Rendering Lard

Written By Melanie Chapman

There are two different types of fat on a pig. Leaf and backfat. The leaf fat, or leaf lard, is THE BEST for using in pastries and pies.

Always ask for your pork fat back!

Even if it gets stuck in the freezer for a year like mind did before I finally got brave enough to render it down to use for cooking.

You’ll need:

  • Sharp Knife

  • Cutting Board

  • Big Bowls

  • Scale (optional)

  • Meat Grinder

  • Big stainless steel stock pot

  • Canning grabbers - what ever the correct term is for those!

  • Stainless Steel slotted spoon

  • Stainless Steel Ladle

  • Stainless Steel Canning Funnel

  • Milk filter disks or cheese cloth (with no dyes)

  • Canning jars (I prefer all pints)

*You’ll want all stainless steel equipment because the lard will be super hot during canning it

To start, thaw out the fat just enough for you to cut it easily. Cut into chunks small enough to fit in the meat grinder. Get your grinder ready, it doesn’t have to be super small granuales that come out. I use the bigger of the two disks that come with the grinder.

Grind all the fat into a bowl or two.

Then you can start adding the fat to the pot. LOW & SLOW. LOW & SLOW!!!!!!

Start the heat on low, add a ladle’s worth of ground fat at a time, stir and make sure it doesn’t burn.

Let some melt in the pot and keep adding fat as it melts. Repeat this until the pot is just about full.

Stir occasionally.

You’ll see when it boils, the bubbles will be big

Once the bubbles turn out small then it’s ready for the next step!

Using a big slotted stainless-steel spoon, take out all the cracklings, these you can save for later and put onto a meal - use like bacon bits!

Next, get the funnel and filter ready, and i also use a mesh stainless steel strainer for any more cracklings that I’ve missed.

Slowly ladle the very hot liquid into the funnel with a filter on it and into the jars. Fill and leave a half inch head space.

Hand tighten the lids onto the jars

That’s it!
You have completed rendering lard and storing it for later. When it completely cools it’ll be a lovely white color.

Some will tell you that you have to freeze this lard that you render but I have not had a problem leaving it in the pantry.

I am still using lard that i rendered two years ago!

For reference, about 10 pounds of fat makes about 10 pints and takes about 2 hours from start to finish.

Melanie Chapman
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