Lard Rendering Marathon – Crockpot, Stovetop, Oven

I am one of the lucky ones. I have a source of pig fat to make my own lard. My brother-in-law raises pigs for butcher and I buy one every year. Now that I’ve learned to render lard, I have a use for the fat I pay for essentially, but never get.

It may sound gross, but the end product is so worth it. Home-rendered lard is not hydrogenated like the store bought tub of lard or bottles of oils, so it is healthy for you. Ever used leftover bacon grease? That’s basically rendered lard, though you started with smoked fat and it was cooked at a higher temperature.

Rendering your own fat will give you 3 different foods — gorgeous white baking lard, savory frying lard, and cracklins (to use in cornbread, biscuits, bread, soup, salad topping or just salted and eaten as a snack).

I’ve never had cracklins before in my life, so I’m on another journey! I’ve looked at many sites, many pictures, so I hope I get this right!

I started with almost 38 pounds of pig fat, so I decided to do all 3 processes I’ve read about — Crockpot, Stovetop, Oven — to see which I liked the best. The first steps and the last steps are the same, just the cooking methods are different. I also used the dry method with each of these — using no water. I’ve rendered before using both dry and wet methods, but I can’t tell the difference between them when I’m cooking, so I took the shorter of the two methods.

The fat came from the processor in slabs packed in a bag, frozen. I let it thaw so the pieces would break apart. It’s easiest to work with cold fat or even frozen. If you’re working with a large amount, keep it in the fridge. I sliced it into manageable pieces.

The smaller the chunks, the faster it will render. I put mine through the grinder, however you can just cut it into small pieces.

Now there’s a bowl full of fat — about 8 pounds!

Stove-top Method

– Total time, 2 hours

I used my cast iron dutch ovens — gives them a great seasoning while cooking the fat.

Fill the pan with fat (about 4 pounds of fat fit into each one of mine) and turn the burner on low. Watch it carefully the first few minutes until the fat starts to melt. This is where it can stick if it’s going to. Once the fat starts melting, cooking on low is no problem.

This is after 12 minutes of cooking — it’s starting to look like mush. I just give it a stir once in while.

After about 1 1/2 hours, the cracklins are white and sunk and ready to be strained (directions at the bottom) the first time for the white, baking lard.

Put the cracklins back into the pan and continue cooking.

It took mine about 1/2 an hour to finish cooking the cracklins. Strain (directions at the bottom), keeping the savory lard in a separate jar from the baking lard.

Crockpot Method

– Total time, 5 1/2 hours

Fill the Crockpot with ground fat (my 6 quart Crockpot holds 8 pounds).

I turned my Crockpot on “high”, left the cover on until it started to melt, then I took the cover off. Some say to use “low”, but the way I figure, the 300 degree oven or the stove-top method gets as hot as “high” on the Crockpot. So “high” it was!

As it starts melting, stir it around. This is at 1 1/2 hours of cooking.

After 3 1/2 hours of cooking. At this point — the cracklins are white and sunk to the bottom — I strained (directions at the bottom) for the first time, for the white baking lard.

Put the cracklins back into the Crockpot and continue to cook. This will leave you with savory (cooking, deep frying) lard. I left this cook for another 2 hours, strained (directions at the bottom) again, and kept the cracklins.

Oven Method

– Total time, 2 hours 15 minutes

This is a 10 x 16 x 2 1/2″ baking pan. I put almost 7 pounds of fat into this one. Be careful! I didn’t think about the fat melting and having to move the pan in the oven. It worked, but I would have been more comfortable with a little less. I’m cooking this in a 300 degree oven.

After about 1/2 an hour — it sort of reminds me of stuffing cooking in fat. Stir it up, breaking up any big chunks that might be in there.

After 1 hour and 45 minutes – it’s time to strain (directions at the bottom) the first time, saving the white baking lard.

Put the pan back into the oven to continue cooking the cracklins for about 1/2 an hour.

Strain (directions at the bottom) the savory lard, keeping the cracklins.

After 1 Crockpot full, 2 dutch ovens on the stove, and 1 baking pan in the oven, I still had a little over 16 pounds of fat to render — 7 hours later! Whew!!! At this point, I had decided I liked the oven method the best. It was quick, out of the way, was warming the house up, and I just liked the way the cracklins looked and cooked up.

So! Look at the pan I had out in the garage taking up space that I’ve never known what to do with before!

It fits right into my oven and could hold 20 pounds of fat at a time! AND it only took 3 hours to do this entire pan, from start to putting the cracklins away!

Straining

I tried a couple different ways to strain.

The first one — a coffee strainer with coffee filter.

This fits right onto a wide mouth jar.

But, that wasn’t fast enough for me with all of the lard I had rendering around the kitchen! I got out a colander (actually this is an old deep fryer basket), lined it with layers of cheesecloth (this is the cheap, hardware store type, not actual cheesecloth), and fitted it on my pour batter bowl. This kept the cracklins in, and let the oil out fast.

When you’re done straining, cool the liquid lard. The faster it’s cooled, the creamier texture you will have. I stuck it in the freezer as my 1/2 gallon jars were filled. On a normal day of rendering, I would use quart jars.

Store the lard in the refrigerator for 6 months, or in the freezer for up to two years.

This was a 10 hour day! Look at the 27 pounds of lard I got from my Lard Rendering Marathon!

And the 8 pounds of cracklins!

Normally, I do one pan full of fat at a time. But, I took a full day and processed all the lard I will need for a year!

Tallow, or rendered beef fat, is done the same way. I use tallow for making homemade frenchfries — it’s what McD’s used to use!

Here's the full recipe and printable!

Recipe: Home Rendered Lard

Prep Time: Depending on quantity  |  Cook Time: Depending on method  |  Yield: Depending on quantity

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Ingredients

• • pig fat, ground or cut into chunks

Preparation Instructions

• Stove-top Method: Total time, 2 hours
  1. Fill the pan with fat and turn the burner on low.  Watch it carefully the first few minutes until the fat starts to melt.  This is where it can stick if it's going to.  Once the fat starts melting, cooking on low is no problem.
  2. After about 1 1/2 hours, the cracklins are white and sunk and ready to be strained the first time for the white, baking lard.
  3. Put the cracklins back into the pan and continue cooking.
  4. After about another 1/2 hour of cooking, strain, keeping the savory lard in a separate jar from the baking lard.
  Crockpot Method: Total time, 5 1/2 hours
  1. Fill the Crockpot with ground fat (my 6 quart Crockpot holds 8 pounds).
  2. I turned my Crockpot on "high", left the cover on until it started to melt, then I took the cover off.
  3. After about 3 1/2 hours of cooking,  the cracklins are white and sunk to the bottom.  Strain for the first time for the white baking lard.
  4. Put the cracklins back into the Crockpot and continue to cook.  This will leave you with savory (cooking, deep frying) lard.  Cook for approximately another 2 hours, strain again, and kept the cracklins.
  Oven Method: Total time, 2 hours 15 minutes
  1. Fill baking pan 1/2 way with ground fat.
  2. Place into a 300 degree oven.
  3. As it's baking, stir it up every 15 minutes or so, breaking up any big chunks that might be in there.
  4. After about 1 hour and 45 minutes, strain the first time, saving the white baking lard.
  5. Put the pan back into the oven to continue cooking the cracklins for about 1/2 an hour.
  6. Strain the savory lard, keeping the cracklins.

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