Rendering Lard..........

Yesterday along with baking an Ozark Mt. Berry Pie and baking two loaves of bread and a pan of rolls, I rendered some lard.

Part of the reason we decided to raise our own hogs is because you just don't get much fat off a modern hog.  I like fat (I know you are snickering cuz I'm a big girl and it's ok, I'm snickerin' myself) and wanted a breed of hog that would give me some nice fat for rendering. 

Last month we called the local locker and ordered a hog for processing.  I asked them if they would save the fat for me and they said yes.  When we went to pick up our meat, I asked if he remembered to save me some fat.  He said no, he'd forgotten, and they just don't have much fat on them anymore, but I'll save you some for when you pick up your smoked/cured meat.  We went on Saturday to pick up our bacon and ham steaks and this is what Kenny gave me.......

He said this was trim fat from TWO hogs.........it's about 20 lbs.......

Here it is in the pan ready to be rendered.  Now you can scrape all those bits of meat off, but I just ain't got that kinda time..........

After rendering down we are left with this beautiful amber colored hot oil...........

Which cools by morning into the glorious-ness that is home rendered lard! 

You may be wondering why it isn't glow in the dark white, and then maybe you can't even tell from the picture......to get the highest quality gleamingly pure white lard you must use leaf fat, which is the fat from the loin and surrounding the kidneys of the pig.   That lard has almost no pork smell and will be blindingly white.  This lard was rendered from what I call scraps and trim.  It therefore has a bit of a pork smell (like a very faint whiff of bacon) and is more the color of buttermilk, as opposed to white.  It is still wonderful lard for pie crusts, frying chicken (which I'm doing tonight) and for making soap.  The lard I rendered last year was mostly leaf fat, therefore made a lighter lard.

Now if you'll excuse me.........I've got some knittin' to do!  I've got one more sleeve to finish on my sweater, then they'll be a blog post about it............

God Bless.......................

Rendering Lard..........

Today I'm rendering lard from some fat that my sister gave me. They had a hog butchered last fall and I asked her to get me the fat from the locker. It's been in my freezer and I decided that today was a good day to get it cooked down. I use lard for making soap and in cooking. It's the very best thing in the world to fry chicken with! You need a big ole cast iron skillet with some hot lard and you'll have the crispiest, juiciest fried chicken you've ever sunk your teeth into! Home rendered lard isn't bad for you either. Anything that you can make at home in your own kitchen is preferable to something you bought at the grocery store that you can't even pronounce the ingredients!!

From this...............

To this.................

To this..............

In a few hours, when it's cooled, these jars will be full of snowy white lard, ready to be used! Whether for fryin' chicken or sweet potato fries, seasonin' my beloved cast iron pans, makin' soap, or makin' delicious corn bread, biscuits, or pie crust it's ready and rarin' to go, just like me!