REiSTDERING Lard
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the fat into small pieces and remove any tainted parts.
Clean the kettle with water and soap if rusty.
Add 1 pint of water and the lard to the kettle.
Render
Cook over a slow fire for the first 15 minutes, then increase the heat.
When the scrap is dark yellow, remove the lard before it turns brown.
If the fat is slightly sour, add sliced potatoes or apples while cooking to sweeten it.
Strain and cool
Strain the lard through a clean cloth into a cooler.
Allow the lard to settle and cool before packaging.
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
- Fat (lard)
- Forms the main body of the finished rendered fat and carries the flavor of the dish.
- Water
- Added to the kettle with the fat to help heat it gently and keep it from scorching early.
- Potatoes or apples
- Optionally added while cooking to counter a slightly sour fat, adding mild sweetness.
The step that matters
Remove the lard before it turns brown. Once the cracklings darken, the fat keeps cooking and can scorch, giving a browned, bitter taste and shortening its shelf life. Pulling it off at dark yellow keeps the flavor clean.
“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.
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