Farmer Nathan and I both grew up in the low-fat generation complete with skim milk and fat-free labels on so many packages at the grocery store. Fat was the health enemy to be avoided. So naturally, neither of us grew up cooking with some of the traditional fats (lard, tallow, shmaltz etc.). Other than the occasional stick of butter, the only other cooking fat I remember in the pantry was vegetable shortening (aka crisco). With such limited experience, I was originally a bit intimidated to render my own lard. Rendering sounds all fancy and like it would require special equipment…but after a little reading I realized it was simply melting fat and straining it. Super simple! Read on for a mostly hands-off method to render lard that can work around even the busiest of schedules.
Source of Fat Important
Animals store some nutrients (and toxins) in their fat. Eating a sickly animal will not provide us with optimal nutrition as we go up the food chain. So carefully sourcing the fat we consume is important. We personally favor pasture- or forest-raised pigs as residues from conventional agriculture feed, drugs, and stress are not things we personally want to be putting in our bodies. Just like with humans, what an animal eats directly influences the health of the animal.
In addition to not having harmful substances residing in their fat, pastured pigs raised on a more natural diet will have fat composed of more omega-3 fatty acids. The better their diet the better the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 in the resulting lard. If you want to read more about some of the science and data around pastured-pork check out this blog post.
So where do you get high-quality fat? If you’re not raising your own hogs, contact some local farmers and butcher shops and ask questions. Our favorite local butcher is happy to share where he sourced his pigs from and how they were raised. Plus, many small local farms are happy to have you visit and learn more about their livestock-raising practices.
Note: This post contains affiliate links. We earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Read our disclaimer for more details.
Leaf Lard vs. Fatback
Leaf fat is found around the kidneys and is what renders down into the most mild-tasting cooking fat. This is the ultimate lard for pastries. However, many modern breeds of pigs are not as fatty as some of the heritage breeds around the kidneys. In the past pigs were divided into lard pigs and “bacon” pigs. Ones loaded with fat and the others a bit leaner. The pigs my sister-in-law raised for the family last year fell into the leaner category. So while the leaf lard was limited, the fatback (the fat along the back bones) was plentiful.
Fatback is not as “clean” meaning there are bits of meat and skin attached that can affect the final flavor of the lard. Thankfully, with careful rendering, you can nearly replicate the mild-flavor of leaf lard. Which is good news as a little bacon flavor with fried chicken is totally delicious, but a pork-flavored apple pie crust…not so much. It all comes down to the rendering method. The lower the temperature, the less the pork bits left behind will influence the flavor of your lard.
Supplies Needed
- Fatback or leaf lard
- Slow cooker (aka crockpot)
- Strainer (or funnel with strainer insert)
- Canning funnel
- Mason jars
How to render lard : The detailed version
The biggest key to rendering a mild, not-so-porky lard is the temperature. The fat needs to be warm enough to melt, but not so hot that it starts cooking. A delicate balance. We’ve found that our slow cooker helps us maintain a low enough temperature to successfully render beautiful white lard. We usually start ours on ‘low’ and if we hear any sizzling, we will turn it down the ‘warm’ setting.
For optimal results, you’ll want to cut (or grind) the lard into smaller pieces and remove any large chunks of meat bits before placing in the slow cooker. This will allow the fat to melt more evenly and quickly and ensure a “cleaner” more pure lard. This works great and all if you actually remember to thaw the hunk of fat in the refrigerator 24-48 hours in advance…
For the last minute renderers, you can dump the frozen fat straight into the slow cooker. It will obviously take longer to melt down because it’s frozen solid, but you can still get a lovely white lard and not have to plan too far in advance. The key to getting a “cleaner” lard with the procrastinator method is to pour out the rendered fat once or twice during the melting process. The goal is to limit the porky bits from cooking in the fat and imparting their flavor.
Busy Person Method
If you work full-time outside of the home like I currently do, it can be tricky to fit homesteading activities into a full work schedule, so you have to take advantage of free time when it comes at you. To fit lard rendering in around a 9-5 job, here’s the schedule I follow. I place the frozen fat in the slow cooker in the morning. While on my lunch break at home, I pour out the first round of melted fat into jars. After work, I pour the rest of the rendered fat into jars and allow it to cool overnight. Next morning pop the jars into the refrigerator. Minimal hands-on time and has not yet produced an overly porky or brown jar of lard.
How to Render Lard: The short version
- Place fat into slow cooker (either chopped up or solid)
- Set slow cooker to low or warm (depends on how ‘hot’ your particular slow cooker runs)
- Wait for fat to melt. (Times will vary depending on if you started from frozen or cut up thawed fat)
- Pour through a strainer into mason jars
- Allow fat to cool until opaque and then store in refrigerator (or freezer)
While the lard can be kept at room-temperature for a while, it will eventually go rancid. We like to keep ours in the refrigerator and it stores for many months.
Hope this inspires you to try your hand at rendering lard no matter how much or little time you can spend in the kitchen. If you’re looking for more homestead kitchen recipes, check out our other blog posts.
