a rendering of lard

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A friend had an extra plate from a hog and thought I would want it to render. Well of course I did, but you can get yours from a butcher. Just ask. They love that kind of stuff, getting meat products for you.
You’re going to want to partially freeze the meat. Otherwise it’s too dang slimy and tough to deal with. Then cut off the top skin, you just want the juicy fat.

After cubing it up into approximately 1″ cubes toss it into a large baking pan at 275 degrees for maybe two hours.

This batch went for maybe 1.75 hours and looks fine. A little toasty, but I like it that way.

Remove the puffy bits.

Oh my, don’t they look puffy? They’re puffy bits. I’m sure you could put salt on them and pop them into your mouth. But I chose not to.

Let it cool and strain it through something. I suppose you could use cheese cloff, but I used a wire strainer. Just to get the large bits, if any, out. Did I mention to let it cool? Yeah, do that. Then ladle it into smaller containers, one for the fridge, one for the freezer and THE REST FOR ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND LOVERS !!

HA !! Take a close look. That right there is a PORK BLISTER. Eh? What’s a pork blister? It’s a blister from slicing half frozen pork. Neat.

3 thoughts on “a rendering of lard”

  1. Hey, Meister Cherf:
    Lard is the kinda stuff the Eastern Syrupeens usta eat a lot of, like, a LOT! They would serve it raw, or after the animal had been laid out, ya know, and they’d serve it in little squares that you would put on pieces of carefully sliced black bread.
    Those folks may still do the same ritual today, maybe. Dunno. Haven’t been in their neighborhood for a while. But, ya know what? I bet sum of ’em still do continue right on with this tradition.
    Me? I couldn’t get the stuff up to my mouth, if you know what I mean. Like, a chunk of raw lard. Ghagatome!

  2. Ick, that was hard to read this early in the morning. Yeah, I ain’t talking about eating raw chunks. I’m talking about greasing the skillet a bit, the griddle or for pie crusts. THAT kind of use for lard. The good Use. PIES !!!!

  3. Sunday morning,
    Seemed like a good time to render the Lard.
    Mine sliced up real nice, I didn’t get the holy ‘pig’mata.