How to Render Pig Fat
How to render pig fat for homemade lard you ask? You didn’t ask? Let me share anyway because you never know when you will need to.
Wilbur and Mabel lived a good life, complete with back scratches, sprays with the hose on hot days, and lots of goat milk as treats.
Well, all good things must come to an end and that end was the butcher making a house call.
Not going to lie, it was pretty cool, and humbling, to see this come full circle.
Well, The Principal wanted to keep the fat so we could render it. Um. OK?
After some research I decided this wouldn’t be that hard to do.
It actually wasn’t hard at all, just made for a long day as we did 5 rounds for a total of 15 pints. Yes, we had fatty pigs and if we ever raise pigs again their diets will be different.
Prepare the Fat
You need to cut the fat up. We did strips and I do believe squares would have been much more efficient.
Boil the Fat
Next, you will boil the fat down. Do this over medium heat. Stir often, about every 10-15 minutes.
We did boiled down the fat a total of 5 times!
One article I read suggested using a crockpot.
I did put some in my crockpot while we rendered the rest. It took MUCH longer than over the stove so we finished that batch on the stove. Difference being might be you don’t have to watch it quite so closely or only have a small batch to do.
It will start to melt and you will have chunks of fat left behind.
Those chunks will start to ‘pop’ and sink, that is when you know the fat is rendered.
You can use cheesecloth or, in our case, a paper towel in a METAL strainer. We strained it into our goat milk bucket because it is also metal. We used a plastic colander….it is now no longer. I am not sure WHY I didn’t think of this. Major fail. This metal one might be better
HOT HOT HOT
This stuff is hot oil so please use precautions when pouring into your canning jars.
I put the empty jars on a cookie sheet and put them in a 175 degree oven to be warm when it was time to pour the melted fat into them. I didn’t want cold jars to crack or explode from the heat of the oil. I don’t know if that would happen, but I wanted to be safe.
We placed the lids and rings on and inverted the jars so the heat could seal them. We left them like this for about 15 minutes. Turned them right side up they would pop after a few minutes.
These are cracklins. I guess they are popular in the south. You can salt them and bake them. I am not sure what we will do with them. UPDATE: We ate them and Mmmmm so good!
5 Uses for Rendered Pig Fat aka Lard
The Prepared Bloggers Network is at it again! We’re glad you’ve found us, because the month of April is all about homesteading.
Homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. It is characterized by growing your own food, home preservation of foodstuffs, and it may even involve the small scale production of textiles, clothing, and craftwork for household use or sale. Most importantly homesteading is not defined by where someone lives, such as the city or the country, but by the lifestyle choices they make.
The Prepared Bloggers are passionate about what they do and they each have their own way of achieving self-sufficiency. Grab your favorite drink and enjoy reading about the 30 Ways of Homesteading!
Crops on the Homestead
Straw Bale Gardening from PreparednessMama
Crop Rotation for the Backyard Homesteader from Imperfectly Happy
Benefits of Growing Fruit from SchneiderPeeps
Succession Planting: More Food in the Same Space from 104 Homestead
Winter Gardening Series from Our Stoney Acres
How to Save Carrot Seeds from Food Storage and Survival
Animals on the Homestead
Getting Your Bees Started from Game and Garden
Homesteading How-To: Bees from Tennessee Homestead
How to Get Ready for Chicks from The Homesteading Hippy
Selecting a Goat Breed for Your Homestead from Chickens Are a Gateway Animal
Beekeeping 101: 5 Things To Do Before Your Bees Arrive from Home Ready Home
How to Prepare for Baby Goats from Homestead Lady
How to Prevent and Naturally Treat Mastitis in the Family Milk Cow from North Country Farmer
Tips to Raising Livestock from Melissa K. Norris
Raising Baby Chicks – Top 5 Chicken Supplies from Easy Homestead
Making the Homestead Work for You – Infrastructure
Ways to Homestead in a Deed Restricted Community from Blue Jean Mama
I Wish I Was A Real Homesteader by Little Blog on the Homestead
Endless Fencing Projects from Pasture Deficit Disorder
Essential Homesteading Tools: From Kitchen To Field from Trayer Wilderness
Homesteading Legal Issues from The 7 P’s Blog
Why We Love Small Space Homesteading In Suburbia from Lil’ Suburban Homestead
Preserving and Using the Bounty from the Homestead
How to Dehydrate Corn & Frozen Vegetables from Mom With a Prep
How to Render Pig Fat from Mama Kautz
How to Make Your Own Stew Starter from Homestead Dreamer
Why You Should Grow and Preserve Rhubarb! from Living Life in Rural Iowa
It’s a Matter of Having A Root Cellar…When You Don’t Have One from A Matter of Preparedness
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This is the same process we use to render tallow. Love it for cooking and even use it on my skin. I run it through our meat grinder to get more surface area for the heating process.
Great tutorial, Mama Kautz! Sharing 🙂
Great idea on the grinder! Now to get one…good excuse to buy one. Thanks for stopping by and sharing!
I use the meat grinder, too. I started out with the knife and tried cutting it small. FORGET THAT!!! Broke out the meat grinder and it was SO much easier and faster and it rendered much faster and on lower heat, too.
I did not see where you did pork rinds? Would like to make these since my husband and grandson’s love them so much.
So what temp do you use on the stovetop? Low, Medium, High (I’d be afraid to use high. I’d be afraid of the oil catching fire.)
Never mind. I see you wrote Medium Heat.