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How to render lard

Lard. I have to admit that for most of my life that I’ve been terrified of the stuff. Be it schoolyard taunts that used the word, or the absence of it at both the grocery store and in my childhood home—I believed that it was bad news and something to be avoided.

A few years ago, I embarked on a quest to teach myself how to make flour tortillas. The first recipe I found listed lard as a key ingredient. I was scared at first, but I sought out a pound of it as my love for flour tortillas triumphed over my fear of pig fat. And while that initial foray into flour tortillas proved futile, I did discover that lard isn’t so bad, in fact, often it’s my preferred fat of choice.

People think that cooking with lard will make everything taste of pork, but this is not true; its flavor is neutral. What it does, however, is create incredible texture and structure. With lard, you’ll fry chicken that is both moist and crisp. With lard, you’ll make a tender pie crust that flakes. With lard, you’ll make airy French fries that crunch. With lard, you’ll cook refried beans that caress your mouth like velvet. With lard, you’ll steam tamales that are soft and fluffy. And with lard, you’ll bake ginger cookies that snap.

How to render lard | Homesick Texan

But the best thing about lard is that it’s not bad for you. It has less saturated fat (the bad fat) than butter, while it also has more than twice as much monosaturated fat (the good fat) than butter. And it has none of those pesky trans fats—that is, if it hasn’t been hydrogenated to prolong its shelf life.

And that, my friends, is the problem. Most lard you find at the grocery store has been hydrogenated to make it shelf stable indefinitely, which robs it of its good qualities. Some butchers will sell freshly rendered lard that has not been hydrogenated (clue: if it’s not refrigerated than it’s not the good kind of lard), but it’s also quite simple to render it yourself.

How to render lard | Homesick Texan

For years, I heard stories about how difficult and malodorous the lard-rendering process was. My opinion changed, however, after a visit to my grandparents’ farm last August. As we were looking through old family albums, I found a fantastic photo of my great-grandfather standing outside stirring a large cauldron with a long stick. The caption? “Dad rendering lard. Dec. 1940.” It seems that lard was the fat of choice for both my grandparents growing up, and when I looked through some old family recipes, I saw that indeed many of them called for that fat.

When I returned to New York I decided it was time to render my own lard. And after a visit to the Union Square Greenmarket to pick up some pig fat, I was well on my way to being in hog heaven.

If you’ve never rendered lard before, trust me, it’s very, very easy. And the best thing is that when you’re done you can look at your supply of white, luscious fat and have a blast dreaming of the culinary possibilities each jar contains.

How to render lard | Homesick Texan

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5 from 2 votes

How to render lard

Servings 2 pints
Author Lisa Fain

Ingredients

  • A pound of pig fat, either leaf lard or fat back
  • A big pot
  • A lard stick or wooden spoon
  • Water
  • 2 pint-sized Mason jars

Instructions

  • After buying your fat, preferably from a farmer or butcher that treats its hogs humanely, chop it up into little pieces. Before cooking, I advise that you open you kitchen window.
  • In a Dutch oven or heavy, large pot, add about a half of a cup of water to the pot, and then add the cubed fat. On the stove, heat the pot on medium low, stirring occasionally (every 10 minutes).
  • After the fat starts melting (about an hour), you’ll hear some very loud pops. Do not be alarmed—that is just the last gasp of air and moisture leaving what will soon become cracklings (little fried pieces of pork). Now is the time to start stirring more often.
  • Soon after, the cracklings will start floating on the surface. Keep stirring frequently, but be careful—you don’t want the fat popping out of the pot and burning you. When the cracklings sink to the bottom, the lard has been rendered.
  • Let it cool, and then pour it into containers through a colander or strainer lined with cheesecloth. The cracklings will be left behind in the cheesecloth and these make for a fine, fine snack, especially sprinkled over salad if that’s not too perverse for you.
  • The lard will be a yellowish liquid. This is what it’s supposed to look like.
  • Refrigerate it overnight and when it solidifies it will turn white. It will keep in the refrigerator for about 3 months, and the freezer for up to a year.

Notes

Leaf lard is the best grade of lard and is preferred for pastry, while fat back is the next-best grade of lard and is appropriate for frying. Each pound of fat will yield about a pint of lard.

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109 Comments

  1. Lisa, I've got some pork cheek fat that I would like to render. When cooked, the pork cheeks are salty, I think that means they've been cured. Can I render cured pork fat?

  2. Lisa Fain says:

    Kat–If the cheeks have already been cured, you can cook it like you would bacon, and then pour the fat left behind in the skillet into a jar, like you would bacon grease. I don't think with already-cured fat you can render it as you would lard.

  3. Alice Simons says:

    Thanks Lisa for posting this recipe!

    On our farm in southern California we raise grass fed cattle, sheep, chicken and of course pigs! With no antibiotics or hormones and we feed them organic soy and corn free feed. This makes for incredibly healthy and clean fat! A lot of our customers don't know how to use or cook with this type of fat.

    Thank you so much for posting easy to follow instructions! If it's okay with you, I'd love to share this recipe on our website so that more people can understand the benefits and the ease of cooking with lard!

    Happy Rendering 🙂

  4. Ken Weller says:

    Here in MA, it's hard to find pig fat, but beef suet is easy to find and I can still get it for a buck a pound. I use a very similar method to render it into tallow. It has a similar texture benefit and subtle flavor. It's actually somewhat harder than lard and works wonderfully in refried beans (great recipe you've got) and pan frying.

  5. Juanita Marion says:

    I was wondering if you knew where one could buy a lard stick?