Lard – Rendered Fat – A Quick How-To

Lard is definitely not a fermented food product.  However, it is not only delicious, but also is a necessary ingredient for making and aging cloth-bound cheddar – a favorite of mine.  While lard is today scorned, it was all the rage before vegetable oils joined the scene.  Some sources claim that use of lard over other oils creates flakier breads or better flavored dishes; some claim that lard has nutrients that may help it emerge as the next kale or fish oil fad.  I cannot attest to any of these claims.

However, my purpose of including this recipe during my fermentation journey in Europe is so that I will be able to create my own lard for my future plans to produce cloth-bound cheddar.  A finished cheddar can be aged in a variety of ways.  Typically, a cheddar is waxed, but it can also be aged with a natural rind.  However, my favorite aged cheddar is wrapped in cloth (usually cheesecloth) and smothered with lard, then left to age.  The bacteria cling, grow, and thrive on this lard-cloth, and the taste it brings to the cheddar is fantastic; the flavor created points in the direction of blue cheese, in my opinion.  Delicious.

Lard (tr., Schmaltz)

Ingredients: pig fat.  Done.  Preferably fat from a pig not living in a cage as its fodder will impact flavor.  You can use back fat, but the fat used in this shop was that from the insides of the rib cage – i.e., the suet.

Cut up the fat and process it though a meat grinder (this is intended to promote even heating):

Put the pot on the stove and heat until the fat has melted (avoid too high of a temp):

There will be bits of the pig in this mixture.  They are called Grieben (tr., cracklings).  Sometimes they are pieces of skin, but it often is simply meat and other membrane tissues.  These should be filtered out, although there are those that prefer the texture when they are left in.  (These are delicious, too, by the way.)

This next phase is where paths may diverge.  The butcher shop where I am currently interning adds finely cut onions at this point to enhance the flavor.  They claim that many also add garlic, but they choose not to.  After mixing, it is portioned into containers, cooled, and sold.

To help me appreciate Schmaltz (tr., lard), the butcher introduced me to Schmaltzbrot (tr., lard bread).  This dish is simply spreading a thick layer of lard on a piece of bread and topping it with salt.  I was told that this was considered a poor-person, rural meal – probably because it is packed with calories.  It was quite tasty.