Boiling pork fat ( Making Lard)

These past few months I’ve been researching lard and tallow and rendering more, since we’ll be butchering our pigs by next January (slow-growing Kune Kunes). Anyway, the more I read, the more I learn that if you want a pure white tallow that has no smell or beefy flavor, you purify it with water and salt more than just the once, scrape off the softer, brown impurities at the bottom of the cake before purifying it again, and make very sure there is no water left on the tallow cake anywhere before storing it. I don’t know if that’s useful to anyone here, but Bumblebee Apothecary has some awesome info on tallow and lard.

james cox wrote:What would be the life expectancy of a jar of rendered fat sitting on the counter or in the fridge? I did see one post where someone keeps it in the freezer for longer storage, does it need to be frozen for long storage or is a cool room sufficient?

It would depend on the temp of the counter. If your spot is cool longer,  warm or hot shorter. Which is why some use the frig or freezer to store fat.

My mom kept a glass jar of bacon fat in the kitchen cabinet under the sink.  She'd use a bit for cooking eggs or some meats, maybe some other things I didn't notice.  She would use some, then add some back when cooking more bacon, and rarely ever emptied and washed the jar.  It never went bad.

So now that I am eating some meat again, I started a jar in the cabinet under my sink...  makes fried or scrambled eggs taste amazing!  Also I use it in beef bourginon sauce, adds to the final flavor nicely without tasting specifically bacon-y.  Lovely to saute green beans in too, although you can just use some actual bacon in with the beans and have the benefit of the crunchy bits.

I'd love to get some lard from a small-farm-raised pig to use for pie crusts!  Unfortunately we don't have the acreage to raise pigs ourselves.

you should be able to go to a local butcher and ask him for pork fat to make lard. it's not hard and the threads here give basic instructions. just give it a whirl. that is what i did and it worked out good.

I'd love to get some lard from a small-farm-raised pig to use for pie crusts!  Unfortunately we don't have the acreage to raise pigs ourselves.


 Yes last year we raised 5 pigs and we paid a local butcher to do the last two. One of the buyers didn't want the fat. So I gave fat to folks I heard wanted to make lard. Ask around, you may find a neighbor who doesn't want to make lard.

james cox wrote:What would be the life expectancy of a jar of rendered fat sitting on the counter or in the fridge? I did see one post where someone keeps it in the freezer for longer storage, does it need to be frozen for long storage or is a cool room sufficient?

We freeze ours and keep the jar we're using in the fridge, but we're amine sensitive and notice reactions if the tallow is kept out or even in the fridge for too long. Frozen is fine, same applies for all our meat. We also have to be careful there isn't any browning of the lamb meat or fat in the process so I use a litre of water for a slow cooker full of minced fat.
I do notice the taste changes when it gets a bit 'old' even if it's meant to be shelf stable. But lamb tallow has a pretty strong flavour to start with. Hoping to try beef tallow soon!
We use it for all our cooking as we can't tolerate any other oils right now (my daughters and I). We cook eggs, stir fries and fries in it and add it to soups and stews. Delicious!

I just rendered most of a 5 gal bucket of organ fat from helping butcher a cow. We just keep a jar on the counter for most cooking, especially for fried eggs and for popcorn. We alternate between tallow and lard. Just trying to stay clear of the manufactured cooking oils.

I cheat and pour the fat off of the bacon for the lard I keep.  I use the lard mostly for the oil in the sourdough bread I make.

Hi Chris,

Welcome to Permies.

hi chris

i do the same and my wife makes the sourdough

cheers james

This is the steps I searched for. Although I am not very good at it, it can be made by following the steps.
Rinse the pig suet with running water and cut it into small pieces.
Add half a bowl of water.
Cook over high heat until the water dries up.
When the suet starts to come out of oil, turn down the heat to low and turn the pan over with a spatula from time to time.
Boil slowly until all the oil comes out and the oil residue turns golden.
Filter through a sieve and put the boiled oil into a container. After cooling down, add a little sugar and salt before solidification.

A prior comment mentioned that leaf lard is the best candidate for making lard, but are there other types of lard that we get from pigs that could be used?

Are there pros and cons to them?