This is the simplest and easiest way to render pork fat into lard. In this article, you will find everything you need to know about pig fat. I will walk you through lard’s history, as well as tell you where to find, how to render, how to use, and how to dispose of pig fat.
How to render pork fat
If you have found this article because you are looking for the best method to render lard, there are two simple ways:
Method one: cut the lard, cook the lard on the stovetop, and filter the lard.
Method two: leave the lard whole, put in a colander or flour sack towel and hang in a pot, put it in the oven at 200 degrees for 6-8 hours.
The end.
A History of Lard
The story of a pre-industrial farmer was completely practical, and wrapped up with that story was the fate of his pig.
Farmers of olden time understood that for a farm to work best, it needed to be a part of the natural ecosystem. Farmers would not assert themselves on nature, but rather observe the natural order and insert themselves and their goals into that order.
Farmer had so much wisdom from their generations of lifetimes observing nature. In fact, most of our little phrases and wise sayings originate from the farm. “Don’t count your eggs before they hatch,” “don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” “the early bird gets the worm,” and “don’t cry over spilt milk.”
Where do pigs fit in?
Well, pigs are the amazing clean-up-crew for the farm. No food is too lowly for a pig. In times of surplus, say after the cows had calved, there was an incredible abundance of milk. For the wise farmer, that abundance of milk would become an abundance of bacon, something that could be stored for a long time. When there was abundance, there were the pigs. And when the pigs were no longer needed, they were butchered.
Pigs worked as the safety net for farmers. If there was no abundance, there was always pork, and so all would be well. I love the incredible practicality of our ancestors.
Did you know that there are two types of pigs?
Pigs of old were not just used for bacon. Lard was an essential food for most of history. It is pure fat, something so essential for our ability to absorb vitamins and metabolize food. It was used for all kinds of things. In fact, that is why there are different breeds of pigs. There are heritage breeds that are prized for their supreme pork fat and amazing flavor, and there are pigs that are bred for the meat.
I found this article helpful. We own American Guinea Hogs, a heritage breed that doesn’t get much past 150 pounds hanging weight, but creates the best tasting pork and the purest, most delicious lard. Check out my post on our American Guinea Hogs.
Uses for lard made from pork fat
Lard can be used for so many things. It can be used:
- To condition wood
- To lard lean meats. This means to add a layer of fat to slow roasts to protect them from drying out and enhance the flavor
- To make soap and deodorant
- For the best pastry
- To make lotions or balm
- As a butter substitute in a diet that avoids processed food (such as paleo or Whole30 or GAPS)
- To make candles
- For greasing baking dishes
- To season cast iron the right way
- For frying everything: potatoes, doughnuts, chicken, the sky’s the limit
- The cracklings can be used to feed your chickens
Because I avoid processed food as much as possible, and we don’t yet have a cow, lard is my ultimate butter and oil substitute. (Update: we now have a milk cow! She is not in milk right now, but she will be very soon once she calves.)
Depending on how you process it, it may or may not have a slightly bacony taste and smell. I really like that in my savory foods. It’s like adding broth to your cooking instead of water. It enhances the flavor profile, creating an ultimately better tasting dish. Read on to learn how to make lard the simplest and fastest way, and how to have fool-proof tasteless odorless lard for baking and other uses.
Why is lard good for you?
Animal products have the most bioavailable nutrition for our bodies.
Lard is nutrition straight from the pig, full of vitamins good for our brains and bodies. When your render pork fat, you get all of those good vitamins and minerals, especially if the pig has been exposed to the sun. Check out this post from the Weston A. Price Foundation for information on animal fats.
Why is America afraid of lard?
The answer, like so many things in our modern culture, is money. Cotton factories had an abundance of a non-food waste, the outside of the cotton seed. They thought that if there was a way to make it like food, the American people might buy it.
As the story always goes, people were quite content with their lard and their raw butter, thank you very much. And so, the trendy fat scare began, and the non-food cotton trash was turned into the “healthier” fat called Crisco, that was much cheaper than its real food competition.
Thankfully, lard is definitely making a comeback!
Where can you get pork fat to render yourself?
You can find lard on Amazon, and other online stores, but if you really want the quality control of 100% pure unprocessed lard, it is best to render pig fat yourself. You can get it from a local farmer or your local butcher.
Questions to ask yourself before you purchase pork fat for rendering:
What do I want my rendered pork fat for?
Depending on what you will use your lard for, you may want to buy leaf lard. Leaf lard is from inside the pig, around the kidneys. The rest of the pork fat is around the back and belly, sandwiched between the skin and the meat. Leaf lard is ideal for pastries or other things that you wouldn’t like to smell or taste pig. It looks like little bubbles of fat, loosly connected to the inside of the pig. It is so pure, you can squeeze it and lard will ooze from it. Back fat is more solid, and usually connected to small pieces of meat.
What kind of pig am I getting my pork fat from?
If the pig is a lard pig, you are in luck! It tastes better and more pure, and there is much more lard on a pig bred for its fat. However, it’s so much more common for a butcher or farmer to have lard from meat pigs than lard pigs. That will be fine, you just may need to be more careful when processing your lard to make sure you get the snow-white, idealistic pastry lard.
If I’m getting it from a butcher, does it cost extra to buy leaf fat?
It often does cost extra, because it’s more desirable and there is much less leaf lard on the pig. If this is a consideration, just a quick search on amazon will tell you that pre-made lard is expensive! And doing it yourself is quick, easy, and cheap. However, fat from other parts of the pig are also usable and can be made into that ideal snow-white lard.
How to render pork fat into lard: the best method depends on your goal.
One method involves a lot of cutting, and the other involves a lot of propane. The second method is definitely the easier method, but when you are living a life like mine, is it really about convenience? Nope.
The first is the old-fashioned method, the method I use, and the method that uses the least number of resources. Pick your poison.
Render pork lard method one
If you are a brave soul who would not mind just trying it the old-fashioned way. If your goal is to render lard for frying, and you don’t mind the piggy undertones, OR you have a lard pig and some beautiful leaf lard, use this method:
DISCLAIMER: I have always used this method and never had lard smell like pig until I burnt the bottom and had a few jars that both tasted and smelled like uncured bacon. I don’t know if it’s because my pigs are lard pigs, or because people on the internet are extremely afraid that their pig fat may indeed smell like a pig, but in my experience, this is by far the best method that works every time unless you forget you’re cooking lard and leave the room for 15 minutes, like I did.
What you need:
How to render pork fat:
- Cut your lard into ½ inch chunks. People often recommend that you make sure your lard is very cold-almost frozen–so that it is less slippery. I find this is unnecessary, if you use sharp scissors. I usually cut strips until I have a big handful, and then cut those strips into cubes. (note: I used my butchering knives last time on room-temperature fat and they worked great.)
- Put your lard into a big pot, and set the burner to high. (yes, high. It will be ok.)
- Do not add water to the pot. Lots of people do this, but it seriously compromises the shelf life of your lard. I tried it once, sure the water had evaporated during the boiling process, and within a month had black mold growing in some of my jars. Definitely not worth it!
- Stir often. Be very careful that fat at the bottom of the pot does not burn. The fat will go from pink to white to greyish, and slowly the liquid will be rendered out of the fat.
- IF YOU WANT TO BE SURE THAT THE MOST SENSITIVE OF SENSIBILITIES CAN’T SENSE THE PIGNESS OF THE PIG LARD, ladle out a jar’s worth of fat as it melts. Filter it with a flour sack towel, a fine mesh strainer, or a French chenwa. I always use a flour sack towel because it’s what I have on hand. Mark this jar as your special pastry lard and let cool, and that’s it. You have beautiful, odorless, tasteless lard. Repeat this process as much as you want. In my opinion, if you are vigilant in your stirring, this step is unnecessary.
- It will probably not smell that great. That’s ok. The gross smell will stick with the impurities in the fat chunks when you filter them off.
- When the lard starts to change color and there are lots of bubbles on top, it’s ready to be filtered. When you slide your spoon between the cracklings, and the lard is no longer colorless, but is now slightly golden, you know it’s done.
To filter the lard:
There are two goals in filtering lard: making the least amount of mess, (including allowing the least amount of lard to get in your drain) and getting as much lard out of the cracklings as possible.
One thing to note is that if your house is cold, the lard will harden faster, and if you hang the flour sack towel to drain, it might just solidify, leaving you with lard trapped among the cracklings. I prefer to squeeze out as much as possible while the lard is still quite warm, because I have forgotten to squeeze the cracklings before they cool too many times.
If you are using a flour sack towel:
- You will need two largish bowls or pots. Line one of them with the flour sack towel and pour the lard and cracklings into it. Gather up the towel and let the lard drain for a minute, or until it seems like it has mostly drained. You can even tie or wrap the towel around a spoon and put the spoon on the top of your bowl so that it drains without you. I often do this for a few minutes until it’s only dripping a little.
- Transfer your towel full of cracklings to another bowl. Get a potato smasher, a large spoon, or something that is not your hands (it’s still very hot!) and start smashing the cracklings so the fat squeezes out of the sides. It might help to spin the towel a bunch of times so that it’s really tight around the cracklings, but this is really hard to do when it’s hot. You could use kitchen gloves, but then you have lard on your gloves. I usually hold the ball of cracklings steady with a spoon, and twist from the top. Then I squish it with the spoon. Whenever lard squeezes out, I stop and pour it in with the rest of the lard. Otherwise, the lard just gets absorbed back into the towel and the cracklings.
- Ladle the lard into jars for storage and put into the fridge or pantry. I have always stored my lard in the pantry. I think I will start keeping every jar in the fridge but the one I’m currently using, which I keep on the counter. I have only had lard go bad one time, and it’s because I added water in the cooking process. Still, I would rather be safe than sorry.
NB: Try to scrape every drop of lard from your bowls and utensils with the spatula. Lard is terrible for drains.
Dispose of your cracklings. They can be eaten or given to animals, although mine always have hairs in them and just seem unapetizing. I don’t eat cracklings.
Put your gross greasy flour sack towel in a large bowl of very soapy very hot water, and swish around a lot. Try to get it as clean as possible, then ring out the towel and dump the water outside (not in your sink). The towel should be ok to wash at this point in your laundry. If you are worried about the grease, you can add a tablespoon of dawn dish soap to your detergent in the laundry machine, if you think that sort of thing is a good idea. I use dish soap to degrease laundry a lot. (If you want more info, you could look up how people strip clothes and cloth diapers. They often use a combination of dish soap and baking soda, and some other things.)
Enjoy your lard!
If you are using a chenwa or a sieve:
The method is pretty much the same, only you can just squish the cracklings with the back of a spoon and save yourself a dirty bowl to wash. If you watch the method on Mary’s Nest Youtube channel, one of the cool things about her method is that she lets the cracklings really cook and drain over several hours so you are left with some very crackling cracklings!
Render pork fat into lard method two
If you are afraid to try the other way, don’t mind using a lot of propane, or just want to do this the easiest way possible, here you go.
Watch Mary’s Nest youtube video. She has an in-depth explanation about how to render lard her way.
It’s kind of long, so here are the basic steps:
What you need to render pork fat for method two:
- Large oven-safe pot
- chenwa or flour sack towel
- pork fat
How to render pork fat: method two:
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees
- Place pig fat inside the chenwa or flour sack towel
- Tie the flour sack towel to the handles of the pot or place your chenwa on top of it. If you are using a flour sack towel, you want it to suspend in the air like in Mary’s video so the lard has room to drain into the pot.
- Place in the oven for 6-8 hours, until the cracklings are shriveled and brown and there is lots of lard in the bottom of the pot.
- Eat or dispose of the cracklings and pour the lard into jars for storage.
