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To Try Out Lard

Lard is fat rendered from leaf fat of a bacon hog by slow heating, straining, and cooling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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To Try Out Lard

Ingredients

Directions

Render the fat

  1. Cut the leaf fat into small pieces and place it in a clean iron kettle.

  2. Heat over a steady, moderate fire until only scraps of meat remain.

  3. Keep the heat gentle to avoid burning the lard.

  4. Spread a coarse cloth in a wire sieve and strain the liquid into tin basins that hold 2 to 3 quarts.

  5. Squeeze out all the fat from the scraps.

Store

  1. Once the lard is cold, press a piece of new muslin on top, trim it at the edge of the pan, and store in a cool place.

  2. Alternatively, keep it in wooden kegs with tight covers.

  3. For better preservation, mix in one-third as much beef suet.

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

What each ingredient does

Leaf fat
Supplies the fat that melts down into the lard itself.
Beef suet
Added in small amount to improve the lard's keeping quality.

The step that matters

Keep the heat gentle. Fat that gets too hot scorches, which darkens the lard and gives it a burnt flavour. A steady, moderate fire lets the fat melt out slowly and clear.

“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.