Making Lard or Tallow

The old fashioned cooking fats are back!  Remember that pot of fat that Great Grandma had sitting by her stove?  Remember the spoonfuls of fat she would ladle  into the frypan or smother over roast veggies?  Our ancestors had it right.  Not only did they have it right with taste, they had it right nutritionally too. Read more here on healthy fats and why Pinkfarm make them a priority in our diets.

Rendered beef fat, known as Tallow and rendered pork fat, known as Lard are healthy choices when it comes to choosing fats to cook with.  Sadly, with the vilification of saturated fats, people turned away from these valuable sources of healthy fats and replaced them with supermarket industrial oils that have been nothing but damaging to our health.  This movement lead us to sever our ties with our traditions.  Our ancestors changed there ways and the traditional practices involved with using these healthy sources of fats were lost.  

The good news is we are now reclaiming them and spreading the word through social media.  So with, that please find below some basic instructions for rendering beef or pork fat to make tallow or lard.  The process is the same for both.

Lard or Tallow

2014-12-23 14:41:49

Rendered beef fat also known as Tallow and rendered pork fat also known as Lard, are good choices of fats for roasting, and even frying. Making your own at home from organic pasture raised animals is the best way of knowing that your fats are 'good healthy fats'.

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Ingredients

1. Beef or Pork fat

Instructions

1. Dice fat into 1-2cm cubes.
2. Place in cast iron pot and sprinkle with a splash of water.
3. Place on stove over medium heat with lid on.
4. As the fat heats it will 'melt' and render down.
5. This process can take anything from 6-24 hours depending on the quantity of fat you are doing at once.
6. Stir occasionally to loosen of browner pieces from bottom of pan and pour off liquid fat into a glass jar or bowl at intervals.
7. Eventually the small crumbly bits of fat will no longer render down and will continue to brown and go crunchy.
8. You can place these crunchy bits in the oven to finish them off and eat or discard.
9. You should have a nice smooth, creamy supply of tallow or lard.

Notes

1. Lard is usually whiter than Tallow.
2. You can do this in a slow cooker on low setting also.

By Pinkfarm

Pinkfarm http://www.pinkfarm.com.au/