I use lard to add taste and texture to baked goods such as pie crusts, biscuits, and tortillas. I also use lard to grease pie pans, cake molds, cookie sheets, and muffin tins. I can use lard basically in any recipe that calls for shortening.
It is easy to render lard also known as to make lard. I get the excess fat from the pig we butcher every year and set it aside. I cut this excess fat into about 1 inch cubes. Once the pig is butchered and in the freezer I render lard from this excess fat.
I use a large lidded pot so I can do large batches of lard at a time. I render lard on top of my woodstove since I usually have it on during this time of the year and like it to do double duty when necessary. I also have done it on my stove top as well. I use a medium low temperature.
It will take a couple of hours to render the lard. The chunks of pork fat will get smaller as the liquid lard grows. After a few hours I will notice that the chunks of pork fat are not decreasing in size anymore. Once that happens I know that all of the lard has been rendered out of the pork fat.
I let the lard cool a bit and then ladle the bigger chunks of pork fat to another container. I will use this pork fat to mix into the farm dogs’ dry dog food. The farm dogs love it!
I then pour the liquid lard through a paper coffee filter and cone. This clean lard is stored in glass or metal lidded containers in my freezer. When I am ready to use the lard I will place it in my refrigerator and use it in about a month’s time.
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