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Trying Out Lard

Lard is rendered from pork fat by heating it in water or hot lard, then straining it.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Trying Out Lard

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fat

  1. Cut the fat into 1 to 1¼ inch square pieces, removing all lean meat scraps.

  2. Fill a clean kettle about halfway with the fat and add 1 quart of water or hot lard to prevent burning.

Render and strain

  1. Heat over moderate fire, stirring frequently until the cracklings are brown and float.

  2. Remove from heat and let cool slightly, then strain through muslin cloth into a large jar.

Cool and set

  1. Stir occasionally until it begins to solidify.

  2. If using smaller jars, dip out the lard while it is still warm and liquid.

  3. Stirring while cooling will whiten and smooth the lard.

  4. If desired, add ¼ pound of saleratus for a similar effect.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Ham + meattop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Back fat
Provides the bulk of the rendered lard, melting out as liquid fat when heated.
Leaf fat
Yields a mild, clean-flavored lard once melted and strained.
Saleratus
Optional addition that whitens and smooths the lard as it cools.

The step that matters

Heating over moderate fire while stirring. Fat burns and scorches on direct heat if it sits still, which gives the lard a bitter, browned taste. Frequent stirring spreads heat evenly and keeps the cracklings from sticking to the kettle while the water or added lard prevents burning.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.