Items Needed:
Five Hours of Your Time
Pork Fat (Backfat, Leaf Lard or Fat Trimmings)
Meat Grinder
Stock Pot
Collander
Paper Towels or Fine Sieve
Storage Containers (Mason Jars/Leftover containers/Vacuum Bags)
The pork fat you use will make a difference in your end product, but any raw pork fat can be used to render lard at home. I trimmed the fat from pork steaks in my early days to make what little soap I could. Leaf lard renders out beautifully for cooking oil. Backfat will render out nicely for soaps and fry oil. Pork trimmings or lean pork bellies with bits of meat will have an added flavor and cracklin' smell, so I only use it for deep-frying and cooking flavorful dishes; however, many homesteads find it useful for soap products.
If you aren't raising your own hogs you can purchase back fat from local butchers and meat markets that specialize in specialty meats. You may have to call ahead and place an order for it. Many small farms that take hogs to local butcher houses do not want all of the lard because they don't know what to do with all of it. A portion is usually mixed in to make sausage and the rest is set aside for market sausage and retail sale, some butchers discard it due to the abundance of it.
Let's Cook!
Chopping or dicing the fat into cubes for rendering may be your only option but doesn't work as well, and a third of the fat will not render out of the chunks, so grinding is the best option. You will need a course grind plate and a fine grind plate for the best rendering. If you only have one grinding plate, you may have to grind twice.
Freeze fresh fat or thaw frozen fat until it is firm. Slightly frozen fat works best. Warm fat is dangerous to handle as knives and equipment become slippery. Warm fat also will gum up inside the hopper of the grinder, making it extremely time-consuming, if not near impossible to grind even with the most expensive grinders.
Chill the meat grinder assembly in the freezer. Chop cold fat into strips or chunks that easily fit into the hopper of the grinder. Grind once with the chilled meat grinder assembly using the coarse grinding plate.
Return the fat and the grinder assembly to the freezer for 25 minutes. Do not skip this step when grinding large amounts of fat, or you will spend that twenty-five minutes trying to plunge sticky fat into the grinder that will not go down the hopper due to the suction action of the push stick. Fat needs to tumble down the hopper of the grinder, not sludge down the hole.
Grind the chilled fat again with the fine grind plate. Friction from the auger usually warms the fat to a somewhat paste-like state even if you have chilled the assembly first. The idea is to break down the protein cells that hold the fat.
Place the fat in an oversized stockpot and set the stove on medium-low. High or medium heat will scorch the protein in the fat to the bottom of the pan and leave your lard tasking like leftover fry oil. Slow is the key. Stir the fat often until the liquid oil is released. The protein cells will turn grey like pork meat, do not let them brown.
Using a crock-pot seems like a good idea and I advise against it. The crock will hold the heat for too long, preventing cooling in the final steps, and it is very difficult to manage emptying a full crock of hot oil safely. Ladling hot oil out of the crock will spill on the crock or down the side or down to the heating element which becomes a greasy cleaning nightmare.
Gently simmer and stir until the protein crumbles sink and are just shy of golden brown. It's important not to overcook the lard. If your stockpot is spitting, sputtering, or splashing at any point, your heat is too high, and the moisture is trying to escape too fast, creating a situation like a spoonful of water in a hot deep-frier which is dangerous. The moisture content will normalize slowly as the protein crumbles are just turning toasty and the excessive simmering bubbles in the oil will also diminish.
See photos below.
Use a large stockpot to prevent any spatters from simmering out onto the stove.
Stir and gently simmer until all of the fat melts. There is no need to spoon off the scum. These are protein cells that will filter out later.
The lard is almost done when the protein cells are turning golden.
The lard is done when the excessive bubbling subsides, as shown here. The excess moisture has simmered away. Some bubbles should remain to retain enough moisture for soaps and cooking. If you are using this oil to deep-fry, the oil must be reheated slowly until all bubbles are gone.
Remove from the heat and let the lard cool to around a hundred degrees (or to where you are comfortable handling the hot oil). Label the very warm oil through a fine sieve or a non-recycled brand of paper towel without prints. This will remove all bits, just like an oversize coffee filter. If the oil is too cool, it will not filter well and will not drain from the crumbles. The warmer the oil is, the better.
Filtering hot oil can burn you. Make sure your colander or sieve is secure and do not overfill, risking a spill. Use common sense and safety measures.
Empty the stockpot into the colander and let the bits drain for at least half an hour. You can use these cracklings for flavoring soups or salads. If they are too greasy, you can pan-fry them up to a crisp. I feed them to the dogs and poultry in moderation because they enjoy the snacks too. Discard the greasy paper towel or store them in a ziplock bag to use as emergency firestarters.
At this point, the lard is ready to use and store. Keep in mind there is no nitrate or nitrite cure in home rendered lard like bacon grease. Home rendered lard can not be kept on the counter or in a cellar. This is pure pork fat, and it will need to be kept frozen for long-term storage. Store-bought lard, such as Manteca, is hydrogenated using a process to remove moisture, and hydrogen is added for stability to keep it shelf-stable. Hydrogenated fats are trans fats that have been proven to be toxic to the cardio system.
***CANNING RENDERED LARD IS NOT SAFE.***
Botulism spores can be encapsulated by fat molecules that insulate them and protect them from heat penetrating them to kill the spores in the canning process. This is why we remove fat from all meats when pressure canning for food safety and why I do not can milk in jars. Canned milk in stores is sold in tins. Tin cans undergo higher heat and pressure than home pressure canning.
Here is a great article from Clemson University explaining why I don't pressure can fat, including dairy fats.
To store the lard, pour the warm lard into sterile jars, fill to under the neck of the jars, and lid them up. Place the jars in the refrigerator until the lard is set and solid, and then freeze. The jars will not break because most of the moisture has been rendered out, and there will be no expansion in the neck of the jars since the jars are not full.
Alternatively, if you need more space in your freezer, you can pre-freeze your lard in flat leftover containers. I use this USDA-approved method to store scrambled eggs (as pictured). Pop the frozen lard blocks out like oversized ice cubes and vacuum seal the blocks for deep freeze storage up to three years, as long as the bag remains uncompromised. These vacuum-sealed blocks stack nicely in the freezer and fit nicely into a stockpot when ready for use.
These are frozen scrambled eggs ready for vacuum sealing. Rendered lard can be stored safely the same way.
Frozen blocks of home harvested food vacuum seal nicely and stack easily in the freezer for neat and easy storage.
Use your lard like you would any low-smoke point cooking or frying oil. Lard can be used in place of butter or oil in almost any recipe that does not require heat in excess of 375-degrees (F). In my opinion, lard is healthier than any processed oil as it is all-natural, unrefined, and easy to make at home. I have been deep-frying and cooking with lard for over a decade and I have my heart calcium score done regularly to check for any arterial sclerosis. My calcium score is zero. There are zero build-ups in my arteries. I am 47 and the age of my heart was calculated to be that of someone 35 or younger.
Growing Back to the Land (available here) is a modern-day homestead adventure novel about the inner journey I experienced while becoming self-sufficient.
I have grown and processed all of our food for two decades in Kansas and Missouri. Visit my website, Growing Back to the Land, for more free information and blogs about homesteading.
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