Leaf (Pork) Lard

Did you make a squishy face when you read the title of post? Or were you one of those people who went, “ooo, pork fat…..”?

This is homemade leaf lard. Leaf lard is the highest grade of lard made from the the visceral fat from around the kidneys and loin of the pig, which is a soft fat rather than the harder fatback. It doesn’t really taste like pork or have any kind of meaty flavor, although it does smell delicious. It is a great neutral-flavored cooking fat with a high smoking point and supposedly makes the best tasting pie crust. I got 1 pound of kidney fat that came from farm-raised, pasture pig(s). I was going to buy more but somehow screwed up my order and only ended up getting 1 pound.

I used a method that adds water with the fat to help keep the temp down. It took a long time since I didn’t want to hurry the process. Here’s the lard after 3 hours on the stove top.

Finally, I ended up with a little over 2 cups (1 pint) worth of beautiful liquid gold. I can’t remember how long the total time was since I was busy doing other things while the fat was rendering down.

After cooling down, you get this beautiful creamy white lard.

It’s amazing how the color changes from the golden color to white.

Lard needs to be refrigerated but will keep for a long time. So far I’ve only used it to make some over-easy eggs. I can’t wait to make my first lard pie crust with this. Just have to find some time to do it.