Rendering Lard is Easy

I rendered lard a few days ago. It was my first try and it was easy. Not fast, but easy. It must be done slowly as not to brown the pork fat until the very end when all the fat has been melted out. It is recommended the process take place in a low crock pot. But you can’t really turn it on and leave it. You need to hover and stir. As the fat melts out you also need to ladle the lard out of the crock to cool while the fat continues to “render.” It is a simmering thing. If you have patience and go slowly you will get beautiful odorless lard that is white as snow.

I used this amazing pastured, organic, non-GMO happy as a pig- pork fat. Tendergrass farms is an amazing company. They’re not paying for this post, I bought this fat from them. I understand they have some amazing bacon too. I have not tried it, but I know the customer service over there is professional, kind and accommodating.  I read several articles on the web about rendering lard, the one I went back to again and again was here.

I froze my lard in these plastic containers. when I need some I can chip it off and put the remainder in a Ziploc bag. Lard is very slippery, freezing in small sizes is a good idea, but freezing into a sheet  and then cutting it into small sizes is not easy. Or clean. Or worth the trouble. I think these sizes will do just fine! This lard rendering is all about making tamales. I can not wait to mix masa with this!