In Honor of Butterpowered Bike?Rending Lard, Of Course!

Creamy white and easy rendered lard in a crockpot!

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Most of you know that Buttterpowered Bike used to have a website called Rendering Lard, before she switched over to her knew site Hunger and Thirst. I always thought it was an interesting name for a website because at that point in my life, when I first started exploring food blogs and traditional styles of eating, I actually had no clue, nor any inclination to render lard. Butter, and the many other food bloggers who do this on a regular basis certainly changed my mind. I had come from the same background most folks do when it comes to saturated animal fats.

We are told by the prevailing nutritional media that saturated fat is bad for you and you should be using vegetable fats. Nothing could be further from the truth as this article on the importance of saturated fats by Raine Saunders of The Agriculture Society explains. When I looked at all the research and saw how the war over our “fats and oils” dollars had nothing to do with our health and far more to do with who could make the most money off consumers, I decided to stop listening to the media and look back at history for my direction.

When our grandmother’s and great grandmother’s were cooking daily meals, all they had available to them was pork lard, beef tallow, butter, rendered fat of other animals such as bear and chicken, whale, seal or walrus blubber, olive oil if they came from the Mediterranean area, peanut or sesame seed oil if from southern asia and the middle east and palm or coconut oil if they came from the Middle East or South Pacific. There were very few options for vegetable oils in an area that was not tropical or temperate enough to grow olive trees or palm fruit. While they may have eaten many fatty nuts and seeds like almonds or sunflower seeds, they certainly never thought to press them into oils for daily use because they would go rancid too quickly. It is only during this era of hyper hygiene, refrigeration, rapid transportation and food preservatives that highly volatile vegetable oils have even become a viable economic option. That viability of course comes with a price, as most oils are highly processed, chemically altered in some cases and deodorized so the rancidity of the product cannot be detected.

No, I choose to stick by what my grandmother used in the kitchen, which is butter and lard for most cooking. I have been using coconut oil as well and some palm shortening because I can get it, it is healthy for me and I enjoy using it in recipes that call for a light taste and a high heat in cooking.

This holiday season, I had decided I was going to make some authentic pie crusts and that meant using lard or a combination of lard and butter. Lard can make a pastry taste a little on the meaty side, and because it promotes flakiness of the crust, it makes the pastry dough a bit crumbly to work with, so the addition of butter for flavor and workability is a good idea.

Upon searching my local stores for lard, I came upon a sad and sorry sight. The lard available was shelf stable due to the fact that it was hydrogenated. This means the bonds that exist between the carbon atoms have had hydrogen artificially added so the bonds are more stable and the fat stays solid. Anyone who knows anything about food knows this process produces trans fats and trans fats are extremely unhealthy for you! I knew I could purchase rendered lard from my Milk Club, but I decided to try doing it myself at Butterpowered Bike’s suggestion. She told me it was easy to do and she did it all the time. Since she inspires me to step outside my comfort zone, I felt compelled to try. We are lucky to have a wonderful traditional pork store right down the street from us. I went in the other day and stood patiently in line for my turn while little German old ladies ordered braunschwieger and bratwursts and bacon. When it was my turn, I asked the butcher if he had any leaf lard. His eyes squinted at me and then he stood up a bit taller. He asked me if I knew what leaf lard was. Yes, it is the fat above the kidney and it makes the best, whitest and purest of lards. He smiled big and told me to wait there.

About 10 minutes later, he came back holding a large pink and white mass of leaf fat in both hands. He had a fresh pig in the back and had personally harvested the leaf lard for me while I waited. He asked me what I was going to use it for and I told him pastry. He smiled and pondered that the world would be a much happier place if more people made lard pastry. He wrapped my purchase and when he handed it to me, he did not let go, but asked me if I knew how to prepare the lard. I explained to him that my friend was an expert and that I was in more than capable hands. He released his grip and wished me luck.

I went home with my package as if someone had handed me a treasure. I know the butcher had been impressed and he considered that pink and white mass a treasure as many traditional cultures had. The truth is, when food was scarce or easily spoiled the cuisine focused much more on getting as much fat into a person as possible. It is only in this day and age of easy food, cheaply made that fat has become the wrongly accused enemy while quick carbohydrates and plentiful processed sugars go almost wholly ignored by the mainstream media as a source of obesity and ill health.

So, I unwrapped my package and set about rendering lard. I had reviewed a number of different methods, but decided to follow the one that Butter had suggested to me, which was very easy and almost fool proof!

{Rendering Lard can make the house smell very strongly of pork fat, which smells similar to bacon. If you use the stove top method during the winter you cannot avoid this, but if you use the crock pot method and you have an electrical outlet on your deck or in your garage, you can set it up outside on a sturdy surface and completely avoid the lardy odor in your home.}

2-3 Pounds leaf fat from pastured pork (the fat cooks down considerably. Two pounds made me 2 full pints of lard)

1/4 Cup filtered water

2-3 Glass jars with sturdy lids

1 Large crock pot with a low heat setting

Remove the leaf fat from it’s wrapper and wash well with plain water, removing any obvious signs of blood or attached meat.

Pat well dry and place the leaf fat into the freezer for at least 2 hours to harden slightly. This will make it much easier to chop into small pieces. Cut into as small a dice as possible with a very sharp knife.

Place the 1/4 cup of water in the bottom of the crock pot and then add in all the fat. Cover and turn the crock pot on to low heat. Check on the process every few hours and mix the pot thoroughly when you do. It will take about 6 hours to fully render most of the fat out. It will appear like a clear liquid with small pieces of off white or slightly brown bits called chicarones floating on top.

Using a slotted spoon, press down on the chicarones to remove as much lard as possible and then remove them and save them for future use.

Carefully pour the clear fat into the cleaned glass jars after running the bottoms under warm and then hot water to temper them and prepare them for the hot fat. Cap with a lid and allow to cool before placing the jars into the refrigerator.

You can crisp up the chicarones and get even more lard out of them by placing a small quantity of the brown bits into a medium heat sauce pan and stirring constantly until they become golden brown and crips and the fat is in the bottom of the pan. Do not over heat them or they will stick and scorch. I really enjoy them sprinkled onto green vegetables or as a topping for potatoes along with a little cheese. They taste like a mild, unsalted bacon and literally melt in your mouth!

So, as you can see, rendering lard is really simple and you will then have plenty to make pastries, roast vegetables and cook up the most delicious potato chips you have ever had! I am really glad that I followed Butter’s advice and went ahead and rendered my own lard! Thanks Butter!

This article is a part of Homemaker Monday, Mouthwatering Mondays, Frugal Food Thursdays, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Dr. Laura’s Tasty Tuesdays, Tuesday Night Supper Club, Real Food Wednesdays, Real Food Deals and Monday Mania.