Lessons From Lard

Against the Grain

Before I begin to tell you about my first experience rendering lard, let me just say that, contrary to popular belief instigated by commercial farmers via the USDA, the medical & pharmaceutical industries, and mainstream media, lard is NOT an unhealthy food. Lard from foraging, humanely and organically raised pigs is rich in Omega 3's as opposed to the Omega 6's produced from your average corn, soy, and other GMO-crop-fed hog. So, enjoy! Food is fuel.

Choosing a Method

I surveyed all my farming friends to see which practices they preferred for rendering lard and came up with two factors that seemed to be the same among everyone - 1. cut the pork fat into really small pieces or grind it, preferably 2. render slow and low to avoid a "piggy" taste. So, with that in mind, I decided to chop my 10lbs of pork fat into about 1" cubes and throw it all in a roasting pan and render in the oven at 200 degrees.

The Process

The rendering process was supposed to be complete after an over-night stint in the oven at 200 degrees, according to everything I read and the friends I asked. However, I think either my chunks were too large or I put too much fat in at once. Next time I will definitely be grinding the pork fat! Lesson learned!

​​So, since I wasn't happy with how things looked after 12ish hours in the oven, I just decided to let it go longer. That helped! I didn't keep close tabs on the hours spent in the oven, but I'd say at least 18hrs. At that point, I decided I would pour off all the lard so far. I strained it in a metal strainer first and then poured through a reusable coffee filter as it was going into pint jars. I still thought those chunks had more to give, so I put them back in for another few hours. Yep, that helped more! I poured lard off again, and this time I gave the remaining chunks a good squishing and then put them back in again for what would be the third and last time.  I didn't get much more out of them, but it made me happy to know I hadn't wasted anything. ​

The Result

After only God knows how many hours in the oven (more than 24hrs), I finally came out with about 10 pints of lard from the 10lbs of pork fat I started with. Not bad!
​Now, some of you may be wondering if all that cooking time burned the lard or made it off tasting or more golden than the snowy white everyone looks for in good lard. Well, let's just say that the proof is in the pudding - errrrr...lard (see pic below). Yes, I'm fluffing my feathers and strutting like a rooster right now. :) Look for my follow-up post called CRACKLINS WITH GRANNY to see what I did with the left overs from rendering lard.