Comments on: Thank the Lard!

By: Dorthy

Dorthy — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:52:13 +0000

We render our lard using a large electric roaster. It works great, but is an all day process. Today’s project isn’t quite finished, but when we do finish tonight, we’ll end up with 13 quarts of beautiful lard. (We have access to fat, because we raise hogs.)

By: chris

chris — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:44:25 +0000

I am glad I found this post, I am not a personal fan of pork as an adult, loved it as a kid! however I am in agreement with your position on animal fats! When I was raising my babies I got ahold of a book on nutrition by Adele Davis, it was a library reject and have held my position ever since. So here i was taking Nutrition classes in the mid-eighty’s and early ninety’s and arguing with my teachers the whole time! That was back in the day when people were insisting on raising children on skim milk and margarine!!!! mine got whole milk ( as fresh as I could find it, raw milk was hard to come by) and butter, never tried lard but used bacon fats and such in my meat dishes. I have been making my chicken and beef stocks the way you have suggested and loving it! I see you know of Sally Fallon and her wonderful book Nourishing Traditions! I also have access to great milk and whole cream here so I make my own creme fraiche, cream cheese, and whipping cream. great stuff. Though I am no expert I have used herbs for many years for many ailments so I find your sight invaluable for learning more. thanks again!

By: Faery

Faery — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 21:04:12 +0000

THAK YOU THANK YOU so much. now, I understand why my granny’s hash was so, so delicious and I did not find “the” ingredient. I made a bread using lard and I think it is loaded with flavor and it is moist and soft.

By: Lissa

Lissa — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:58:21 +0000

I WISH I could find rendered leaf lard around here. I don’t have the space to render it myself, but I am a firm believer that lard is far better than any kind of shortening they sell in grocery stores. I think it’s funny that when I called around to all the butchers and grocery stores here, people were obviously shocked and sounded offended when I asked if they carry lard. “No!” was the resounding answer I got. There is only ONE place in the entire Puget Sound area that sells unrendered lard and that’s 45 mins away in Tacoma. Shocking, really. You would think with as many people are into local, responsible eating up here, they would know the truth about lard.

By: John

John — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:35:24 +0000

Sounds as though Leaf lard is the only healthy way to go…

By: crabappleherbs

crabappleherbs — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:18:47 +0000

It’s interesting how our attitudes can change when we get to know a food, isn’t it? Have fun with that fatback!

By: michelle

michelle — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:16:37 +0000

cool, glad to find this. we just bought half a pig from some friends, and I never knew I liked pork! I have a bunch of back fat that I am going to render- it really is a divine fat for cooking and baking. Just learned that recently too- I used to say- “ew, lard”

By: Henriette

Henriette — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:55:33 +0000

Very mild, a bit gritty, and hardens up very nicely. Cool stuff! I got a large bag’o'bones as well, woot!

By: crabappleherbs

crabappleherbs — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 21:47:54 +0000

Oh, wow, Henriette. What does reindeer fat taste like?

By: Henriette

Henriette — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 18:40:38 +0000

I’ll be getting a kg or two of reindeer fat next week (or so) … I’ll render it of course, but it’s underskin fat, not as nice as leaf lard. Still, it’s normal-fed animal fat