I just put in a reqeust at my local Safeway store. They said that they normally throw out the fat in their bone barrel. They said that they would be happy to save the bits of fat for me. I should come in at 6:30 to get all the fat from todays trimmings. Those cracklins looked soo good, and the the thought of combining them with eggs and the rendered fat sounds just over the top!!!!
Got to make me some now!!!

All Right!! The Beautiful Bandito is going for the gold! (golden fat, that is) That's my kind of woman!

Send an update when you do your rendering telling us how it came out. Did you tell the butchers at the store the purpose for which you wanted the fat? The guys at Whole Foods seemed pleased to hear that I was going to use it for lard and were quite helpful.

Good luck!

Plane Crazy
Spreading the gospel of lard and tallow throughout the land.

The man at the store did not ask why I wanted it. However, when I went to pick it up, a different guy was there and he asked me if we bagged an elk or something. I told him that I was going to render it. Then he asked if I was going to make soap. I told him that I was going to cook with it……

So By 4:45 they has saved me 10 ½ lbs of the stuff. He said the first guy I talked to was the manager and that he did not tell him what to charge me. The sweetheart marked it n/c and GAVE IT TO ME FOR FREE!!!!!

I have begun the rendering process. I am doing it all in my cast iron pans. Just as Plane Crazy has a thing for old woodworking tools, I have a thing for cast iron. It’s all I will cook in. There is something to be said for the long seasoning process, it is truly a labor of love for me. Mine have that characteristic black patina finish and when cooking on them, they perform similar to Teflon. Rendering the fat was just another excuse for me to grease them up and bake them in the oven. They WERE MADE for this type of thing. Currently I have five of them in the oven rendering fat. I’m sorry, I just really love my pans.

Anyways, I cut up the chunks and put them in the pans and set the oven to 250. There is no splattering and no smoke. Just a light sizzling sound. I pulled one out and poured the fat into a jar to assess the color. It was a very light and clear gold. I will get back to you guys to let you know how much I yielded.

Fantastic!

So, how do you truely season a cast iron pan, and how do you clean them? I'm interested in them and see them all the time in antique stores, but don't know what I'd do with one to get it in cooking shape.

Isn't it wonderful, the liquid gold? I'm curious how much lard 10 ½ lbs will make. Keep us informed!

Plane Crazy

The liqiud gold is still going. I just need to keep myself from opening the oven and taking the partially renderd fat blobules. They are sooo good. They just kinda burst in your mouth and the liquid gold just kinda rushes over your toungue. I am in heaven.

I would love to tell you how to season and perfect cast iron. There are some wbsites, but I have found that you can only learn so much from them. The rest you can only get from personal experience. It seems that cast iron pans have a bit of a learning curve along with them. Be careful, these pans become addicting. I will actually periodicly go into the kitchen just to pick one up and feel its weight in my hand. I often surf and look at them on ebay or where ever I can find them. Where should I post the info?

Go ahead and post it here. It's fat related, and it's my thread so go for it!

Plane Crazy

Sorry, a quick question..... Did you wait until the fat was totally renders out or did you pull the cracklins with a little fat left in them??

I bought my pans new ( we cant all get grandmas pans)

Seasoning a new utensil
1. Take a wire brush and scrub in hot soapy water. And dry thoroughly. This will be the frist and last time you should ever use soap on your pans.

2. Place tin foil at bottom of oven and preheat to 350

3. Lightly coat the pan in olive oil inside and out (never corn/canola).

4. Place pans in oven and leave them in for a little over an hour

5. Turn off oven and let cool in oven.

6. Remove and wipe off excess oil.

7. Coat in oil and store till ready to use.

8. Make sure to open all windows as this will smoke up your house!

To season a used utensil, just sand it down to remove all rust and burnt on food, then season as described.

This process will need to be repeated many times thru out their life to develop a nice thick layer of season. (do not scrub or use soap) If any “tacky” or sticky spots are on the pan this is bad. What I have found is if you just let it sit for a couple of days it will get a little harder. Then I re-season again. If you cook with a pan like this, the season will begin to pitt, as these tacky spots create weaknesses in the season. After your season starts to get pretty thick, it starts to get pretty bumpy. (after numerous seasonings) Pans should already be black. It is now time to break out the sand paper. First take medium grit sandpaper and smooth it out. Then do it with fine grit sandpaper. Repeat seasoning process.


To cook on them, make sure that they are very hot. Eggs will stick on them if the pan is not hot enough. Make sure you have ample grease as well. Eggs just slide right out of mine. Fatty hamburgers are ok when not absolutely hot yet. I mostly do meat, eggs, and veggies in my cast. Also, I have found that animal fat works the best for non stick purposes.

To clean I use one of those plastic brushes with a handle, with a round scrubbing head. Never put a hot pan in cold water, it will crack or warp! Just put some hot water in it and scrub the stuff out. The better seasoned, the less scrubbing you will have to do. If you make a total mess out of your pans and have really caked on food, just fill it with hot water and bring it to a boil. After it has boiled for about a minute, remove from heat, pour out water, and scrub with hot water. It should come right out with little effort.

When clean and dry, set the pan on the burner and turn it on high for 20-30 seconds to be sure it is absolutely dry. Then rub the entire pan in oil to lightly coat. I use coconut oil because it does not go rancid. Furthermore, it solidifies at 72 degrees so it will not run off when pan is cool. Rubbing the warm pans down in oil feels so nice on the hands, and lifting heavy pans is good for your arms.

I like cast iron because it is very cheap, and retains heat better than ANY other metal used in cooking. How you do like that, the overlooked inexpensive pans are the best. And they just keep getting better every time you use them. Oh, and they don’t wear out.
I admit, they require a lot more work than the average person is willing to do. But for me, I honestly don’t mind. All the hard work was well worth it, and I hardly ever need to season them now. They are kinda like a garden, you plant it and watch it grow over time, and then you reap the rewards.

Oh, and I almost forgot.... 10 1/2 lbs trimmings equals 4 1/3 quarts liquid fat.

My 10 year old daughter came across this posting today and asked me if I was doing it right. I've been rendering lard for 40 years now and I learned how to do it from my Grandmother who had been doing it for 50 years prior to that. We just picked up the meat from a 250 pound hog that we had processed. The 25 pounds of fat from the pig is being rendered right now.

I grew up in a large family in South Dakota and we always butchered our own pigs and steers. We'd usually do 3 hogs at a time and render the lard from them in one big cast iron pot out in the yard. We'd start the process by putting a pan of "leaf fat" in a 250 degree oven, allowing it to melt and then place that in the cast iron pot. The rest of the fat was added to the pot as the butchering process continued. The pot was kept over a low fire and was stirred with a wooden paddle by the younger kids. We still only eat our home raised Texas Longhorn steers and home raised pigs, but we now have it processed at a small meat processing plant.

With all that said, here's how we render our lard. First, clean your fat by removing all of th meat particles that you can. If any of the back fat has skin on it, leave it on as your end product will be some of the best tasting fried pork rinds and cracklings you've ever had. Second, cut the fat into one inch or smaller cubes. Take a small amount of this fat, place it in a microwave dish and nuke it for 15 minutes on the defrost setting. Place this microwaved fat in a large cast iron kettle, if you're lucky, or a stainlees steel pot if you're not so fortunate to have an old cast iron one. Place the pot on the stove top which is set to the second lowest setting. The fat will begin to melt slowing and lose it's moisture content. Stir every 30 miutes or so with a wooden spoon. As the cooking process continues, the fat will float, but will then sink to the bottom after it's lost all of it's moisture. When there is no more fat floating, the pot needs to come off of the heat immediately. This cooking process will take from 3 to 12 hours depending on the quanity. Now you skim off the clear lard and place it in wide mouth glass jars. When you get down to the fat that contains the cracklings, you'll need to strain this through a cheesecloth. We then put this "bottom" fat a stainless steel bowl and let it set overnight. The next morning you can invert this bowl and you'll see 3 layers of lard, with the bottom layer being light tan and the top layer snow white. You can cut off the snow white layer, remelt it and place it in glass jars. You can put the 2 non-white layers in a container, refrigerate, and use first. Hope this all helps!

1. Fat rendered it the oven is always inferior to that done in an open pot on the stove, as the fat cannot regulate it's own temperature. When done on a stove top, the fat temperature will rise to the boiling point of water, and then slowly rise to around 250 degrees as the moisture evaporates out. The whole point here is to melt the fat and not cook it or it's by-products, so unless you can set your oven to 212 degrees and then raise it a few degrees at the required times, you're doing it wrong.

2. Purity is the key. I would never recommend using water to start the process, unless maybe if you're using distilled water. My Grandmother wouldn't let anything except cast iron, wood and glass touch her lard. I don't know if her fears of metal utensils were well founded, but I do know that the lard we placed in the cellar would remain there for up to 1 year and never turn rancid. On that point, if lard smells bad, it is.

3. Don't be afraid of any splattering or foul smell in your kitchen. If it's splattering, the heat is to high. If the smell is any stronger than that of frying pork chops, then the heat is to high.

Well folks, I've got a young Longhorn heifer that is getting close to being a mother, so I need to check on her. If there are any more questions that I can answer, just ask and I'll do my best.

fascinating thread...

it's great to find that others like lard as much as I do!

our local super markets sell blocks of lard from the Smithfield, VA ham operation, don't know the transfat info on that product. I use it as shortening in my Christmas cakes, gives the best flavour and the top of the cake comes out shiney and kind of crispy--yum!

my grandmother used lard in the pastry she made for meat pies--a very flaky, flavourful and light crust.

have never rendered fat, although having read all of the above, would like to try it

one time, tho, I was roasting beef bones for beef stock, after the bones had browned, the most beautiful, fine-grained, white tallow rendered. It reminded me of the golden-white tallow candles that are made at Colonial Williamsburg

being in my low-fat days, I wasn't sure what to do with it so never used it, but having read through this thread, I'm thinking of trying it again

Update

The renderd fat (mostly beef) IS AWSOME for cast iron. I seasoned them with it (couldnt help myself) and cook with it. It has taken them to a whole other level. All I have to do now to clean them after my scrambled eggs is to wipe it with a paper towel. It really is a thing of beauty......

Thanks, Longhorn. I really appreciate your contribution. There's no subsitute for the voice of experience. That's one of the things I was missing was someone who had actually rendered fat themselves. I read a few descriptions, but there're no sources like you used to be able to find in the old days that told a housewife how to do basic chores. I've heard that the leaf fat makes the finest lard. I'm curious why that would be melted first, in an oven, then used as a base for the rest of the rendering. Was a justification ever given for it? Just curious and I want to learn as much as possible.

I like your description of the "bottom fat". It reminds me of when I refine beeswax. I do woodworking and make my own beeswax/linseed oil finish, starting with raw beeswax. You heat it up in a double boiler over water. Once it's all melted you give it a stir and once cooled all of the bee parts and other detritus is congealed at the bottom while the clean wax is at the top. The water just keeps it from sticking to the bowl.

Also, Thanks to Bandito for posting her experience. I'm glad to hear that the lard is good for cast iron. I suspected as much, but glad to hear it confirmed. Congratulations on your great store of lard! I'll be making such a large amount later in the winter when I make my lamb confit. It will take several quarts of lard to cover while cooking a leg or two of lamb.

And VAgrrl. Just make sure the lard is not hydrogenated and you'll be ok. Welcome and glad that you found other lardy types here!

Plane Crazy

Hi Planecrazy

The reason that oven-rendering was not universal until about 40 years ago is that few poeple actually owned such a thing as an oven! When I was a wee laddie, most of my relation's ovens consisted of a thing that hung of the side of a coal-fired fireplace. I have attached a picture of an oven from my childhood in North eastern England in the 1950s. The oven itself is the thing on the left, which was heated up by opening up a flap which drew hot gases from the fire. It was only used about one a week for a roast or home made breadk. It could not be used casually like a modern electric or gas oven.When not in use my aunt put a blanket in it for her cat to sleep in.

cheers

Michael
Australia / Britain

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