Making Lard for Cooking

For starters, I was intimidated about how to do this. Cathy did it one year in a crock pot and I thought it had a burnt taste to it, not fit to cook with.

So, I cracked open an old book called: The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery and low and behold she told me how to do it on page 884. This little tome has gems throughout.

It is two pages of small print, but the essentials are this. It is best to render lard in cool weather in small batches of 15 pounds or less. Used a low heat and melt for about 24 hours. It will melt easier if you cut it up in small blocks/ cubes. It is best to render in the oven vs the stove top (I did not do that). The key is to not get the lard hotter than 245 degrees.

So what did I do ?  I have a gas range and used the back simmering burner and a cast iron Dutch oven. I used the grate from the other side of the range to add extra space between flame and bottom of dutch oven. About 2 inches. I turned the simmer eye on the lowest setting and let it cook all day long. It was a very slow process but once I had more melt than solid, I checked the temp and believe it or not it was 240 degrees. right on the money. I used flour sack cloth to strain the lard and put it in hot pint mason jars as if I was going to hot water bath (but I did not). Once in the jar, I sealed. Within an hour the jar cooled and sealed. I keep one jar in the fridge for cooking and the others are on the shelf. When I need one, I open and then it lives in the fridge till I need another. A good no risk alternative to shelf storage is the freezer.