How to make lard at home. How to make lard from pork fat at home - a healthy homemade recipe
Lard is a fat that is extracted by slow cooking from lard, subcutaneous fat, internal fat, and fatty scraps.
The most delicious lard is obtained from lard or goose and duck fat, the recipes for which we will consider below in this article. It is worth noting that lard melted from internal fat can have a barely noticeable, peculiar smell that not everyone likes.
Depending on the raw materials and the method by which we will drown the lard, when frozen, it can have a white-pearl or slightly yellowish color.
Lard is used in cooking for the preparation of many dishes. On the lard, you can cook the first and second courses, bake, fry, add mashed potatoes etc. If melted, the lard can be used to make salads. If you add a little spice to the lard, then it turns out just a magical snack that can be applied in a thin layer on bread, like butter.
Preparing products for cooking lard
First of all, the fat or internal fat should be rinsed under cold water, thereby getting rid of external pollution. Then trim off the leftover meat if you want a crisp white lard. If you melt the lard only for preparing a snack, then on the contrary, it is better to take lard with a small layer of meat.Put lard in slightly salted cold water and let stand for 10 hours. It is better to change the water 2-3 times during these 10 hours. If the fat smells good and does not have blood impurities, then you do not need to soak it.
We drain the water and let the bacon dry, and then cut into pieces that are not small and, if possible, the same size. The smaller the pieces, the faster the lard will cook. Now you can proceed directly to the preparation of lard at home.
Lard can be cooked in several ways, namely on the stove, in the oven, in a slow cooker. It can also be cooked dry in a skillet or melted in a saucepan using some water. When frying lard in a dry frying pan, we get not only lard, but also delicious cracklings, which can be added to any side dishes, to dressing for soups and borscht, or just to eat like seeds.
Oven lard recipe
We cut the bacon into cubes 2.5x2.5 cm in size. Put the cubes of bacon in a cauldron or other heat-resistant dish, evenly distributing them and fill them with water, about 0.6 cm from the bottom of the cauldron. Preheat the oven to a maximum of 100 grams. Celsius. We place a container with bacon in the oven, cover with a lid. Stir the fat every 15-20 minutes. The lard takes about 2 hours to melt. When the fat is completely melted, then you will immediately unmistakably determine this. Strain the lard through a fine sieve, cool, pour into glass jars and store in the refrigerator.
Lard in a slow cooker, recipe
We need: 450 gr. lard, waterCut the bacon into pieces, about 2X2 cm.Pour 60 ml into the multicooker. water, put pieces of bacon evenly. Set a lower temperature, cover with a lid and let the lard melt for one hour without opening the multicooker. After an hour, open the lid and stir the bacon. For the next hours, stir the lard every 30 minutes. Depending on the amount of bacon and the type of multicooker, cooking the lard can take from 2 to 6 hours. When the fat acquires a ruddy color and begins to settle to the bottom, then these pieces have already completely given up their fat and will not be melted anymore. The lard is ready, it remains to strain, cool and pour into jars and send to the refrigerator for storage.
Lard on the stove, recipe
We need: 500 gr. lard, water.Place the chopped pieces of bacon in a saucepan, add 100 gr. water and put on a strong fire. When the water boils, then the fire is reduced to a minimum. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes, then stir. When the fat begins to decrease in size, mix every 10 minutes. When the pieces become considerably smaller, acquire a ruddy appearance, and sink to the bottom, then the lard is ready. Strain through a fine sieve, cool and pour over jars and refrigerate.
Unmelted pieces of bacon, that is, almost greaves, can be fried in a pan for 10 minutes. And then add to any side dish, salads, for making snacks.
Lard appetizer with cracklings and spices
Outlet snacks 600 gr.We need: Lard 400 gr., Smoked chicken breast 100 gr., 1 small head onion, 4 cloves of garlic, 2 teaspoons salt, 4 pinches of freshly ground black pepper, 100 gr. Water, 1 apple.
Peel and chop the onion as small as possible. Peel the apple and three on a grater with a large cell. Peel the garlic and finely chop it with a knife.
Brisket and lard are grinded in a meat grinder.
Add water and chalk lard to a saucepan.
We put on a low heat and simmer, stirring, until the bacon melts and barely golden greaves begin to float.
Add the onion, apple, garlic and, while stirring, wait until the onion and apple are tender. Remove from the stove, add ground pepper.
Pour into jars, cool. Bon Appetit!
Lard and lard - cult products of Ukrainians - have in fact gained a reputation as traditional village food not only in Ukraine, but also in many other countries.
They are so well known all over the world that the question "Smalets - what is it?" anywhere in the world you will be immediately told several ways to prepare it, and at the same time they will give you a couple of recipes for dishes in which it is used.
Where and how it is applied
So, lard. What is it and what is it eaten with? This fat, melted from lard, is used in the preparation of many national dishes. For example, in the Transcarpathian and Hungarian cuisine, pork lard is indispensable for such dishes as Hungarian goulash, fish soup halasle, paprikash.
Lard is widely used for baking a variety of bakery and confectionery as well as for frying instead vegetable oil... In addition, they prepare a simple and hearty snack, seasoned with spices and salt lard. The recipe with garlic and black pepper is especially popular among Russians and Ukrainians, because these spices give the lard a spicy taste that goes well with black Borodino bread.
Lard is poured over prepared for canning fried mushrooms or stew, which allows the product to be stored for a very long time.
A short excursion into history
Lard - what is it and what is it for? Previously, every housewife knew this. The versatile product was used not only for food, so its preparation was a vital necessity.
In ancient times, cart wheels, locks, traps, fishhooks, metal tools and so on were lubricated. Lard was used for lighting, filling lamps with it, scythes and sickles were burned in it. They used it to lubricate the skin of the face and hands to protect them from severe frosts. Even stoves were fired with it. Very often lard was used in folk medicine as part of ointments for external use, and also practiced the preparation of medicinal mixtures used internally for certain diseases.
Sandwich lard with dill, cracklings, paprika, or even horseradish and radish was a strategic product in the arsenal of village housewives, the most convenient for use outside the home: in haymaking, fishing or hunting, at night. This is understandable - it will not melt and will not deteriorate for a long time.
Today this product can be purchased in almost any supermarket. However, zealous housewives assure that it is better to cook homemade lard, that this is such a thing that does not require great culinary skills. For this purpose, it is not necessary to take expensive selected lard; you can use trimmings and internal pork fat.
The trimmings selected for heating should be peeled from the skin and removed from the layer of meat, and then soaked in cold water for 8-12 hours to remove dirt and blood residues. To make the fat easier to cut, it is recommended to freeze it slightly. For work, you will need a thick-walled container - a cauldron or a saucepan, into which small pieces are placed in portions. The fire should be low so as not to burn the greaves formed when melting the fat. They can then be used for culinary purposes, for example, mixed with lard for sandwiches or used to make delicious buckwheat porridge with cracklings and onions.
The resulting liquid transparent fat is lard. The liquid must be filtered through a two-layer gauze, poured into jars and put to cool. Cooking lard ends when the liquid fat turns into a white mass, resembling soft butter in consistency.
Why is lard useful?
Many useful elements contained in lard are lost during heating, but three of them remain after cooking: selenium, vitamin E and choline (otherwise vitamin B4). Choline, contained in small amounts, affects fat and protein metabolism in the body, prevents sclerosis and improves the functioning of the heart and liver. Vitamin E is important for strengthening capillaries and vessel walls and preventing blood clots. Despite the existing beneficial features, lard must be consumed in moderation, as it contains a lot of unhealthy fats and cholesterol.
Some recipes using lard
1. Lard with garlic and onion for sandwiches. Strain the lard and put it on the fire again, then put finely chopped garlic and onion in it (choose the amount of vegetables to taste), fry until golden brown. Add salt, marjoram, black pepper and stir. Remove from heat and let cool. This lard can be cooked with or without cracklings.
2. Danish lard. Fry a pound of fresh bacon, cut into small cubes, until golden brown. Cut one onion into segments without peeling, put in a frying pan, add peppercorns, peeled garlic, bay leaf, then quickly fry. Remove spices and greaves from the pan, add the peeled chopped onion and the apple sliced into slices, fry until browned. Combine the greaves without spices with the apple-onion mixture, let cool slightly, rub in a blender, salt and pepper to taste. Arrange in jars and store in the refrigerator.
3. Shortbread You will need 250 g of flour, half a glass of sugar, 5 tablespoons of lard, 1 egg, 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder. Beat eggs with sugar, add melted and slightly cooled lard and the rest of the products, knead the dough. Put it in the refrigerator for half an hour. Then roll out the dough, cut out the figures and place them on a baking sheet covered with parchment. Bake at 180 degrees until golden brown. The biscuits are very tender and melt in the mouth.
4. Omelet "Atamansky". Take three eggs, three tablespoons of sour cream, a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of flour, a little of any seasoning to taste, for example, cumin. Beat these ingredients with a mixer. Pour a handful of greaves into the pan, put on fire. When fat is released, pour out the egg mixture, add cheese, cover. The omelet is cooked for 5-8 minutes.
Lard storage rules
Pork fat or lard can be easily made at home. This requires only 1 ingredient - lard without layers of meat and skin. Ready lard is natural product for frying, and also an excellent ingredient for homemade baked goods... Have you ever tried lard shortbread? If not, cook urgently - it just melts in your mouth!
The essence of the process of cooking pork (like any other) lard comes down to heat treatment lard. In other words, you need to melt the fat from the lard chopped in any convenient way. Pork lard can be stored for several months in the refrigerator or even longer in the freezer (you can put it in bags and cut off the right amount of solid white fat).
By the way, some people like to eat pork fat as a spread on bread. In this case, the lard is salted to taste or fragrant fillers are added: chopped garlic, ground pepper, fresh herbs.
Ingredients:
Cooking a dish step by step with a photo:
Beforehand, it must be rinsed under cold running water and dried thoroughly with paper towels or napkins. If there is moisture on the fat, the water will shoot during heat treatment. We cut off the skin (it can also be used to make saltison or roll if you like such dishes), and cut the lard itself as small as possible. Some cooks even advise to pass the bacon through a meat grinder, but I don't like that.
We take dishes that are suitable for the volume - a saucepan with a thick bottom and walls or a cauldron. We shift the chopped bacon into it.
We put the pan on the stove and turn on the strongest fire. For the first 15 minutes, fry the pieces of bacon without a lid, remembering to stir. We need to achieve fine education golden brown and the beginning of the fat melting. Do not forget to stir the contents of the dishes every 3 minutes so that the bacon does not burn.
We make a medium heat and, under control, continue to heat the lard. When you see that the pieces of lard are completely covered with fat, make the smallest fire and leave the dishes on the stove for 1.5 hours. At this time, it will be possible to observe a not very strong seething of the mass - it should be so.
In the process, you need to mix everything at least a couple of times, although it is unlikely that something will stick to the bottom, since pieces of bacon float on the surface. The readiness of the lard will serve as a beautiful ruddy color of greaves.
Using a slotted spoon, take out the greaves and transfer them to a separate bowl or put them on a sieve. Leave the hot pork fat to stand for 10 minutes on the table so that all excess settles to the bottom.
Pork rinds many people like to eat with bread, use them, for example, when cooking eggs. In addition, shakvarks are perfectly stored in the freezer.
Lard is a processed product made from melted lard. You can fry on lard, add it to baked goods and cereals. By the way, before, only such fat was present in the cellars of the villagers: there was no vegetable oil or margarine at all. I remember being in Soviet years jars of melted lard were stored in refrigerators as the most necessary ingredient, and my grandfather told me that the most tasty dish in his life is a piece rye bread with lard and garlic!
Many culinary experts use lard in cooking, but mistakenly call for melting it only from internal fat - I do not recommend it. Interior fat has a not very pleasant smell and "gives" it to lard, so create a product only from fresh lard - it does not need to be soaked. In general, when melting lard, there should be no water at all, otherwise the fat will begin to "shoot" and splatter the entire kitchen.
So, let's get an excellent piece of bacon, best of all with a layer of meat in the middle, and let's start cooking!
Rinse the fat in water to remove dirt and dry it with paper towels or napkins. Then we cut off the skin from one edge and pull it, removing it completely from the piece of bacon - it comes off easily.
Cut the peeled piece into small oblong slices, trying to leave a layer in the middle of each of them - these are the blanks of the future .
Choose a thick-bottomed dish and pour the sliced bacon into it, but remember that the dishes must be dry, without a single drop of water. Place the container on the stove, turning on maximum heat, and for the first 5 minutes fry the pieces until golden brown so that they form fat, and then reduce the heat to minimum and mix the contents of the container.
We will heat the lard for about 40-50 minutes, stirring from time to time. You will see the pieces of lard turn brown and shrink, and the fat gets bigger and bigger. However, under no circumstances cover the container with a lid - condensation may form on it!
As soon as the greaves have given up all the fat, remove them with a slotted spoon on a plate lined with a paper napkin. Remove the container from the stove and let the fat cool for 10-15 minutes so that the remaining small pieces sink to the bottom.
Pour the liquid fat into a jar or other container by placing a strainer with two layers of cheesecloth on it. Leave to cool until room temperature, and then transfer to the cold.
After 3-5 hours the lard will completely harden and acquire a milky white color. If desired, the surface of the lard can be slightly salted. The product is stored for about 4-6 months in the refrigerator, but then it is recommended to melt the lard, otherwise it may start to taste bitter.
As soon as you prepare the product, be sure to try it with bread and garlic - well, very tasty! And the resulting cracklings you can either eat or freeze in the freezer and add to fried potatoes, cereals and other dishes. Now you know how to make lard at home!
Preparation: 1 hour 15 minutes
Recipe for: 2 cans of 500 ml
Lard is the melted internal fat and is easy to cook at home if you know the recipe. Lard is widely used in cooking. The most delicious shortbread cookies, are obtained on lard. And what delicious potatoes fried in lard with onions. It can be prepared not only from pork fat, but also melt the chicken fat. Today we will talk about pork lard. Previously, it was harvested in large clay jugs and stored in the basement. Today, melted fat is poured into glass jars, rolled up with lids and stored in this form. Cans of fat are stored in the refrigerator for up to six months. Experienced housewives know that lard is cheaper in summer, and therefore they prepare lard at this time. In winter, you take out a jar of blanks, even though cookies are baking, at least fry potatoes or just spread on bread with garlic.
How to cook lard at home
Ingredients
- Interior fat - 1.2 kg