Why? Because you can! And pickle, and jam, or otherwise celebrate the resurgence of the domestic arts our forebears held so dear. Put on your best apron and step into our kitchen, won't you?
Lard is a staple here in our homesteading pantry. Today, I finally learn how to render it myself - And it was so much easier than I had anticipated! Come along!
Set it and forget it...at least temporarily! Oven render lard at a low temp and do your laundry, wash the car and hike mount everest if you can do it under 6 hours! All while rendering your lard with this easy oven technique.
Lard, a fat that has been misunderstood is making a comeback, and it turns out that it is easy to make using high-quality leaf lard. The rendered lard is easily rendered in a slow cooker and can be used in pie crusts as well as savory foods.
It’s well worth asking your local meat people if you can have their leftover leaf lard or if you can purchase it for a small fee. Offer to render a few jars of lard for them and see if that doesn’t convince them!
Rendering your own lard is a snap. Lard does wonderful things to food, making pastries flakey, deep fried foods crispy and sautés profoundly flavorful. But the most important component of good tasting lard is the source of the pork fat.
Bear grease is an excellent oil for frying and baking and it's free and easy to make. And gleaning bear fat keeps a valuable resource from being wasted.
Lard is a remarkably good source of Vitamin D and of monounsaturated fat: the same fatty acid found in olive oil and avocado that and heralded for cardiovascular health benefits.
