Post by Joann on Nov 5, 2004 15:54:27 GMT -5
Nothing to it, really.
If you butcher a pig there will be extra fat. You can also ask the meat department or butcher, if such a creature is still to be found, for a few pounds of pork fat. He will probably have to order it for you but will be glad to do it. Fatback comes in squares with skin on one side. Internal fat from around the kidney is called “leaf”. It is of superior quality. Most meat department workers nowadays won’t know what you are talking about if you ask for leaf. Sigh. If you have you own pig butchered request that the leaf fat be saved and given to you. You may wish to render this lard separately and save it for the Christmas pie.
Here’s how to make lard:
Chop pork fat or score the blocks of fatback and place it in any heavy saucepan, but fill it no more than 2/3 full. Add an inch of water to get it started. Keep heat low, about 200F, and avoid browning the fat as time goes on. Stir occasionally. As fat accumulates, pour it off through a metal strainer or linen napkin affixed with clothespins. Pour it into containers of your choice. I prefer pint glass canning jars sold as dual purpose for freezing or canning. Before it solidifies, stir in the contents of a vitamin E capsule. Vitamin E is an antioxidant and will prevent rancidity. To assure whiteness of the lard, chill it rapidly in a freezer or outside in cold weather. That’s all here is to it.
Lard to which vitamin E has been added will keep indefinitely in a freezer and six months to a year on a cool cellar shelf. Its culinary and nutritional qualities are far superior to vegetable shortening. I recently used some lard that had been preserved with vitamin E and stored three years in my cellar. It was perfectly good. Just make sure your glass jars of lard don’t have a watery layer at the bottom, as this will cause spoilage unless kept frozen.
When all lard is rendered, allow the remaining crispy bits to brown lightly. Using a wooden implement, scrape this out and chop it up for inclusion in your next batch of cornbread.
Animals are harder to fool than people because they don't listen to advertising. Cats will happily lick lard, just as in the German folk tale, “Cat and Mouse Keep House”, but they won't touch vegetable shortening.
Commercial lard sold in pound packages is better than vegetable shortening but not by a whole lot. If you read the label you will see that it includes “Lard and hydrogenated lard”. Real lard is not a highly saturated fat. It is liquid at room temperature. To sell it in live-forever blocks it must be hydrogenated.
Excerpted from Real Food by Joann S Grohman © 1996
If you butcher a pig there will be extra fat. You can also ask the meat department or butcher, if such a creature is still to be found, for a few pounds of pork fat. He will probably have to order it for you but will be glad to do it. Fatback comes in squares with skin on one side. Internal fat from around the kidney is called “leaf”. It is of superior quality. Most meat department workers nowadays won’t know what you are talking about if you ask for leaf. Sigh. If you have you own pig butchered request that the leaf fat be saved and given to you. You may wish to render this lard separately and save it for the Christmas pie.
Here’s how to make lard:
Chop pork fat or score the blocks of fatback and place it in any heavy saucepan, but fill it no more than 2/3 full. Add an inch of water to get it started. Keep heat low, about 200F, and avoid browning the fat as time goes on. Stir occasionally. As fat accumulates, pour it off through a metal strainer or linen napkin affixed with clothespins. Pour it into containers of your choice. I prefer pint glass canning jars sold as dual purpose for freezing or canning. Before it solidifies, stir in the contents of a vitamin E capsule. Vitamin E is an antioxidant and will prevent rancidity. To assure whiteness of the lard, chill it rapidly in a freezer or outside in cold weather. That’s all here is to it.
Lard to which vitamin E has been added will keep indefinitely in a freezer and six months to a year on a cool cellar shelf. Its culinary and nutritional qualities are far superior to vegetable shortening. I recently used some lard that had been preserved with vitamin E and stored three years in my cellar. It was perfectly good. Just make sure your glass jars of lard don’t have a watery layer at the bottom, as this will cause spoilage unless kept frozen.
When all lard is rendered, allow the remaining crispy bits to brown lightly. Using a wooden implement, scrape this out and chop it up for inclusion in your next batch of cornbread.
Animals are harder to fool than people because they don't listen to advertising. Cats will happily lick lard, just as in the German folk tale, “Cat and Mouse Keep House”, but they won't touch vegetable shortening.
Commercial lard sold in pound packages is better than vegetable shortening but not by a whole lot. If you read the label you will see that it includes “Lard and hydrogenated lard”. Real lard is not a highly saturated fat. It is liquid at room temperature. To sell it in live-forever blocks it must be hydrogenated.
Excerpted from Real Food by Joann S Grohman © 1996