So, I have some questions about lard. Four months into lc'ing and still learning.

I've ordered some of the Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil and can't wait to try it and see if I like it. I'm also interested in starting to use lard for cooking.

I grew up in a house where cooking was not a developed skill. (my Mom's BBQ sauce was ketchup and lemon juice, don't ask) I've been recovering ever since and have become somewhat of an accomplished cook on my own. The one thing even resembling lard we ever used to cook with was bacon drippings. (The German side of the family) I still have a little pot of drippings in the fridge from whenever I make bacon. I'm beginning to suspect that since the fat has been cooked already that these are filled with trans fats. Correct?

So, I'd like to look into the mysteries of lard. So, I was hoping someone here could enlighten me.
1. What's the difference between lard and suet? (our British friends should have some idea of suet, as in suet puddings)
2. How does one store lard? (imagining refrigerator) and how long can it be stored before it goes bad?
3. How do you know if lard goes bad?
4. What should one look for when buying lard?
5. Is there a difference in taste, quality, cooking utility between beef lard and pork lard?
6. Anything to look out for when using lard in cooking?

Hope some or all of these can be answered. I figured y'all in this forum would be the least freaked out by (and probably most accepting of) a desire to use lard for cooking, that's why I'm asking here.

Thanks!

Plane Crazy about cooking

Where I live it is impossible to find non-hydrogenated lard. In the old days, early 50's and 60's, pure lard was readily available, but I don't know where one can find it now. I would really like to be able to use lard cause I used to love it as a child and used to spread it on dark rye bread with real minced garlic on top. Ymmmm!

Well, I was able to find this source. It's a bit expensive, but looks good as far as quality goes. I think I'll try some possible local sources first. I've been finding some local grass-fed farms around here that I need to check out.

http://storesense01.dynamic.net/gra...tail.bok?no=166

PC

My mother-in-law used to render her own lard from fat to cook with and also make homemade soap.

Here is a method for making (rendering) your own lard.

http://www.hugs.org/How_To_Render_Lard.shtml

I've used it and I like it. For variety I'm trying another brand at wildernessfamilynaturals.com and I'll let you know how it compares.



I don't think so. I think you can reuse animal fat--I've cooked with bacon and then used the fat to cook my eggs. It consists mostly of saturated fat which has all single bonds and therefore no trans configuration in it's molecule. It's the mono- and especially poly-unsaturated fats that convert into trans. Wasn't able to find any links quickly, but I majored in Chem (of course that was eons ago, so don't pin me to the wall)

And as far as the other questions you had, I'm interested in the answers to those, as well.

Howard

Hi Lard guy!

The difference between lard and suet is that lard comes from pig fat and suet is the slab of fat in the back of the cow that protects its kidneys from trauma. In any case, what I do in Australia is to go to a real cheap bulk-type butcher and buy fatty chops and whole cuts like a whole rump that have a thick edge of fat. Cut off as much fat as possible, cut into dice-size pieces and fry verrrrry slowly in a big cast iron pan like you can get from a camping suppliers or asian shop.

The rendered fat slowly oozes from the frying bits and can be poured into a bowl as it builds up. TRANS FATS are something quite different and arise when vegetable oils have hydrogen bubbled through them in the presence of a nickel catalyst (that's how veg margarine was invented).

The problem with lard (and beef fat known as Dripping in UK and Tallow in US) is that in its normal state and kept in the fridge it tends to get very hard, so is sometimes hydrogenated to make it more like margarine in texture, and so it contains trans fats. Check the label. Home made stuff should have no trans fats.

It will keep for literally months in the fridge, and if you want to have a softer brew, add some virgin olive oil to it before it solidifies, if you are into the veg oil thing.

Bacon fat should never be wasted and you could have a small bowl to collect and reuse it.

Cheers

Michael Gardner
Australia

Hey, Hellistile: We're about the same age so you can enlighten me here: is lard hydrogenated to make it harder or softer? In the last message I suggested that it was to make it softer but I may well be totally wrong here, because like you I suddenly remembered bread and lard with the left over gravy at my Yorkshire Gran's on a Monday after the Sunday roast. (is the word org**m allowed on this forum?).

Cheers
Michael

Hey, MichaelG. Thanks for the suggestions. Between your suggestion and fluffybear's I think I'll be able to make my own as soon as I find a good source of fat. I'll ask the butchers at Whole Foods here (an up-scale, sort-o-organic type of grocery) to see if they have some fat scraps. (Good Australian Beef anyone?)

I made eggs this morning in the chicken fat I saved from making oven-roasted Buffalo Wings this weekend. Mmmm! It gave a nice, light flavor to the goat-cheese and herb omlet.

As for hydrogenation, I believe it was to keep the fat solid at room temperature. The bacon fat will still be slightly mushy at room temperature, but hardens up in the fridge. The vegetable oils they make margarine out of would be liquid even at refrigerated temperatures. Don't know what it does to animal fats, though. Could be it softens them in the fridge and keeps them hard at room temp. But I don't intend to find out.

Plane Crazy about good eatin'!

For anyone else interested in doing the same, I talked to the butcher at Whole Foods and he said just give them a call the night before and they'll save the fat scraps that they cut off and I can render my own lard! Otherwise they just throw them away.

I'm calling tomorrow!

Plane Crazy about lard (or is that just plain crazy? )

This is a very enlightening thread and I'm glad all MY questions were answered without asking. I didn't know about the bacon fat as I use it and was afraid it contained trans fats. So now I can use it to my heart's delight (no pun intended). I can't render lard cause I live in a very small apartment (without air-conditioning that becomes extremely hot in the spring, summer and fall) so don't want to spend hours cooking fat. I will continue to use the bacon fat until I can find lard that is pure (I'll check every month). I actually didn't know what hydrogenation meant exactly except that it was bad for you and I was too lazy to look it up. Cheers and happy fat eating!

btw did you people read Anthony' Colpo's response to his recent hate mail? I lmao. I love that guy. Too bad he's at least 25 years younger than me.

Oh and Michael, although I am not of British ethnic descent, I was born in Yorkshire, Bradford, to be exact. Glad I was responsible for a happy, childhood eating moment for you. I remember everything about my childhood, only because I enjoyed eating so much, was never sick, skinny as a mop handle, and full of vim and vigor. Of course, in those days, natural foods were more readily available and we didn't know any better (stuck our noses up at white bread, sodas as being inferior and yucky food choices) because we just loved all that garlic, lard, butter, cream, animal fat, baked and fried buckwheat, blood sausage, head cheese, buckwheat and potato pie, buckwheat and potato casserole, buckwheat cabbage rolls, and although some of these items contained carbohydrates, they were not processed and were eaten with lots of fat and meat. I love to dwell on those days.

I appreciate the help from Michael and everyone who answered this thread. I also went out and looked for answers on my own. This is what I found.

Michael's correct about suet being so-called kidney fat. It is a denser and finer grade of fat that is often used for suet puddings in the UK and UK-influenced countries like Australia and Canada.

At least in the US, lard is techincally the rendered fat from a pig, and tallow is the rendered fat from a cow or sheep. The kidney and internal organ fat is the premier fat, but mostly is was made from back fat. Usually around Christmas time one pig who was allowed to fatten to enormous size just for this purpose, was slaughtered. This was mainly to get hams, bacon and far for lard. Some pigs could yield up to 200 pounds of lard.

The process of rendering lard yields two products: the rendered fat (lard) and what's known in the southern US as cracklin's. You many known them better as pork rinds.

So, I've read all kinds of old-timey stories of how people rendered lard back at the homestead and I've come up with a recipe I intend to try tonight. I picked up almost five pounds of fat trimmings from the Whole Foods so I know they're free of hormones, antibiotics, etc. Some is grass fed, some isn't. I'm not even sure if it's all beef, pork, lamb or a mixture. We'll see.

So, take your fat, cut into about 1" cubes. Use a big, heavy pot, I have a cast iron stew pot I'm going to use, and place the fat and a cup or two of water on the stove. Bring it to a boil then lower to medium-low heat. The best explanation I had for the water is that it ensures that you're rendering the fat out gently rather than frying it. The goal is to get a clear golden liquid, not a brown one. So, you cook and cook it stirring periodically to ensure the clumps keep circulating around to the heat and you don't get burnt ones and raw ones in the same pot. Slow and gentle is the key. One of the sources says that once the water evaporates you'll hear sizzling, once the sizzling stops, then you know it's done. Take it off of the heat and let it cool for a while. Your kitchen will smell like hot fat.

Once it's cooled enough to handle, strain it in a colander, some say a cheese cloth, some say just a colander is enough, and then pour into heat-resistant jars or cans. Jars are better because you can cover them easier.

Keep one jar out for cooking (some leave out, some refrigerate) and freeze the rest. It will keep for months in the freezer (some say indefinitely).

Take the cracklin's that fall into the colendar and season them to taste (salt, cayenne, whatever).

The other method which was recommended was to place the fat in a large baking dish in a 200-degree (low) oven and bake for 2-3 hours. This was suggested as less messy and less likely to splatter and burn you.

I'm going to make some tonight. I'll report on which method I used and how it turned out.

Meanwhile, here's a little bit of Americana. http://www.ruralmissouri.org/Jan02verble.html

My favorite quote is: Verble [who's a spry 89] once had a neighbor from California who stopped by one day to watch her render [lard]. "He asked me, 'What do you do with that?' I said, 'You eat it.' He said, 'That'll kill you.' I just said, 'I'm going to die anyway and it might just as well be from one thing as another.'"

Enjoy!
Plane Crazy
Whose ancestors lived long lives on lard, hard work and mean-tempered bullheadedness.

Well, I cut up the 4 1/2 lbs of fat into pieces and put them into some baking dishes.



I baked for 250-degrees for several hours. One pan had to go on the bottom because my cheap apartment oven isn't big enough to put them on the same rack. That pan took less time to cook, the other took almost 45 minutes more.



Once I took the cracklings out and let them drain on a cooking sheet and then poured the rendered lard into a pyrex bowl you can see how much lard came from that much fat. I have a feeling from the smell that the fat was a mixture of pork, beef and lamb. Smells awfully good to me!



So, it was very easy, and I recommend the oven method. There was no splattering, no mess, little smell (just like something tasty was roasting) and it worked easily with no work on my part.

My recommendation, go for it!!

Plane Crazy

good job, Plane Crazy! that looks like the sort of thing that would occur in my kitchen as well. Pity we live at other ends of the planet othewise we could have a bulk rendering session and work our way through a couple of gallons of pure rendered-via-fermentation grape juice at the same time !

Cheers
Michael

Hey, Michael. Sounds great! Well, this morning I had a bowl full of the purest, sweetest lard! I chopped up a couple of the cracklins and made myself eggs and cracklins with some hot sauce all cooked in lard. Oh, man. It actually made a huge difference. I made scrambled eggs and they turned out so fluffy and tasty. The oil wasn't heavy, the eggs weren't greasy and I needed much less of it then when I use butter because all of it is oil, there's no milk solids to turn brown like in butter.

I'm a convert! It's lard for me! I just need to find the right container today to store it in.

My new signature says it all.

Plane Crazy!