Rendering Lard

In my community we have
a "Buy Nothing" group on Facebook.

Day before yesterday I happened to find
a post for free hog fat.

A man had ordered half a hog
and didn't want the fat

so he posted it
on Facebook's Buy Nothing group.

Turns out he was just around the corner
from my house,

so I buzzed over.

He gave me several packages of back fat 

and leaf fat.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday 

rendering the back fat.

Two packages of fat - one back fat and one leaf fat.

This is back fat. 

Back fat is good for cooking eggs, meat, especially on cast iron. 

It's also great for making soap.

This is "leaf fat" and it comes off the kidneys.

Leaf fat makes a pretty white lard and it's good for pastries.

First thing I did was go wash all of my equipment.

I'm using a hand meat grinder.

Grinding the fat into smaller pieces 

means you can get more lard out of the fat. 

Start melting the fat on very low heat. 

I ended up with 4 full pints of lard, 

plus some in my bacon fat container.

I also ended up with a pint of "cracklings" 

which is the cooked portions of meat scraps.

Those are great in scrambled eggs instead of bacon

or put on top of casseroles.

Yum!

This morning, all my lard is finished.

Today I'm going to do the leaf lard.

It will be interesting to see if it's more white.

Stay tuned.