rendered pig fat and cracklings

stef · #1 04/19/08, 03:12 PM

When I was a child in Germany, shortly after WWII, I remember my Mother feeding us bread spread with "shmaltz mit speck". Pork fat that had been rendered with some of the crispy, salty bits in it.

Has anyone on here ever eaten this or made it yourself?

Stef

Jeff54321 · #2 04/19/08, 03:42 PM

I've had something very similar in Poland called smalec. It was a combination of lard, pork bits, sauteed onion and marjoram. Absolutely delicious.

wolfwalkerpa · #3 04/19/08, 04:23 PM

I remember my mother who father was German telling us about taking schmaltz sandwiches to school. that would of been back in the early 30ies.We alway rendered the hog fat for lard and cracklings.Never realized what sandwich had in them she mostly called them lard sandwiches.

farmergirl · #4 04/19/08, 04:25 PM

How does one go about rendering lard?

wolfwalkerpa · #5 04/19/08, 04:37 PM

This is how we rendered lard after cutting up the hog and trimming all the extra fat that wasn't wanted with the meat it was saved and any skin was removed the fat was put in a cast iron kettle over a open fire and melted down then put in a lard press to remove the lard from the solids the solids are crackings. some of the fat around the stomach is almost pure lard it is put in the kettle last. (short version)

Sand Flat Bob · #6 04/19/08, 07:44 PM

My mother did all the above, cooking the fat on an open fire to get the lard and also she made lye soap in the kettle. We used the lye soap on laundry until Mom got an automatic washing machine when I was about 10 years old. She said the greatest invention ever was the clothes drier so she didn't have to wade out in the snow and hang the wet clothes on the clothes line and they freeze dried. The good old days, were not that great.

Bob

ET1 SS · #7 04/19/08, 09:10 PM

We render lard from our hogs. Dw uses the lard for soap making, and our dogs love the cracklings.

wolfwalkerpa · #8 04/19/08, 09:32 PM

Mom had what she called a soap kettle thats all it was used for. wood ash was used to make lye for the soap.

Oldcountryboy · #9 04/20/08, 05:49 AM

Oh my, just reading the thread title started making my mouth to water. But never had any kind of a sandwich spread out of the cracklings tho. When I was a small kid all my uncles would get together and have pig slaughtering day. Usually in the fall. They would start cooking all those skins down and I would have grease running from my chin all the way down to my big toes. I'd just about make myself sick from eating all those cracklings.

I cut up a pig a couple of years ago and saved some of the skin. When summer time came around I cut the skin up in chunks and deep fried them outside on a campfire. My kids went crazy over them.

EDDIE BUCK · #10 04/20/08, 10:58 PM

We used to cook the cracklings and the skins in separate pots to cook out the lard. If you want to try something good, mix a good amount of those fried cracklings in your cornbread mix and bake. Thats fine eating. Now them skins, LOL if the dogs got them that was ok with me, but if a dog got one of them cracklings he better have got it take out because he was goinging to have to eat it on the GO.

lol Eddie

Christiaan · #11 04/20/08, 11:23 PM

My dad said when he was a kid in Holland that he had lard sandwiches, don't know if cracklings were involved. I know that in all the years we butchered hogs and rendered lard that not once did he make a lard sandwich. Cornbread with cracklings, yum. Cracklings on a bowl of molasses beans, YUM! I still make lard and cracklings, but we only eat a few of them since even with all the beasties and the garden were are a lot more sedentary than in the old days.

lonelyfarmgirl · #12 04/21/08, 01:20 AM

reading this made me want to vomit. thats got to be, potentially, one of the most disguisting things a person could eat. more for y'all!

texican · #13 04/21/08, 03:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lonelyfarmgirl

reading this made me want to vomit. thats got to be, potentially, one of the most disguisting things a person could eat. more for y'all!

Hunger is the best spice... iffen you hadn't eaten diddly in a few weeks, and your stomach was chewing on your ribs, a lard sandwich would sound a lot tastier...

Hot cracklin's on a cold day.... yummmmmmmm

suzyhomemaker09 · #14 04/21/08, 08:12 AM

I often tease my DH ( a couple of years younger and a bit more citified that I was growing up ) that I can't believe he's never had cracklin bread. YUM !!

piglady · #15 04/21/08, 12:07 PM

We always have our processor keep the fat for us. We ask them to keep the internal fat (around kidneys etc.) separate from the external fat (just under the skin) and they grind it up. Since they grind it, you can't really make cracklings but we mostly want the lard. We put it in the biggest pan we have and bake it in the oven overnight at 250. It does not burn, comes out a beautiful golden color and then we pour it through cheese cloth to filter out any of the tissue that is left. We put it in the freezer and it is snow white. The internal fat is the absolute best thing to use for cookies (in place of butter), pie crust, and makes the softest biscuits ever. The rest of the lard is used for frying. What's that old saying, don't knock it until you have tried it! Store bought lard has been hydrogenated to preserve it so it is no longer a healthy fat. Studies show that real lard (as apposed to hydrogenated) is a monofat and is healthy. I just know everyone thinks I am the best baker in the world. It's not really my tallents, its the lard!

EDDIE BUCK · #16 04/21/08, 01:10 PM

BISLARDCUITS Biscuits without LARD ain't biscuits. That lard holds that flour together and helps it stick to your ribs. No lard and it hits the bottom of your stomach and sets up like cement.

Castor oil moment in progress and "Honey don't bother bout cooking any biscuits cause I gotta hankering for some lightbread"

lol Eddie

wolfwalkerpa · #17 04/21/08, 01:38 PM

The dogs can have the guts but not the sausage castings or my cracklings. Corn bread,Biscuits and cracklins are deer hunting food.

#18 04/21/08, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by piglady

Store bought lard has been hydrogenated to preserve it so it is no longer a healthy fat. Studies show that real lard (as apposed to hydrogenated) is a monofat and is healthy.

They partially hydrogenate some of the lard not so much as a preservative, but to keep it solid at room temperature. As you note pure lard is 47% monosaturated fat and 41% saturated. The remaining 12% is polyunsaturated. Olive oil on the other hand is 73% monosaturated, 14% saturated, and 11% polyunsaturated. There's not so great a difference between lard and olive oil as some might think.

.....Alan.

hotzcatz · #19 04/21/08, 02:25 PM

We process feral pigs so we don't get enough lard! After avocado season we will get a few jars of lard after processing and we have to make that last all year long. Generally we just toss the fat scraps (that didn't get put into the sausage) into a cast iron pan and heat it gently until the fat is all melted. Pour it into canning jars or put it in the fridge.

Cyngbaeld · #20 04/21/08, 04:16 PM

I love crackling bread!

The old folks always used lard from their own pigs for everything and they lived to ripe old age with no heart or cholesterol problems.

Alan, I didnt know that olive and pig fat were so alike. Guess I'll be butchering my pigs soon, but they dont look very fat. I think the meat will be pretty lean. 'Scuse the drool on the keyboard. LOL