Making and Cooking with Lard

_{All photos on this page are by the author, sockii.}

The secret to quality, healthy lard is starting with quality, healthy pork fat. Pastured pork means pigs which are allowed to live outside and enjoy the sunshine and natural environment as much as possible. When pigs are raised in such conditions, their fat becomes high in Vitamin D (thanks to all of that sunshine) and is an excellent source of healthy monosaturated fats - much like olive oil!

This is why home-rendered lard from pastured pork is so good for you - and so different from the commercial lard you may find for sale in the supermarket. Most supermarket lard is hydrogenated to "improve shelf life" - which has health implications as hydrogenated fats have been linked with heart disease. You also don't know the source of the pork fat used in most commercial lard, and it is likely from pigs raised in high-volume factory farms where the pigs may have never seen natural sunlight once in their lifetimes!

Lard is wonderful in many uses in cooking. Pastry chefs know nothing makes for flakier, tastier pie crusts than lard. Lard is outstanding for any kind of frying because of its high smoke point - you'll make the crispiest, most moistest chicken, fried fish and french fries when you use lard. I also love lard when frying tortilla chips (they cook so fast there's very little grease and oil on the chips). It's also great when cooking any kind of pork roast or making a stew with ground or cubed pork meat.

My mother began raising pastured pork several years ago. In the Fall of 2011 we had our first pig butchered for our own use (instead of sending to market). This pig was nearly 400 pounds in weight - and about 100 pounds of that was pure fat! We weren't sure what to do with all of the fat at first but I am a strong proponent of Nose to Tail cooking and eating - if an animal has given its life for our nourishment, I believe we should honor that animal by utilizing as much of its body and meat as possible. I read about preparing lard and other uses for pork fat, and thus began experimenting with preparing lard at home.

Since then I have become an avid lard user and proponent. I prepare lard as I need it from 5-pound blocks of our pastured pork fat, for my own use as well as to gift to friends curious about cooking with lard. If you are interested in preparing lard yourself, talk to your local butchers and farmers, particularly at farm markets where natural, pastured pork is available. You can also search on-line for "pastured pork" and find numerous farms selling directly to customers, either on-line or at their farm. I'm sure once you start cooking with quality lard, you'll never want to stop!

This is the method I've used repeatedly with great success to render my own lard. You'll also end up with delicious "cracklings" from leftover solids. These are great to munch on as a snack, to top off bowls of chili, or even as salad toppings!

Ingredients

• 2 -5 pounds pastured pork fat
• water
• cheesecloth