Rendering Lard Using a Crockpot (Reviewed and Updated October 5, 2022)

As happy as I am about humanely raised, predominantly milk-fed pork, I am equally excited about the opportunity to make our own lard!  Some people look at me with disgust and fear when they learn that I am rendering and using lard!  Lard has received a bad rap in recent years but some believe it is actually very good for you.  Don't believe me?  Do some research and decide for yourself.  Of course, everything in moderation but I personally believe a bit of lard in my pie crusts or biscuits is better for me than Crisco.  

From the book Nourishing Traditions by Sally O'Fallon:

Benefits of Lard

Lard or pork fat is about 40% saturated, 48% monosaturated (including small amounts of antimicrobial palmitoleic acid), and 12% polyunsaturated. Like the fat of birds, the amount of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids in lard will vary accordingly to the diet of the pigs. In the tropics, lard may also be a source of lauric acid if the pigs have eaten coconuts. Like duck and goose fat, lard is stable and a preferred fat for frying. It was widely used in America at the turn of the century. It is an excellent source of vitamin D, especially in third-world countries where other animal foods are likely to be expensive.

So, now that we have begun to establish the fact that lard may not be as terrible product as it sounds,  just how does one go about making it?   While it is possible to render lard outdoors like our ancestors did, there's an easier method using a crockpot which is the method explored in this post.  

Start by saving the fat from your butchered hogs.   We took the easy way out and let our fabulous butcher do the dirty work for us this year instead of butchering the hogs ourselves.  We provided two, large  Rubbermaid tubs and our butcher threw the strips of fat into those tubs for us.

We worked up about half of the fat using the old-fashioned method of rendering that I will highlight in another post.  The rest of the fat I have been able to keep in our unheated garage for a few days because the temperatures have been cold.  Otherwise, I would have packaged it in smaller parcels, labeled it, and put it in the freezer so that I could work it up a little at a time.  As I render the lard, I take just enough fat to fit into my large crockpot/slow cooker and slice it up into smaller pieces so that it will cook down more quickly.   As the fat begins to cook, I give it a stir every once in a while but other than that, I just go on about my business and let the crock pot do all the work!  I find that in about three or four hours the fat has cooked down and what is left are the cracklins floating on the top of the oil. 

Next, carefully pour the oil and cracklings through a metal strainer.  I line the metal strainer with a flour sack cloth.   This catches all the little pieces of meat that might be floating in oil and leaves a beautiful final product.

I  then pour this oil into clean canning jars, apply new lids, screw the rings down finger tight,  and let the lard sit.  As the fat cools, the lids seal.  

That's all there is to it!  I now have beautiful, clean, shelf-stable lard from my humanely raised hogs.   I can use it to make awesome biscuits and pie crusts! 

 

Traditionally, the leaf lard was rendered for making pie crusts and pastries.  This is the fat that comes from the kidney area and provides the purest, whitest lard.  The following is a picture of the fat from around the kidney areas. 

 

Store your lard in a cool place and enjoy!

You might also enjoy this post on Making Lard The Old Fashioned Way.