How to Render Lard In A Crock Pot

If you are searching for how to render lard, you are definitely committed to cooking from scratch. Cooking from scratch is a domino effect for sure. It’s a mind set change.

One minute you are in the coffee drive thru second guessing all your life choices thinking “why am I wasting my time and money on something so overpriced and I have no idea what’s in it to begin with”, then it hits you “I wonder if I can make this myself”.

I’m telling you that’s where it starts. We start questioning all we’ve been told about food as well as everything else and then before you know it we are buying meat from farmers and trying to figure out what to do with all the fat.

Which if you were like me, you are plenty old enough to know better as you are staring at the meat you just picked up from the processors, thinking what’s this bag of weird pink stuff and wondering why they are even giving it back to you.

You’ve made a huge effort and mind set change to be searching for how to render lard and I’m so glad you’re here!

So let’s do this together, it’s super easy. The toughest part is the patience it requires. That’s a hard one for me, but I did it and I know you can too.

Where To Start.

There are lots of ways to render lard. If you happen to have beef and are trying to render the tallow, it’s the same process. Rendering is simply melting down the fat and separating the impurities.

The way I choose to render our lard is by putting it all in the crock pot. This makes it completely hands off and I can go about my day.

If your lard is frozen, pull it out of the freezer and let it thaw just a bit. It will make it easier to cut up into pieces. If you don’t have a lot of lard you could probably throw it all in your crock pot but cutting it up helps it to melt more evenly.

Every processing facility is different, so your lard may be packaged differently. Ours usually gives us large packs of lard. The batch I did here was about five pounds.

When you get the lard cut up just throw it in your crock pot and cook on low for at least eight hours.

Stir occasionally but it really doesn’t need very much attention at all.

I was just barely able to get all mine to fit. I actually let it melt some and then added the last little bit. This was my last batch of lard to render so I was very anxious to get it done.

Once it melts and cooks down some, this is what it should look like.

How Many Times Should You Render The Lard?

How many times to render the lard is really up to you. A lot of people will render at least twice.

Now, after it has cooked for eight hours you could stop there, let it cool slightly and pour into your jars and be done. The reason I didn’t stop but choose to render two more times is because I was trying to get rid of as much impurities as I could. I wanted to get it as clean as I could so I could possibly bake with this lard.

The last few times I rendered lard, it works well for cooking and frying but the pork smell was very strong and that batch was not good when I tried substituting it for oil in some cupcakes I baked.

I’m hopeful this batch will be better. It’s all still usable though.

After the first rendering I let my lard cool in the crock pot, then I put it all in the refrigerator over night. The next day I cooked it on low for another eight hours.

I did the whole cooling overnight in the fridge again and cooked it on low for eight hours another day.

After that I decided to go ahead and call that good enough.

Let the lard cool so that it is not scalding but you don’t want to to solidify. You want it to be pourable so you can pour the lard into a mason jar with a lid.

It’s important to strain the lard here with a mesh strainer. I also used a thin towel to catch the impurities and crackling.

The crackling I gave to our dog. He was very thankful. All of that stuff is what you are trying to get out of the lard.

How To Store Your Newly Rendered Lard.

Store the lard in a glass mason jar with a lid. Be sure to let the lard harden before putting on the lid. If you put the lid on while it’s still liquid, moisture will settle on the top of your lard. I usually let mine stay on the counter overnight cooling and then I’ll put on the lids the next day.

It will keep in your pantry for four to six months.

It will keep in the refrigerator for up to a year.

It will keep in the freezer for years. So far I’ve not had any problems with freezing my mason jars.

When I’m ready to use the lard, I always keep that jar in the refrigerator.

How To Cook With Lard.

Cooking with lard is easy. Frying with lard is my go to for now. Fried potatoes especially get a beautiful brown crispy crust. Just scoop out enough lard to melt down in a pan where you have enough for frying anything from potatoes to chicken.

Lard does have a high smoke point.

Basiclaly, anything you would use oil for, you could you use your newly rendered lard saving yourself some money.

I would be careful though with baking. As I mentioned, I tried using lard to make cupcakes I could still taste that pork greasiness from the lard.

The benefit from all this is that you’ve learned a new skill and saved some dough!