Lard is animal fat derived from pork belly, butt or shoulder when the meat is separated from the fat and rendered down by cooking.
Historically, lard has been used for cooking, baking, soap making and even in preservation before there was refrigeration. Lard was primarily the fat used since before medieval times, all the way up to the 1940s when lard was diverted to troops during World War 2, making margarine and shortening popular to use on the home front.
Lard is becoming more popular once again. It imparts a different flavor to cooking and can make baking more light and flaky.
Today, we are making some more lard to use in cooking. I am using pork belly. I will slice it up, place it in a roasting pan with salt and cook it for hours until all of the fat has been rendered out.
Here’s what my first batch of lard looks like. It tastes great!
I have almost 5 pounds of pork belly here for $29.28 which is about $5.89 per pound.
To start, I’m going to cut up the pork into smaller pieces. I’ll keep the meat for soups and stews and the fat will go into the roasting pan to render down for lard.
When I was a little kid and we butchered a pig at gramma’s, my dad and uncle would slice up pork belly and my mom would fry it “hard” or crispy with salt and pepper. The rind was left on and I liked chewing that crispy part of the “bacon.” It melted in your mouth and was different because it had no cure and no liquid smoke, but it was good. It tasted more natural and we enjoyed it.
I got 4 little packs of belly for soups or meals like pork and cabbage and two little packs of pork belly “bacon” that I will fry with salt and pepper and some seasonings, much like my mom did.
I decided to slice up some “bacon” which I am looking forward to. There’s no cure and no smoke or seasoning but when I cook it, I’ll season it and perhaps put some hickory wood chips on the bbq and smoke the bacon a bit. I think it’ll be delicious! My daughter wrapped up each portion of meat in parchment paper and placed it in a freezer bag to use another day. That’ll help flavor up five meals!
Here’s the fatty pieces ready to be cooked. Sprinkle with salt. Place in oven at 350F for several hours, between 3 to 4 hours. We want to render the fat slowly.
There’s some meat, but lots of fat which is what we are looking for since we want it for rendering lard.
This is after an hour and a half. I flipped each piece of the pork belly, placed the lid on and kept on cooking it.
Here is the pork belly after another hour and 50 minutes. I say it’s ready!
I took the roasting pan out the oven — look at all that greasy goodness!
Look at those craquelins (little bits of fried pork) in the lard — like Ma from Little House on the Prairie said – “craquelins are far too rich for little girls” – and Ma is right!! These yummy little bits are definitely rich! I am spooning the grease into my container which has a screen to catch the craquelins so the lard is more “clean” which makes it more versatile.
Keep spooning until all lard is gone.
I put the pork belly back into the oven for 20 minutes to see if any more grease would cook out. Not much more came out – maybe a couple tablespoons.
The pork belly cooked for 3 hours and 20 minutes. My other batch I did the other day cooked for 4 hours. It really depends upon the pork belly and amount of fat.
I am going to chop up this belly so I can add it to homemade baked beans, soups and other meals for some added flavor.
After it’s chopped, I’ll place it in the freezer and use as needed. Of course we ate a couple small pieces — they’re very rich because of the fattiness but they taste so good! It reminds me of the pork rinds chips.
Between this batch and the batch I cooked the other day, I have a whole container of grease!! Yay! It took about 10 pounds of pork belly for this amount of lard which is quite alright.
I’ll use this lard to cook with, and add it in baking like in biscuits, scones and even pie crust! I have already added it to cook onions for soup and in biscuits which made the biscuits flakier and tastier – so much better than store bought lard!
The lard is starting to solidify.
And here’s the lard completely solid. I placed it in the fridge, so it must’ve had an air bubble from my dumping warm grease over colder grease. It may not look pretty but is excellent to use!
Rendering Pork Belly to Lard
5lbs/2kg pork belly
3 tsp salt
To start, cut up the pork into smaller pieces. Keep any meat for soups and stews and the fat will go into the roasting pan to render down for lard. Sprinkle fatty pieces with salt. Place in oven at 350F for several hours, between 3 to 4 hours. Flip pieces around 1-1/2 hours. Remove grease and filter through a sieve or larder or bacon grease keeper. If you want, filter lard again. Let cool. Store in fridge up to 2 weeks. Use it for cooking and baking. Chop pork belly and freeze. Use it in soups, stews and so on.
enjoy from Our City Homestead to yours