{"id":842,"date":"2017-04-18T11:37:53","date_gmt":"2017-04-18T17:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/?post_type=recipe&p=842"},"modified":"2026-09-02T10:59:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:59:21","slug":"home-rendered-lard-recipe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/2017\/04\/18\/home-rendered-lard-recipe\/","title":{"rendered":"Home-Rendered Lard"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 18, 2017<\/span><\/p>\n

Blame Upton Sinclair <\/a>and Crisco.<\/p>\n

The quality of baked goods hasn\u2019t been as good since we abandoned lard in a wholesale way in the early\u00a020th century in favor of partially hydrogenated vegetable shortening, with Crisco being the most recognized brand.<\/p>\n

And our health has been the worse for it.<\/p>\n

Study after study has shown that partially hydrogenated vegetable shortening, because of trans-fats, creates more cardiovascular disease than the animal fats, like lard and butter, it was meant to replace.<\/p>\n

Most vegetable shortening was reformulated in the first decade of the 21st century to reduce the amount of partially hydrogenated fat but this still has not resolved all the health-related concerns.\u00a0 There are two main reasons.\u00a0 Many products still contain some partially hydrogenated fat.\u00a0 It\u2019s just that if there is less than half a gram per \u201cserving\u201d the manufacturer can list the amount as zero on the label.\u00a0 The other reason is that the fully hydrogenated fats that have replaced most of the partially hydrogenated fats have been shown to alter metabolism in unpredictable ways.\u00a0 It will likely take us decades to determine their true health consequences.<\/p>\n

Several years ago I took a weeklong course at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone <\/a>in St. Helena, California.\u00a0 Called \u201cHealthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives<\/a>\u201d it was sponsored by Harvard University and the Culinary Institute of America.\u00a0 It was a week of hands-on cooking, cooking demonstrations, and lectures aimed at health care professionals.\u00a0 A major take-away point for me was one of the Harvard faculty emphasizing that there was \u201czero tolerance\u201d for trans-fats.\u00a0 It was as clear a statement on the issue as I had ever heard.<\/p>\n

My solution (and it\u2019s been my solution since the early 1980\u2019s when there were enough studies about the effects of partially hydrogenated fats to convince me) is to only use either vegetable oils and fats, like olive oil, corn oil, canola oil or coconut oil, among others, or animal fats, like lard and butter.<\/p>\n

I also try to maintain fidelity to the types of fats and oils that would be used traditionally in a given cuisine.\u00a0 Thus, while I cook with coconut oil when making Indonesian food, for example, I won\u2019t use it when I\u2019m cooking Italian food.\u00a0 For the same reason, I won\u2019t use olive oil when I\u2019m cooking Sri Lankan food.<\/p>\n

As a youngster, I remember looking at a lot of hand-written recipes.\u00a0 It was amazing to me to see how Crisco (and it really was<\/em> Crisco at the time) came to replace what would obviously have been lard in a more traditional version of the recipe.\u00a0 This is true for Totos, the Italian Chocolate Spice Cookies<\/a> that were the subject of one of my first blog posts.<\/p>\n

If I\u2019ve convinced you that you don\u2019t want to use solid vegetable shortening and you really want to try lard, you might ask why I\u2019m suggesting that you render it rather than just buy lard from the supermarket.<\/p>\n

Have you looked at the label of a block or tub of lard at the supermarket lately?<\/p>\n

Well, it\u2019s not just pure old lard any longer.\u00a0 It\u2019s lard and\u2026you guessed it\u2026hydrogenated lard!\u00a0 There are also a number of preservatives thrown in for \u201cgood measure.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can, however, buy artisanal lard that only contains pure, rendered lard.\u00a0 You may have a difficult time finding these products depending on where you live.\u00a0 You\u2019ll also pay dearly for them; something in the range of $20 to $24 per pound!<\/p>\n

So, while I didn\u2019t make a big deal out of the lard called for in\u00a0my post on Totos<\/a>, I\u2019m suggesting now that you may want to render your own lard as a replacement for the\u00a0solid vegetable shortening you\u2019re currently using (both for your health and for the quality of your food) and because I will be posting a number of recipes where lard will be a key ingredient in the coming months.<\/p>\n

I understand that rendering your own lard isn\u2019t sexy.\u00a0 Nobody is going to wax poetic about food containing lard the way they might for the perfect long-simmered Southern Italian ragu.\u00a0 But it\u2019s really not that difficult or time-consuming and having the best ingredients, not just the most convenient, will \u201cup\u201d your cooking game!<\/p>\n

I started rendering lard for cooking my junior year in college.\u00a0 (Kind of geeky, I know.)\u00a0 I used it with abandon.\u00a0 I had fried foods several times per week and every now and then I would make a complete meal of fried foods, what Italians call Frito Misto.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, I now accumulate extra weight in a way I didn\u2019t in college.\u00a0 So, I eat less fried food but when I do, I want it to taste great.\u00a0 For that, there\u2019s always lard.

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Home-Rendered Lard<\/h2>\n
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Leaf fat is the best for rendering into lard but can be difficult to obtain. The next best is fatback. I\u2019m lucky enough that I can buy good-quality pork fat from my local supermarket but I don\u2019t really get to specify leaf fat versus fatback. However, an easy rule of thumb is, the firmer the fat, the better the lard. Don\u2019t use soft caul fat for rendering lard. You want firm pieces of fat. Starting with some water in the pan allows the fat to begin to render without risk of browning. Rendering lard can take a few hours but it is mostly hands-off and yields a product that is superior to what is commercially available in supermarkets.<\/div>\n
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Prep Time <\/span>20 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Cook Time <\/span>3 hours<\/span><\/span> hrs<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Total Time <\/span>5 hours<\/span><\/span> hrs<\/span> 20 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
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Ingredients
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