Hey, my name is Cameron, Farmer Johnny’s oldest daughter at the age of sixteen. I enjoy preparing to be a help meet , and rendering lard is something Mama has taught me in my preparation of some day becoming a wife and mother. I’ve enjoyed helping Mama in the kitchen since I was little; some things come pretty natural because I’ve done them all my life. But since moving to the farm 8 years ago, I have to admit, I’m still learning new things all the time. We’ve discussed Kombucha Tea, yogurt and other things, but rendering lard is the topic for today.
Making lard is fun and also very educating for the kids. They’ve learned how to do it and they have such a good time sitting down about twice a year to cut up the bunch of hog fat that becomes cracklings and lard. Lard is so much better for you than Crisco or even lard from the store. We’ve been taught that too much fat in your diet will make you fat; not so. It’s been proven (by me even) that fat is very beneficial to the body, even in large amounts: if . . . yes, if, you get the right kinds of fat.
Lard is not bad for you, neither is butter. In fact, both of these fats are very necessary to the body. We’ve covered how to make your own butter. Now it’s time to show you how to make your own lard.
First you’ll need the fat. If you have hogs, when you butcher them, you’ll use some fat in sausage if you make some, then save the rest for lard. Mama cuts it up into strips and freezes it if we don’t have time to do it before it would go bad. It will keep a long time in the freezer in a garbage bag. When you are ready to tackle this day-long job (if you have very much; as we do) pull it out early in the morning and shortly it will be ready to cut.
The long strips are about an inch wide and we cut them into squares. This is the most time consuming. The smaller the cubes are, the faster they will cook. I don’t want to discourage you by saying it’s a day-long job, because it doesn’t have to be. In fact, you could pull out just a bit here and there and do it in spirts. Whatever you want to do; it won’t go bad in the freezer.
After it’s cut into cubes, we put it in a pot and turn it on. If using cast iron, your lard will be a honey color, using stainless steel, it will be snowy white. If the fat is the from the belly of the hog, it may stick to the pan because it’s a softer fat and will scorch if it’s not stirred regularly. Keep it on a low temp and stir it occasionally. As the fat melts, the cubes will start to float in the lard. It is like brown liquid. It’s at this point we begin ladling it out and straining it.
Using a ladle, you can see that it comes right out of the pot. It is now like water; very runny. Cook it until the cracklings have hardly any fat left to cook out and turn a light golden brown. If you have just hog skin, or even the skin with some fat on it, to make pork skins, bring the lard (before ladling it off) to a boil. Boil for several minutes, or until the skin is fat and bubbly.
Separate the cracklings from the lard. We strain the lard through a colander lined with paper towels over a bowl. After the cracklings are done cooking, put them in the colander also and press out as much lard as possible. The cracklings can be thrown away or eaten. Add salt if desired.
From the bowl that holds the lard, pour into quart jars; carefully. The hot
liquid can break a jar if poured too quickly. Place lids and rings on and most time it will seal because the lard is hot. Don’t worry if it doesn’t seal, it will keep a long time in a cool place, such as a basement without a seal.
It will stay the brownish color until it’s completely cool; then it will return to it’s fluffy, white color that is so lovely. Use it like butter in anything from frying (potatoes: yum!) or in pie crusts or light biscuits.
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I wanted to thank you for posting such a thorough explanation of how to render lard. I have been slightly intimidated to render our pork fat, but you helped to give me the courage to try it
My husband and I own and operate a livestock farm in Corvallis, OR. My husband apprenticed with Joel Salatin for a year at Polyface Farm. I see that you recommend Joel’s books- they are wonderful resources!
Thank you for sharing all about yours and your family’s life on the farm. I found your website through the No Greater Joy site and am thrilled to read more about all your adventures, tips, and advice.
God bless,
Alicia Jones
Thank you my dear Cameron. I will try it. I grew up eating lard and then I was “convinced” that it was not healthy. Now, after 23 yrs. I am hearing how good it is. Call it roller-coaster. I was indoctrinated one way, now I am trying to indoctrinate myself another way. The most scary part for me on this is that whatever I provide my family with, they will eat! If I am wrong, I will hurt my family. If I am not, everybody will benefit! Lord, guide me! I am very glad that there are young girls learning and practicing ahead of time. Praise the Lord for people like you!
Hey Maria,
Thanks so much for your encouragement. It’s a real blessing to be able to have the means to provide healthy food for your family. I think because it’s at my fingertips, I take it for granted too often. Seeing how most people don’t know about things like this, it makes me realize how blessed I am.
May the Lord bless you and your family and give you wisdom in all that you do.
Please let us know how your lard-rendering goes!
Cameron
I was wondering if you have to use pork? I am not suppose to eat pork; can you use other animals fat? Thanks
Hi Kathy,
Thank you for your question. In reply: you can use beef fat. Just simply cook it down like the lard. Because we don’t really care for the taste of the beef tallow (the name of the rendered beef fat), we just use butter in the place of lard; but we have friends that use the tallow and don’t seem to mind the taste. Hope it works for you!
Cameron
This may be an odd question, but we purchased lard yesterday to make home made donuts and the whole house smelled like a pig, but a really bad smell.
Is this usual when cooking with lard? I ask because I do not remember my great-grandmother’s kitchen smelling like pig, and she made donuts all the time, and cooked with lard regularly.
We’ve recently learned about how much better lard is for us, compared to shortening, so we decided to try it, and then I came across your web site just today. So I thought I would ask.
The smell was terrible enough to make me not want to buy it again, but I can’t help wonder if it happens to be that particular company’s lard, or if it always smells.
Thanks for helping us.
Hi Elyce,
Thanks so much for visiting the site and commenting! We’re always glad to answer any questions you may have to the best of our knowledge.
Lard definitely has a different smell than other fats or oils. The only thing that I can think of that would make it smell like a pig is if you got a bad batch, maybe rendered when the fat was old. This “bad” smell could be also if they rendered the fat into lard that came from a boar (male that has not been castrated) hog, which does smell! Since we render our own, I’ve grown accustomed to the smell and don’t really think about it. I have to say, I think some batches smell worse than others. Please don’t get discouraged! If you think it’s too bad to use, I would say get some more and try it.
I hope we’ve answered your question. Feel free to ask more!
Cameron