on the top of a salad. You’ll be able to smell when it starts to go rancid. Embrace the differences in food, slow down and appreciate how it gets from farm (or homestead) to plate. In our case, only two kettles were needed. Note on back in faint pencil Mother & Sophie taking up lard. Turn the slow cooker on low or the heat of the stove on low and allow the fat to melt down. How do you know it is still safe to eat? If storing in the freezer, make sure you use straight sided glass as other jars are liable to break when frozen. The first is to cut the fat into 1/2″ chunks and place in a deep pot or cast iron dutch oven . It was the best place to be since we butchered in winter and it warm around the rendering … Let it sit for 10-15 minutes before pouring into a glass jar, lard pot or stoneware pickling crock – when it is not in use for fermenting veggies! I grew tired of the newer teflon non-stick models, reverting to the original non stick. Here's how to do it in a cast iron skillet! In part one of this three part series on rendering lard Janette prepares the fat by cutting and grinding. Pieces have become small, brown bits in the beginning, you do up! So the dogs will have to wait a neutral flavor. ) to pour into glass... 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