Lard. Yes, that's right, LARD.

If you read my earlier post called "The Whole Hog, Around the Pig in 80 Ways" you know how much healthier pig fat (from a sustainably, humanely raised pig, of course) is for you than most of us have been led to believe. Lard is a wonderful ingredient which has been much maligned. If the animal has been raised on a healthy diet, and the fat has not been hydrogenated, it actually has a much healthier profile than you might expect.

Somehow, we all got sold a bill of goods a few decades back; that lard was unhealthy and "it was so much healthier for us to use vegetable shortening." Vegetable shortening, where liquid vegetable oil has hydrogen added to it to make it solid at room temperature, is what we now call TRANS FAT - a truly evil substance, which seeks out good fat in the body, bonds it with its rogue hydrogen atoms, and turns good fat bad. I am sorry to report that the blocks of pure white lard (aka manteca) you find on the shelves of grocery stores have also been hydrogenated to make them shelf-stable. This is NOT the lard I'm talking about today.

Sausage king Bruce Aidells wrote eloquently on the subject in his Complete Book of Pork; "The saturated fat in lard contains about one third of stearic acid,, which may have a beneficial effect on cholesterol, and it helps to relax blood vessels. Lard, which is 40% unsaturated, belongs in the high oleic group, which has a similar lipid profile to olive oil..."

Now, as you know, I bought not one, but TWO whole pigs this year. (From Mary Pettis Sarley of Napa; wingedspan@earthlink.net) After they cut, smoked, ground, cured and wrapped the meat for us at Bud's in Penngrove, I was left with many packages of frozen fat. I have given a few of them away, but I still have many more left. For some unknown reason, I have never been given any of the "leaf fat" the pure white substance that cushions the kidneys and has little or no connective tissue binding it together. What I have are squares of fat from under the skin, bound together with a web of connective tissue. To get the fat into a more useful state, you must "render" it. Rendering consists of cutting the fat into smaller pieces, then cooking it a low temperature in the oven until the fat and connective tissue separate, and the water evaporates. It takes very little effort, and when you are done, you have a wonderful fat to use in pie crusts, biscuits, frying, and the like - anywhere you would use shortening. You also get "cracklings;" little, crispy bacon-bit kind of things that perk up your corn bread in a very tasty way, or are yummy garnishing a salad.

Let's get right to it, shall we? We'll render some lard, and then later on, I'll give you some good pie crust recipes.


Rendering Lard

6 pounds pork back fat, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Makes about 3 quarts

1. Preheat oven to 300 F
2. Put the cubed fat in a large pot or Dutch oven, making sure it's no more than 1/2 full. Slip it into the oven and bake until the fat begins to melt. Stir the mixture and continue to stir every 45 minutes until the cracklings brown and float to the top. It may take up to 4 hours to render the lard. Strain the lard through clean cheese cloth into a clean container, squeezing the liquid out of the solids, and ladle it into canning jars. When the jars have cooled, cover them and refrigerate. Lard will keep in the refrigerator for 6 months. If you wish to keep it longer (I do) cool it well, then put it into a container which can be frozen. It will keep for a long time in the freezer.
3. You can season the cracklings with salt with cayenne, five spice powder, paprika, black pepper, or the spice mix of your choice. I did not the first time, but I sure will next time!