@Irishk,
This is where I riffed from - (I used less to start with, basically a store package, and I had seen in some other place that people use crockpots)
Nature's Harmony Farm -
http://www.naturesharmonyfarm.com/
The website is closed until June 20, so I cut and pasted from my old link:
Making Lard
Sunday, August 9, 2009 at 03:12PM
I've learned a bit about cooking with lard and I am using it more and more often. We finally ran out of the last jar of lard that I had made, so it was time to make some more. Here's what I did:
I started with a few pounds of fatback. This is just like what it sounds...a big chunk of fat. Our pigs are known for the fantastically thick layer of fat that they put on. In the wild, this helps them to deal with different types of weather as well as storing reserves for time of food shortage. This fatback still has the skin on one side, which can pose a slight challenge. I cut the fat into 1 inch cubes to help it render down better. Sounds like no big deal, but because we don't castrate our boars, they develop a very tough skin. (Our processor isn't too pleased about this as it makes their job much harder!) I never really believed him when he told us this, but he explained that mature, intact boars develop such tough skin that they sometimes can't even cut it. This is to help them defend themselves against the inevitable boar battles and razor sharp tusks. Well, even after sawing away with many different types of knives, I found that it worked best to score the fat side into cubes, then finish the job by cutting the skin with kitchen shears. By the time I was done my hands hurt!
Oss0 here - a comment on the thread said to just slice the whole skin part off...
I placed these cubes in a single layer on a broiler tray and put them in the oven at 210 degrees. Another good way to do this is to put the cubes in a stainless steel colander and sit the colander inside a roasting pan. Then just leave this all in the oven for a day or two to let the fat melt. The melted fat or lard will collect in the bottom pan and all you have to do is pour it off every few hours.
So I started this at about 3:30 in the afternoon. Around 6 pm I poured off the first bit of lard into a pint jar. Then again at 8 pm and 10 pm. By this time I had 3 1/2 pint jars full, but the fat wasn't looking completely dried out or baked so I turned the oven off until the morning. The next day, I put the oven back on and continued to cook the fat, pouring off the lard every 3-4 hours. By the time the evening came, I had 5 pints of lard and at the last pour there just wasn't much accumulated in the pans, so I had gotten about all I could get.
When each jar gets filled, I put the lid on and leave it on the counter to cool. Once cooled, I put it in the freezer for long term storage. It's neat to see the lard turn from golden colored hot oil to a solid white right before your eyes. I leave the jar that I plan to use soon on the counter and have never had any trouble, but many people recommend keeping this in the fridge. The remaining chunks of fat and skin on the broiler tray become dog treats for the next few days.
This is just one way to make lard. I find that it is very easy and allows me to work outside while it's cooking. I only have to come in every few hours to tend to it. Other ways, such as cooking the fat on the stove may produce more lard out of the fat and will leave you with deep fried cracklings to eat later on, but it also leaves you with a splattered mess over the kitchen! This way works well for me.
The jar of creamy white solid lard comes in handy for many types of cooking. I sauté veggies in it, melt some in the pan before cooking eggs, and of course you use this to make biscuits! You can pretty much replace any oil or shortening in any recipe with lard, but it may impart a slight pork flavor to the dish. As long as you keep the oven very low while rendering the lard, then it shouldn't have much of a taste to it. Of course, if you like that pork flavor then render at a higher temperature. The lard will come out brown rather than white and will taste great!
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