a simple real food tip :: rendering leaf lard – crockpot method

I’m really hoping not to lose any of you just by reading the title of this post 😉

In all reality, using lard from pastured organic pigs in your cooking, baking, and frying is not only super delicious and easy, it is also extremely nutritious.

Potato and carrot “fries” fried in pastured lard.

Whaaaa?!

“Nutritious”?!

If you had told me that a few years ago I would have probably laughed so hard 🙂 You may feel that way right now!  I felt the same way. Here is what I have found after lots of research, reading, and experimenting:

When you are getting pure fats from animals that have been raised right, you have hit the holy grail of nourishing vitamins and fat that will replenish and heal your body like nothing from a bottle will ever do.

Here is some great reading material that I could never put into words better than the experts.

http://www.nourishingourchildren.org/Fat.html

http://divinehealthfromtheinsideout.com/2011/05/the-truth-about-lard-why-you-should-use-it/

http://chriskresser.com/the-saturated-fat-myth-debunked-in-two-minutes-and-thirty-five-seconds

I’ve moved some posts around to get this in around this time of year because I know a lot of pasturing organic farmers are butchering their summer pigs right now. If you are one that buys a whole pig you will probably have the option to get the “leaf lard” – don’t pass that up! We purchase our leaf lard from Creswick Farms here locally – only buy from a farmer that treats their pigs properly – one that you trust!

Right now our family does not buy a whole pig for the year so we purchase leaf lard separately. It will be worth the price cut getting the lard with the whole pig I’m sure. We pay $3.12/lb for our leaf lard. It comes in 2lb packages and that makes 1 quart of lard. Cheaper than pastured butter and coconut oil for sure. I will say up front that here buying suet to make tallow (fat from cows) is even less expensive. I love using both. So I usually have both on hand.

I love that lard is tasteless, has no smell, and cleans up easy. Tallow, although less expensive does have a beefy smell to it when you are cooking (we can’t taste it in the finished product though!), and is greasier to clean up in my opinion. I will do a rendering tallow post sometime this winter but it is basically the same method as the lard. If you have access to beef suet and not the lard leave me some questions on this post and I’ll walk you through it 🙂

The veggie base of this soup was sauteed in pastured lard

Now that I’ve gotten your train of thought going in the right direction, here’s how we render lard in a crockpot!

You’ll need:

Leaf lard (my packages come in 2lb portions)

Filtered water (about ½ cup per lb of leaf lard)

1. Use kitchen shears to cut up the lard in rough 2 inch pieces and toss them into your crockpot.
2. Add the water and cook on low for about an hour to melt.
3. Blend up the chunks of melted lard in your processor or blender and return to the crockpot to melt through more – about 2 hours more in the crockpot.
4. Strain out the chunks and store the lard in the fridge for months. (You can throw the chunks away – I’m not an animal person but I’m sure the dogs would love to munch on it?)

Kitchen Tips:

1. The hot rendered lard will be cloudy/clear and will turn white in the fridge. It is very similar consistency to *gag* Crisco, but you know, like actual real food 😉
2. If you have a high powered blender or food processor, you can grind up the lard before you melt it in the crockpot. I do not have a blender, and the processor I have is a very small mini food prep processor so it just doesn’t grind up the lard as is. I made up the” melting it first method” to accommodate my lack of blending power 😉
3. Lard is FANTASIC for frying and sautéing. It also works very good in pie crusts and other baking because the consistency is so similar to what most are used to using in a Crisco product.
4. Don’t be afraid to use lard in cooking for kids – their little brains are desperate for health fats!
5. If you are dairy free this is so great to have on hand if you can’t stomach butter!
6. Lard also makes a fantastic wetness barrier as diaper cream! My pediatrician always recommended Crisco for wetness barrier. I did use it for a while and it works really good, but the skin absorbs 60 percent of what you put on it – I didn’t want those chemicals in their bodies so I make a mixture using lard! It is so great!

Breakfast hash and eggs cooked in pastured lard

YOUR TURN!

Have you rendered animal fats before? What do you like using it for? Let me know how the rendering goes if you have never done it before!

This post was shared at Nourishing Gourmet’s Pennywise Platter, Real Food Freaks Freaky Friday, Too Many Jars In My Kitchen’s Fill Those Jars Friday, Butter Believer’s Sunday School, and Real Food Forager’s Fat Tuesday!