Monday, February 20, 2012

Making lard

Picture of the lard I made a couple of months ago.  If you have never made lard it is very easy.  The only hard part is finding the fat to make it.  When we ordered our 1/2 of a beef I also ordered 5 lbs of pig fat.  It wasnt very expensive at all and actually the bag was heavier than 5 lbs.  To make the lard all I did was put it in a pot on the stove and melt it down.  My pan wasnt very big so as it melted I added more and when I got about 2 inches of fat on the bottom I just poured it in the canning jar.  I used a funnel so I wouldnt drip any on my stove.  The little bits of meat and gristle ends up on the bottom of your pan.  I threw them away but some people like to eat them.  I ended up with what you see above about 1 3/4 quarts of lard. 

Cant beat biscuits made with lard!

Some people really dont like the smell of the melting fat but the fat I had did not smell.  The pigs were pasture raised so that might have made a difference.  Would I do this again?  Yep sure would.   Have I convinced you it's easy?  Hope so because it was.




Laura Williams' Musings

2 comments:

  1. Very interesting. Thanks for this, one day we will have pigs and I'm really looking forward to making my own lard.

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  2. Hmmm...that is fascinating! I've looked at store-bought lard and all of it has vegetable oil (!), so I've done without. I will definitely be looking for a source of pig fat (pastured pig, of course)...thanks for sharing!

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