# questions about lard



## Maverick_mg (Mar 11, 2010)

As we never had much money to buy a lot of meat with, I've never had much cooking fat to wonder what to do with it. But the last month or so we have been able to get bacon and beef and now I've been wondering what to do with all the fat. So far I've been mixing into the grain for the animals but what I really want to know is can anything else be done with it. Can I save it somehow or will it spoil? I know people used to save it, but how and what did they use it for. Can I use this kinda fat for soap, or making donuts, or cooking? Will everything to make with it smell or taste like bacon? I just hate to waste something that could have another use.


----------



## Sarah J (Jun 28, 2003)

You can use clarified bacon fat for any number of things. The key here is clarifying. It will certainly have a slight "bacony" flavor to it so keep that in mind when making things like pie crust (quiche would be great with that flavor, apple pie, maybe not). Simply pour off any bacon grease (or hamburger grease, etc. making sure to keep the two kinds separated for reasons explained below). You can also take CHUNKS of excess fat after the butchering process, cut or chop it into small cubes and melt them over low heat. Then clarify it.

To clarify the fat into lard melt it in a pan of water and then pour it out into another container and let it cool. I prefer a heavy plastic container that has slightly flexible sides - helps me get it out again. You *can* leave it in the same pan that you melted it in. As it cools, the fat will rise to the top while the "undesirables" sink down to the bottom in the water portion. Once cooled, remove the cake of fat, scrape the bottom clean, pour out the old water with its sediment, get clean water and repeat the process several times until it is white and clean.

You can keep it in the refrigerator and use the lard for baking, greasing pans, cooking your eggs, or even making soap. With practice it becomes second nature to clarify all of the fat you save. If you prefer to save for long-term, melt down the clean fat over a LOW heat (without any water this time) and pour it into sterile, hot canning jars. Add lid and ring and let it cool to seal. You can add the jars to a canner, for "perfect" preservation, but I've never found it necessary. But I use it up fairly quickly too. Maybe someone else has the actual "canning" times for it? Any off-smelling lard goes into soap-making for me, instead of cooking.

Keep in mind here that bacon and pork fat have different properties than beef fat. Pork fat renders into lard. Beef fat renders into tallow. Both can be used for soap making. Both can be used for cooking. Their properties however can be compared to using shortening and butter in how they react in baking recipes: pork is similar to shortening and tallow acts more like butter (flakier crust, for example). Tallow tends to have less of an undesirable flavor to it than lard, in my opinion, but then again, some people LIKE that slight bacony flavor, too!

Hope that helps!


----------



## Wanderer (Aug 22, 2011)

I echo what Sarah said for raw fats. If you are talking about fats (drippings) left over from cooking meat, then clarify them in water a couple of times as Sarah describes, but you won't get a pure white lard/tallow. Plus the flavor will be a bit stronger so definitely use the lard/tallow in savoury dishes rather than sweet. I love drippings smeared on toast -- it was a staple breakfast in my house growing up.

BTW, when I render lard or tallow I put a couple of cups of water in the bottom of the pan with the chunks of fat. That keeps them from browning and leaves a snowy white product after clarifying.


----------



## Tommyice (Dec 5, 2010)

I use bacon fat in the dog biscuits I make for my pooch. If the recipe calls for butter, I replace with the bacon fat. I do store the biscuits in the fridge.


----------



## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

Sarah gives good information.

I'm not an animal owner (other than the dogs) but I don't know that I would give bacon fat to the animals. The curing chemicals might not be good for them.

When rendering lard, one of the most important things to do for long keeping quality is to make sure you remove all the water. As the water is driven off, the temperature of the lard will rise. At 255Âº the lard will be ready to put up. Pour into your canning jars and let it cool thouroughly before putting a cap on. This insures that you won't get humidity in the jars from the cooling. Fill the jars to the top. It will shrink quite a bit as it cools. You don't need to keep it refrigerated. Just store in a cool, dark place. This time of year you can cool the lard outside on your porch (if you don't have varmits).

When I prepare chicken for cooking I pull off as much fat as I can, especially that around the cavity. I save it in the freezer and when I get enough to mess with I melt it down and pour into small jars. You will have a layer of beautiful yellow on the bottom and a layer of golden oil on top. It is absolutely great for frying potatoes.


----------



## Maverick_mg (Mar 11, 2010)

Awesome. Thanks for the information everyone. I never thought putting it into a canning jar. I also didn't know that beef fat was where tallow came from, i just thought it was a different process. Now that I have some ideas on what I can do with it I'm gonna try to clarify some.


----------



## arrocks (Oct 26, 2011)

Sarah J - that is some really wonderful information to have. Thanks for taking the time to share it all.


----------

