How to Render Lard on the Stove top
I prefer to render lard on the stove top, so if you're learning how to render lard from this method, take care to ensure you have a high-quality, heavy bottomed stock pot. Two and one-half pounds of fresh leaf lard or hog fat will produce approximately one-half gallon of creamy, nutrient-dense fat.
Servings: 1 /2 - gallon
Ingredients
- 2 ½ pounds lard
- ½ cup water
Instructions
- With a sharp knife, trim any blood spots or remaining meat from the lard.
- Chop the fat into ½-inch cubes.
- Add the chopped fat and the filtered water to a heavy bottomed stock pot and simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.
- After about 45 minutes to one hour, the water will evaporate, the fat will begin to melt and the cracklings - little bits of browned fat - will begin to float to the surface of the pot. Continue to gently stir the melted fat periodically, taking care not to let it splatter.
- Eventually those cracklings will sink to the bottom of the stock pot, at that point you may remove your pot from the heat.
- Line a fine mesh sieve with a 100% cotton cheesecloth and strain the melted fat, reserving the cracklings for another use (they're quite nice salted and eaten as a snack or served in place of breadcrumbs in a gratin).
- Pour the melted fat into mason jars and allow to cool. The melted fat will be golden-brown in color, but, when cooled, will appear a creamy white.
- Use your freshly rendered lard in pastries or as a fat for braising vegetables or seasoning meats.
