Here I am, rendering lard. Who’d have thought? I’ll post photos later this week when the whole process is done. I decided to do it on the stovetop in my 9.5 quart dutch oven. So far so good, the whole house is starting to smell good - vaguely like bacon.
Tonight the fog rolled in as darkness arrived. I beat Mike home, a rare occurrence, and took the dogs for a run through the back pasture. With the fog, and the neighbors’ lights, the dark was eerily light. They romped and frolicked and then we stopped by the chicken coop to say “hi” to the chooks (and steal their eggs :)).
As we got back to the house we heard the coyotes start up their yipping and calling. They’ll be loud tonight. We wandered by the garden, hard to tell in the dark but everything seemed okay.
Then back to the house to start the lard and figure out dinner. In the end we improvised local sloppy joes. We didn’t have everything we needed for Anita’s recipe, so I used a bit of this and a bit of that and in the end they were pretty good. The real star of dinner though was an impromptu apple/cabbage slaw. Yum. I highly, highly recommend it.
*****
Impromptu Apple Cabbage Slaw
- 1 Arkansas Black apple; peeled and sliced into matchsticks
- 1/4 green cabbage, shredded (it was about 2 pounds)
- 1 very small leek, sliced thinly
- Apple cider vinegar, maybe 3 Tbs
- a bit of salt and pepper
Mix it all up and let it rest 30 minutes or so. Enjoy. Mike liked his on his sloppy joe, I liked mine on the side.
*****
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Wow. I am completely impressed by the fact that you are rendering the lard down, and I certainly know a few dozen presumably very tasty applications for lard from my grandma. If I were an omnivore, I’d undoubtedly have found myself doing something very similar by now. However, I’ve got to say, this is one time I am glad to be a vegetarian.
I do want to know how it turns out, though.
I second the ‘wow on the lard rendering! After typing this I need to check on the chickens for eggs. I need two for the pumpkin cheesecake I’m making and we are completely out! Which is a first. I’m hoping they left us two because it feels like a sin now to ‘buy’ eggs.
Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!