rendering

Another food post.  I was able to get hog fat from one of our local meat shops. (free!!) Erika did some reading about lard vs. shortening and agreed to join in on this particular baby step of better nutrition with me.  We were supposed to cut the strips into 1/2 inch chunks, we did 1 inch instead...which I'm sure is why we ended up spending about three hours waiting for the fat to melt.  It really wasn't a tedious process and didn't need to be closely watched.  We both decided that next time it could easily be done in each of our kitchens and not be a major disruption to the day.
I ordered 6 pounds of fat. which filled the stock pot (before we cut it up into chunks.)

We added about a cup of water, and it simmered for three hours. There were lots of "cracklings" that my dogs are enjoying as bonus with their dog food.

This is my half, you can see the color it will be as it cools, in the little jar.

This is the total of our afternoon's work. We'll see how long it takes us to go through it and that will help us determine how much to ask for next time!

This is the final product. I made my first pie crust last night with it. I really liked the consistency of the dough.  We haven't eaten it yet. Tonight it is the base of Caiden's chocolate birthday pie. It looked to be very flaky after baking, so I have high hopes!  I also used it on potatoes and Kevin said the skins were OUTSTANDING!
If you are curious about why I am interested in changing to lard for some of our baking, there is a short summary as well as nice directions for rending here: Nourished Kitchen