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kadesma

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After reading another thread and the discussion about lard,butter,schmaltz (sp) How about giving us who have never done it some tips or instructions for making our own? I'd love to learn how and produce some better tasting pies and pasties for my family.

kadesma:)
 
Kadesma, I've been doing it all my life, so I can tell you how.
The first thing you need is really good pork fat. And this is not an easy thing to find!
Ideally it is thick (at least an inch), white, without any meaty parts.
Cut it up into uniform size cubes. I like them small, but 1" works.
Put them in a heavy pot and start cooking. Stir occasionally so it will not burn. When They start to look translucent pour a cup or two (depending on the amount of fat) of milk over it.
Now you can let it be over low heat, stirring occasionally.
When clear fat starts coming out you will have to stay with it and stir often.
When the bits turn into a beautiful golden brown, the fat is rendered.
Get those little jewels out with a slotted spoon, don't press on them.
Collect the pieces in a dish with a lid. When all are in the dish sprinkle with a little water and cover immediatelly. The steam makes them crispy on the outside and buttery soft on the inside.
After a few minutes sprinkle with salt and stir, so all the pieces get salt.
In the meantime you can pour the melted fat through a sieve into a container.
In Hu there is a special metal container for this purpuse. It is tall, the top nerrower than the bottom and has a lid with small holes in it.
I wish I still had one of those...
Keeping the lard in a crock (what I do now) is not ideal, it will not keep it fresh so long as that other dish, but oh well..

Anyway, those little bits of golden fat are awsome!
I love to eat them freshly made with a piece of crusty bread, some hot chiles and tomato....oh boy, now I have to find some good pork fat!
If there is any left (not very likely in my case)
you can make a wonderful bisquit with them.
I'll give you the recipe if you want.
 
mitmondol said:
Kadesma, I've been doing it all my life, so I can tell you how.
The first thing you need is really good pork fat. And this is not an easy thing to find!
Ideally it is thick (at least an inch), white, without any meaty parts.
Cut it up into uniform size cubes. I like them small, but 1" works.
Put them in a heavy pot and start cooking. Stir occasionally so it will not burn. When They start to look translucent pour a cup or two (depending on the amount of fat) of milk over it.
Now you can let it be over low heat, stirring occasionally.
When clear fat starts coming out you will have to stay with it and stir often.
When the bits turn into a beautiful golden brown, the fat is rendered.
Get those little jewels out with a slotted spoon, don't press on them.
Collect the pieces in a dish with a lid. When all are in the dish sprinkle with a little water and cover immediatelly. The steam makes them crispy on the outside and buttery soft on the inside.
After a few minutes sprinkle with salt and stir, so all the pieces get salt.
In the meantime you can pour the melted fat through a sieve into a container.
In Hu there is a special metal container for this purpuse. It is tall, the top nerrower than the bottom and has a lid with small holes in it.
I wish I still had one of those...
Keeping the lard in a crock (what I do now) is not ideal, it will not keep it fresh so long as that other dish, but oh well..

Anyway, those little bits of golden fat are awsome!
I love to eat them freshly made with a piece of crusty bread, some hot chiles and tomato....oh boy, now I have to find some good pork fat!
If there is any left (not very likely in my case)
you can make a wonderful bisquit with them.
I'll give you the recipe if you want.
Thank you for all this information to help me out. I appriciate your thoughtfulness..And ,yes, I'd love your recipe when you have the time..
Thanks again,
kadesma:)
 
We called those little left over bits "cracklin's" when I was a kid. My mom put them in cornbread, of course, after we kids got sick from scooping them out of the pot and eating them by the handfuls.

We killed two hogs every fall and rendered the fat in a huge black cast iron pot over an open fire. But I don't remember milk being used in the process. We didn't have a cow and neither did any of the neighbors.

I wonder if all that lard (everything was cooked in it) and the cracklin's was the root cause of my recent by pass surgery???? Hummm, cause and effect?
 
The first thing you need is really good pork fat. And this is not an easy thing to find!
Kadesma, I get mine at the Greenmarket from a pork farmer who sells "leaf lard" that needs to be prepped for use. If you are near any access to a pork producer, finding top quality lard should not be difficult.

I have never asked at Whole Food for leaf lard, but I would imagine if they don't have it, they could get it for you.
 
ChefJune said:
Kadesma, I get mine at the Greenmarket from a pork farmer who sells "leaf lard" that needs to be prepped for use. If you are near any access to a pork producer, finding top quality lard should not be difficult.

I have never asked at Whole Food for leaf lard, but I would imagine if they don't have it, they could get it for you.
Thanks ChefJune, I really want to try this. I was remembering as a kid a neighbor use to sit me down with her two kids as she made homemade corn tortillas, when cooked and hot she would take a spatula,dip it in a large can then spread it with what look like grease. Those were the most fantastic tortillas and the flavor, impossible to describe..It had to be lard that she had made herself..She was one of the cooks who did just about everything herself..and well;)
kadesma
 
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