How To Render Lard In The Crockpot
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Jump to RecipeWe live in a very wasteful culture.
Instead of repurposing, recycling, or reusing, we just…well…waste it.
Back in the “olden days” (as me and my brother liked to call it), people were so grateful for the little they had! They wouldn’t have even thought of wasting something as wonderful as hog fat!
The point of this is certainly not to make you feel guilty for wasting, but rather to teach us all how to utilize what would normally be wasted.
Lard is finally making a comeback as a healthy, traditional fat.
No modern hydrogenated oils around here! Some of our most used oils and fats in this household are: olive oil, coconut oil (which I use for just about everything! Like…seriously..), lard (which is rendered down hog fat), tallow (rendered down cow fat), and butter. It doesn’t get any better than that folks!
And today we are going to learn how to render our own lard!
Watch my recipe video on YouTube.
How To Render Lard In The Crockpot
You will need:
- Pork fat (you can get some at your local butcher if you don’t have any from your own hogs, or a friend’s hogs).
- 1/4 cup water
- Slow cooker
Step one: Cut or grind the fat into small pieces. As you are doing this, trim off any pieces of blood or meat. You don’t have to be too fastidious about this, just get the big stuff.
Step two: Place fat in slow cooker. Also add the 1/4 cup of water now to keep the fat from burning – it will evaporate during the rendering process. Place the lid on top of the slow cooker and set it on low.
After about an hour or so you’ll start to see some liquid in the bottom of the slow cooker. Give the pot a stir every once in awhile until the fat is completely melted. It’ll have to go for quite awhile – I sometimes will start it before bed and let it go all night.
Processing the rendered lard
Step three: Strain the lard. When the lard is ready you’ll see brown bits of “cracklings” resting on the bottom of the pot with a layer of fat over them.
Pour the contents of your slow cooker over a cheesecloth lined colander to separate the lard from the cracklings.
Pour the lard into jars and set aside to cool on a counter.
Don’t throw the browned bits away! You can use them to make cracklings! Just sprinkle them with a little salt and put them in a pan over medium heat. As they cook some of the excess fat will melt away and they’ll become crispy. They’re called cracklings because they often pop and sizzle as they cook. Once they’re crispy remove them from the pan and serve. They are wonderful in scrambled eggs, or in biscuits!
Once the lard is cooled it will harden and look like this:
See?
Wonderful, silky, delicious, traditional, rich lard. For free.
Next to cod liver oil, lard is the second richest source of Vitamin D. According to Sally Fallon, author of Nourishing Traditions, one tablespoon of lard obtained from pastured pigs has been found to contain up to 1,100 IU of Vitamin D!
Also, one of my favorite things about lard is that I can easily harvest it myself, unlike olive oil or coconut oil. I don’t plan on harvesting olives or coconuts any time soon, but raising hogs and harvesting their fat is certainly do-able!
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Rendering Lard
Equipment
- Crockpot
- Cheese cloth
- Strainer
- Measuring cup
- Spoon
Ingredients
- Pork fat
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- Cut or grind the fat into small pieces. As you are doing this, trim off any pieces of blood or meat. You don’t have to be too fastidious about this, just get the big stuff.
- Place fat in slow cooker. Also add the 1/4 cup of water now to keep the fat from burning – it will evaporate during the rendering process. Place the lid on top of the slow cooker and set it on low.
- After about an hour or so you’ll start to see some liquid in the bottom of the slow cooker. Give the pot a stir every once in awhile until the fat is completely melted. It’ll have to go for quite awhile – I sometimes will start it before bed and let it go all night.
- Strain the lard. When the lard is ready you’ll see brown bits of “cracklings” resting on the bottom of the pot with a layer of fat over them.
- Pour the contents of your slow cooker over a cheesecloth lined colander to separate the lard from the cracklings.
- Pour the lard into jars and set aside to cool on a counter.
- Take the browned bits and sprinkle them with a little salt and put them in a pan over medium heat. As they cook some of the excess fat will melt away and they’ll become crispy. They’re called cracklings because they often pop and sizzle as they cook. Once they’re crispy remove them from the pan and serve. They are wonderful in scrambled eggs, or in biscuits!
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This was so easy!!
How long will this last? Pantry? Fridge?
I’ve had mine last over a year in the pantry at room temperature if you can it properly.
I rendered tallow from our wonderful beef and milk farmer for the first time, I used a wet render with salt and did 2 simmers/strain/cool cycles. It still has a very strong scent! I don’t use essential oils and I want to make body care so hoping I can get it more neutral smelling, any tips? I think I’ll try another 2 simmers with lots of salt.
Are you actually canning the lard in a water bath or is the liquid lard hot enough to seal itself like maple syrup?
I was wondering the same thing
It’s shelf stable in cool dark place or toss in freezer if you have space. I keep on shelf just fine
Not using any canner, the oil gets hot enough to seal it.