My stomach is rumbling. Well, not really rumbling so much as gurgling, burbling, growling, and I could swear it just made a barking kind of noise. (Frankly, the barking has me a bit worried.) You see, my house is innundated with the smell of porcine protein and fat - and has been since 9:00 this morning, five hours ago. It's got about two hours to go.
I'm rendering lard.
Read the complete article at Spot-On.
Kevin Weeks is a Gather food correspondent (Paisano), personal chef, cooking teacher, and writer in Knoxville, Tennessee who spends too many hours on his feet, cooking. "Paisano" is a column focused on peasant dishes from around the world. To read more of Kevin's writings or connect to him click here. His blog,Seriously Good, is read by 100,000 cooks a month and in addition he writes a weekly column forSpot-Onand is the Guide for Cooking for Two at About.com.
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Comments: 17
To think you're doing it inside..ewww. Good luck getting the smell out of the drapes.
Once the water evaporates, the smell of cooking pork is wonderful. You may be thinking of chitlings.
Marilee,
Nothing could be easier tha making your ow lard (if you didn't follow the link, I explain how at the end of the column). And it does make the best pastry (and biscuits) on earth. I also cook cornbread in it and add a dollop to the oil I fry chicken in.
Nope. Maybe the odor I remember with disdain is because it was rendered in such large quantities. We are not, nor have we ever been chitlin' makers or consumers..lol
for the record, I get lard from our local meat store. I don't use it much, but you can't make a decent pie crust without it. Maybe YOU can, but I can't.
I can't believe people still use lard.
I can make a pie crust without lard. Maybe because I've never used lard in my cooking.
Anybody can make a pie crust without lard, but I'll bet you use some butter in it and that's just cow fat.
Come Saturdy mornings in the fall while we were getting ready to drive to Columbia for a football game, she would be in the kitchen frying chicken (which had slept in the refrigerator overnight in buttermilk seasoned with salt & pepper) and making pies for our tailgating picnics....
Good memories.....thank you!
> Come Saturdy mornings in the fall while we were getting ready to drive to Columbia for a football game, she would be in the kitchen frying chicken (which had slept in the refrigerator overnight in buttermilk seasoned with salt & pepper)
That's the way I do it - and I need to do it again, soon.
Me too.
Marilee,
You have to give Tracy a couple of weeks warning (or more, depending on when he's having a hog butchered).
The water keeps the fat from frying. It's not needed but gives you some leeway in making lard.