Rendered Lard
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2 quarts
 
Ingredients
  • 3 lbs of pork leaf lard, chilled
  • ¼ cup water
Instructions
  1. About 2 hours before you start, place the auger of your food grinder attachment for your stand mixer or the blade of your food processor in the freezer to get it cold. You want it as cold as possible while grinding lard so it doesn't soften up.
  2. Remove leaf lard from refrigerator and cut into 1 inch cubes.
  3. Place cubed lard into freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Enough to cool the lard but not freeze it.
  4. Remove lard and auger/food processor blade from freezer and grind lard using the fine grater plate. If using a food processor, simply process lard until it is broken down but not so much that the lard becomes a large glob.
  5. Place water and lard in a crock pot set on low and allow lard to render for 6-8 hours. Lard will be completely rendered once it stops bubbling and the remnants called 'cracklings' left over are golden brown.
  6. Strain cracklings from lard and save for later (these are like pork popcorn)
  7. Pour remaining lard through a cheese cloth or even a nut milk bag to remove any remaining solids.
  8. Pour lard into containers and refrigerate. If done properly, lard can last months in your fridge, although it will probably be used faster than that ;)
Notes
The reason ¼ cup of water is used, is so that the unrendered lard is heated evenly from the crock pot rather than scorching it. Fear not, the water will evaporate once the lard begins to melt.

If you do not have a crock pot, you can follow the same method on the stovetop with a heavy bottomed pot.
Recipe by Pastured Kitchen at https://www.pasturedkitchen.com/blog/how-to-render-lard/