What do I do with pork fat

[spinbaby]

My lovely, organic, free-range, half hog came with a couple of packages labeled "pork fat." Not lard, just pork fat. Can I render this into lard? Has anyone here ever done that?

[hippywife]

1. I've not done it but

I've looked around at how it can be done. Here's some info on Chowhound but there are lots of resources out there. The best thing I saw, and I can't find it at the moment, is that you can do it in the oven, which is more convenient, I think. Look around and see what else you can find that might work best for you.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/452106

I just googled: rendering pork fat into lard and there are lots of articles:

http://www.google.com/search?q=rendering+pork+fat+into+lard&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

[Warpy]

2. Render it, strain it

and eat the crunchies that are left in the strainer. It's best kept refrigerated after it's rendered until you can use it.

It will be far more useful in savory cooking than sweet. Stick to commercially rendered lard for baking.

On edit: I'm watching Andrew Zimmern in Russia, eating thin slices of pork fat on a slab of black bread. He describes it as bacon without the meat. I'll pass.

[eleny]

3. I've had that

When my folks had parties they'd get a small piece of that kind of fat. It had a generous "patting" of paprika on top. They'd slice it very thin and set it out on a plate with light and dark rye breads and salt to sprinkle on top. It tasted great.

[yellerpup]

4. I render lard out of every pork shoulder I buy.

I strip the fat and skin off the roast, cut up chunks of trimmed meat for carnitas, and fling all the skin and fat trimmings into a deep cast iron skillet. It renders better if you chop it very fine and add maybe a 1/4 cup of water to it, then put it into a cold oven and turn on the heat to 200-250 degrees. As the oven heats, the water evaporates and the fat melts. I use a basting bulb to draw it off a little at a time and put it into a clean jar as I go. It comes out pure white this way. On days that I forget what I'm doing and just let it bake, the lard will turn golden color, which is okay for savory cooking but not for baking. I use home made lard for making flour tortillas and biscuits, mostly. Organic and free range should make for some really good lard! Good luck!

[The empressof all]

5. And when you render it.....Go all out and use it

I'd suggest a fry fest. Start with some potato chips which you can pack away and leave for the next day. They re-crisp nicely in the oven. Then do French fries and fried zucchini, fried mozzarella strips, chicken strips then end in the shrimp and fish. Of course you don't need to do it all in one day, you can pour the oil through a double layer of cheese cloth to strain it then stick it back in the fridge.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. Pork rinds!

a/k/a crackling!

Yum!

[kestrel91316]

7. You don't want it, that's ICKY, disgusting stuff. Just mail it to me.

:evilgrin:

[Tab]

8. Make french fries!

Call me if you get your hands on some horse fat - I'd like to try real Belgian waffles and/or fries for once.

[AngryAmish]

9. You have the world in front of you

1. If you don't know any sausage makers learn how to do it yourself. Bratwurst, etc.

2. and Hell, leaf lard and google or at lthforum

May I ask what breed of hog you got? 'cause the more modern breeds have very little intramuscular fat and still less good ole leaf lard.

[cleveramerican]

10. fry eggs in it

yum yum yum