Some people believe that animal fat has nothing beneficial. But this opinion is erroneous, because by observing the measure, you can enrich the body with vitamin B4 (choline), vitamin E and selenium. Therefore, take note of recipes for making lard.

Classic recipe at home

We take fresh lard, clean it of possible contaminants, and remove meat, if any.

Fill with water, add a little salt and leave for 12 hours. We change the water from time to time.

Now cut the lard into small pieces. Place a cauldron or frying pan on the fire, add lard and fry over low heat. Take out as needed.

As soon as there is no liquid in the pan, the fat must be strained through cheesecloth, having first folded it into 4 layers.

How to cook with milk

Milk is used to thoroughly render the lard.

Take pork lard, cut it into small pieces, put it in a cauldron.

Pour in milk until the lard is half covered.

Close the cauldron, turn on low heat and simmer the product for 2 hours.

After this, turn off the stove and let the lard cool.

There will be lard on the surface, it must be removed, making sure that no water gets in. Place it in a jar and refrigerate.

Lard will have a special delicate taste; it can be stored for 3-4 weeks.

How to make homemade lard in a slow cooker

Take 500 g of lard, trim the skin, remove the meat.

Transfer to the multicooker bowl. Set the mode to “Stewing”, cooking time is 4 hours.

After this, take out the cracklings, pour the resulting lard into jars and into the refrigerator.

How to make aromatic lard

The preparation will be classic, but the ingredients will be special. We cut the lard, fry it in a frying pan and take it out.

Now chop the sour apple and onion, do it as finely as possible. Next, add pepper, salt, dried marjoram. Mix thoroughly and cool to room temperature, but do not let it harden.

Strain the finished lard through cheesecloth and transfer it to a jar. The product must be stored in the refrigerator.

For lard, it is more correct to use interior fat. Alternatively, you can choose lard from the sides or back of the pig.

Do not make lard from the peritoneum; it does not contain enough fat. In addition, it may contain capillaries that are not easy to remove.

The selected lard should have a white color and a pleasant aroma.

After classic preparation, lard can be stored for a year without additives.

How to use

If you do not take into account home cosmetology and traditional medicine recipes, there are enough dishes using lard, since they can safely replace butter (both butter and vegetable), margarine and other cooking fats. For example, you can put it:

- in dough for cookies, pies, flatbreads, gingerbreads, biscuits;

— while frying potatoes, cabbage, onions, meat, mushrooms;

- for fat content and juiciness in soups, porridges, vegetable stews, fillings for pies and dumplings;

Many housewives think that good lard can only be rendered from fresh, selected lard, but not every housewife knows that aromatic good lard can also be made from the internal, kidney or subcutaneous fat of a pig. I am pleased to share one of the ways to render pork fat at home.

How to cook lard at home.

So, to render lard according to our home recipe, we need subcutaneous, internal or kidney fat from a pig. Fat trimmed from meat will also work.

First, we need to cut the fat into small cubes. We do this for convenience and speed of heating. Before slicing, I usually freeze the fat a little. This makes cutting much easier.

Then, in order for the blood to come out of the cut fat, it must be soaked in cold water for 24 to 72 hours. During soaking, you need to change the water every 12 hours.

When the fat is sufficiently soaked, it will acquire a perfectly white color, without blood spots.

Then, pour clean water (a third of the amount of fat) into the container for heating and add 1 teaspoon to the water. baking soda.

Place the chopped pork fat in a container with water and soda.

Lard begins to appear on the surface of the water after it boils. As it appears, it must be collected into a separate container using a spoon.

You can collect lard until a golden crust forms on the fried greaves. Then, use a slotted spoon to transfer the cracklings into a colander and leave them there until they cool. While they are warm, any remaining fat will drain from the cracklings.

The next stage of preparation is to remove the unpleasant odor from the rendered lard. To do this, you need to melt it again. During reheating, for every kilogram of finished lard, you need to add 100 grams of fresh milk. Lard with milk must be heated over low heat until the milk turns yellow and sinks to the bottom. It is very important to ensure that the lard does not burn and stir it in time.

If the unpleasant smell of the insides still remains, then in order to finally get rid of it, you need to dip a small amount of heavily toasted bread crusts into the lard.

Homemade lard prepared according to this recipe is very suitable for frying various vegetables, and many people find it delicious just like in the photo.

Lard is a processed product made from rendered lard. You can fry it in lard, add it to baked goods and porridges. By the way, previously only such fat was present in the cellars of villagers: there was no trace of vegetable oil or margarine. I remember how in the Soviet years, jars of melted lard were stored in refrigerators as the most necessary ingredient, and my grandfather told me that the most delicious dish in his life was a piece of rye bread with lard and garlic!

Many chefs use lard when preparing dishes, but they mistakenly call for rendering it only from interior fat - I do not recommend it. Interior fat has a not very pleasant odor and “gives” it lard, so create the product only from fresh lard - there is no need to soak it. In general, when rendering lard there should be no water at all, otherwise the fat will start to “shoot” and splash the entire kitchen.

So, let's buy an excellent piece of lard, preferably with a layer of meat in the middle, and let's start cooking!

Wash the lard in water to remove contaminants and dry it with paper towels or napkins. Then we cut the skin from one edge and pull it, removing it completely from the piece of fat - 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 preparations for future .

Let's choose a thick-bottomed dish and pour the lard into it, but remember that the dish must be dry, without a single drop of water. Place the container on the stove, turning on the maximum heat, and fry the pieces for the first 5 minutes 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 how the pieces of lard become brown and decrease in size, and the fat becomes larger and larger. Just do not cover the container with a lid under any circumstances - condensation may form on it!

Once the cracklings have released all the fat, remove them with a slotted spoon onto 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, placing a strainer with two layers of gauze on it. Leave to cool to 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, you can lightly add salt to the surface of the lard. The product is stored for about 4-6 months in the refrigerator, but then it is recommended to melt the lard, otherwise it may begin to taste bitter.

As soon as you prepare the product, be sure to try it with bread and garlic - it’s very tasty! And you can either eat the resulting cracklings or freeze them in the freezer and add them to fried potatoes, porridge and other dishes. Now you know how to make lard at home!

Lard is used in making baked goods, roasts and other hot dishes. It can be purchased at retail outlets, or you can prepare it yourself. It’s not difficult to figure out how to render lard, but the result is significantly superior to store-bought counterparts: the product is snow-white, aromatic, and has a rich flavor palette.

You can prepare delicious lard at home if you know how to render lard.

To make good lard, you need to choose the right lard. Under no circumstances take breeding boar fat: the result will be far from expected. It is not necessary to purchase expensive raw materials, the main thing is to check that it is white and has a pleasant smell.

One little trick will help you evaluate the quality of a product on the market. Ask the seller to light the fat with a match. When burned, it should release the aroma of roasted meat.

How to render lard correctly: important subtleties

There are three main ways to prepare lard:

• The lard is cut into small pieces and placed in a deep frying pan. It is simmered until the water evaporates and the greaves are removed.
• Lard, cut into pieces, is boiled in a cauldron with a small addition of water. Cooking time – 2-3 hours. Lard is collected from above, making sure that there are no inclusions of water in it.
• The product is heated in a frying pan with the addition of spices for taste: marjoram, garlic, onion, etc.

Before preparing lard, you need to clean the lard from dirt, meat and blood inclusions. To do this, place the finished piece in slightly salted cool water overnight. For best results, change the water 2-3 times.

How to render lard into fat in a frying pan: algorithm

To prepare lard according to this recipe, take lard, a deep frying pan and cheesecloth or a sieve. Follow the algorithm:

• Cut the product into 1 cm pieces. To simplify the process, slightly freeze the lard beforehand.
• Place a heavy frying pan over low heat and place the pieces into it. Gradually increase the flame.
• Let the contents of the pan simmer until the cracklings begin to settle to the bottom.
• After turning off the gas, you can add a small amount of sugar to the fat: the product will be more aromatic.
• Let the lard cool slightly and strain through a sieve or cheesecloth. Store in a ceramic pot or glass jar.
• Place the strained fat in the freezer while it is warm. Freezing this quickly will prevent grain from forming.

Food and drink

Lard - what is it? Lard with garlic: recipe

Lard and lard - cult products of Ukrainians - have actually earned 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 “Lard - what is it?” anywhere in the world they will immediately tell you several ways to prepare it, and at the same time give you a couple of recipes for dishes in which it is used.

Where and how to apply

So, lard. What is it and what is it eaten with? This fat, rendered from lard, is used in the preparation of many national dishes. For example, in Transcarpathian and Hungarian cuisine, pork lard is indispensable for preparing such dishes as Hungarian goulash, halasle fish soup, and paprikash.

Lard is widely used as a cooking fat for baking a variety of bakery and confectionery products, as well as for frying instead of vegetable oil. In addition, they prepare a simple and satisfying snack by spreading lard seasoned with spices and salt on bread. The recipe with garlic and black pepper is especially popular among Russians and Ukrainians, because these spices give the lard a piquant taste that goes well with black Borodino bread.

Fried mushrooms or stewed meat prepared for canning are poured with lard, 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? Every housewife knew this before. The universal product was used not only for food, so its preparation was a vital necessity.

In ancient times, rendered pork fat was used to lubricate cart wheels, locks, traps, fish hooks, metal tools, etc. Lard was used for lighting, filling lamps with it, and scythes and sickles were heated in it. They lubricated the skin of the face and hands with it to protect against severe frosts. Even stoves were melted with its help. Very often, lard was used in folk medicine as part of ointments for external use, and they also practiced the preparation of medicinal mixtures used internally for certain diseases.

Sandwich lard with dill, cracklings, red pepper 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.

Video on the topic

Today this product can be purchased in almost any supermarket. However, zealous housewives assure that it is better to prepare homemade lard, that this is a task that does not require great culinary skill. For this purpose, it is not necessary to take expensive selected lard; you can use trimmings and internal pork fat.

The trimmings chosen for rendering should be cleaned of the skin and removed from the layer of meat, and then soaked in cold water for 8-12 hours to remove dirt and remaining blood. To make the lard easier to cut, it is recommended to freeze it slightly. To work, you will need a thick-walled container - a cauldron or pan, into which small pieces are placed in portions. The fire should be low so that the cracklings formed when rendering the lard do not burn. They can then be used for culinary purposes, for example, mixed with lard for sandwiches or used to prepare delicious buckwheat porridge with cracklings and onions.

The resulting liquid transparent fat is lard. The liquid must be filtered through double-layer gauze, poured into jars and left to cool. Cooking lard ends when the liquid fat turns into a white mass, the consistency of soft butter.

What are the benefits of lard?

Many of the beneficial elements contained in lard are lost when rendered, but three of them remain after cooking: selenium, vitamin E and choline (otherwise known as 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 the formation of blood clots. Despite its beneficial properties, lard should be consumed in moderation, as it contains a lot of harmful fats and cholesterol.

Some recipes using lard

1. Lard with garlic and onions for sandwiches. Strain the lard and put it back on the fire, then add finely chopped garlic and onion (choose the amount of vegetables to taste) and fry until golden brown. Add salt, marjoram, black pepper and stir. Remove from heat and let cool. This lard can be prepared with or without cracklings.

2. Danish lard. Fry a pound of fresh lard, cut into small cubes, until golden brown. Cut one onion into segments without peeling, place in a frying pan, add peppercorns, peeled garlic, bay leaf, then quickly fry. Remove spices and greaves from the pan, add peeled chopped onion and sliced ​​apple, fry until browned. Combine cracklings without spices with the apple-onion mixture, let cool slightly, puree in a blender, add salt and pepper to taste. Divide into jars and store in the refrigerator.

3. Shortbread cookies with lard. 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 other ingredients, knead the dough. Place it in the refrigerator for half an hour. Then roll out the dough, cut out the shapes and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 180 degrees until golden brown. The cookies turn out very tender, melting in your mouth.

4. Omelette "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 cracklings into the frying pan and put on fire. When the fat is released, pour in the egg mixture, add cheese, and cover with a lid. The omelette takes 5-8 minutes to cook.

Lard storage rules