Rendering Lard??

Farmerwilly2 · #21 12/28/07, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadow

Number 20 black cast iron pot, set on ground build fire around it not directly unmder it. Cut up the fat into one inch chunks. use a wooden paddle the one I made is about four feet long with a three inch wide paddle don't stop stirin untill the cracklings are all light brown. Dip the cracklings out they are the best part use chopped up in cornbread. If you have never had cracklin cornbread you have never had good southern cooking. The lard we don't use we render it just for the cracklins. Feed the dogs the lard a little at a time in their dog food. God I feel so old, wish I had a 400 lb hog ready to slaughter. Really enjoy the sugercuring the hams now that is good.

Care to post your sugar cure recipe/process?

jimarh · #22 12/30/07, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zookeeper

We butcher our own hogs, so I always keep the lard.

I do mine in crockpots as well. Then I pour into muffin tins, cool, freeze, pop them out and into ziplocs. I use it for the dogs and I cook with it.

I need to learn to clean it though to use for soapmaking as I want to learn to do that in the coming year...the way I do it in the crockpot leaves tiny bits of cracklins in mine...

when I dip the liquid melted fat out, I strain it through a tea strainer as I pour it into the coffee cans. Strains out the bits and leaves it clear. Then I let it sit on the counter to cool and the odd bits that are left come to the top and I skim them off before I put the lard can in the freezer to store.

hotzcatz · #23 12/31/07, 02:06 AM

We trap wild pigs so they are generally a lot smaller than the hogs butchered by most of you folks that have grown them. Most of the time I throw the bones, scraps and fat into the big soup pot and simmer the whole mess together for awhile. Toss in a bit of vinegar to encourage the calcium to come out of the bones. The fat will go to the top and I'll skim that off and put it in a jar. There's usually a jar or two in the refrigerator to use for various cooking, greasing or flavoring purposes. If I get too much of it, the chickens like it.

After the whole mess has been simmered until it is done, I let it cool off, pick out the bones, chop up the meat scraps and then can it in jars or freeze it for soup broth later. Then the dogs and chickens get the bones and scraps.