Lard. Its making a comeback. Today's how-to comes in the form of a guest post from my sweet friend, Andi. I first met Andi about 8 years ago when she was really young and single, with all the time in the world to study Chinese and experience China. Now she's back out here with a family, living in a rather out of the way place, and figuring out how to cook like she wants to cook! I loved when she offered to do a guest post about something she wanted bad enough to figure out how to make!
My name is Andi and I first moved to China around the time that SB did. However, I met my husband while studying abroad and went back to the States to get married. We were blessed with two great kids and just came back about a year ago now. Though I’m not really a newbie to this country, I am in the way of cooking and providing good meals for my family from scratch – which makes Market2Meal just another reason I love Sara Beth. That being said, I’m honored to share a “newbie” recipe for anyone else learning how to make life overseas yummy!
Growing up, my grandparents used bacon and bacon grease to flavor green beans, fry eggs, etc. I also love using it to make tortillas (saves on shipping Crisco for sure – here’s the recipe I use ). The problem I was having is that I get my sausage made lean enough that it doesn’t have a ton of extra grease to save, and, as for bacon, not in my city! So, what did I do to have extra lard in my fridge to make my beloved tortillas?! I bought fat! Yes, I did. The stuff we usually trim off our meat and think is gross. I had my meat lady cut up a half-kilo of fat. I’ve done this twice now and sliced (pian4) works a bit better (gives you more grease) than cubed (qie).
Place all your sliced fat into a skillet and cook the way that you would bacon/sausage. Be careful though because there will be much more grease popping than you are probably used to.
Once your fat is translucent and your pan is full of grease turn your burner off and let sit for just a minute till the grease is not splattering.
Pour grease in to a clean jar. I just use a leftover jelly jar or honey jar.
Let grease cool a bit then put into your fridge and now you have lard ready to use for cooking veggies southern-style or for your fave tortilla recipes that call for lard or Crisco.
Enjoy the possibilities! At least, try it in your tortillas or a savory pie crust!
My name is Andi and I first moved to China around the time that SB did. However, I met my husband while studying abroad and went back to the States to get married. We were blessed with two great kids and just came back about a year ago now. Though I’m not really a newbie to this country, I am in the way of cooking and providing good meals for my family from scratch – which makes Market2Meal just another reason I love Sara Beth. That being said, I’m honored to share a “newbie” recipe for anyone else learning how to make life overseas yummy!
Let grease cool a bit then put into your fridge and now you have lard ready to use for cooking veggies southern-style or for your fave tortilla recipes that call for lard or Crisco.
Too easy! I live with access to good butter and lard options (though bacon is hard in a land overflowing with Halal butcher shops...), but the simplicity of this even has me excited to try it. Well done! Recipe transferred successfully to BiH!
ReplyDeletelove this! what a fabulous idea!
ReplyDeleteThis is so awesome! How long would you say this is good for?
ReplyDeleteAmanda, I have never had it go bad. I make that many tortillas I guess! ha. I usually go through a medium jar in a month or so. It should be good at least that long if kept in the fridge or a cold, outdoor kitchen. ;) Hope that helps!
ReplyDeleteandi
At our market they sell the leaf fat. When hanging on a hook it looks like a huge blob of white fat with very little red in it. (You can google leaf fat for a picture.) I do basically the same you do except render it more slowly in the crock pot (I have one and it's easier for me with a baby to keep an eye on.) You can use the leaf fat to bake with - like cookies and sweet pies. I usually drain it in stages because I make a lot at a time to freeze. The first couple drains come out very white and tasteless and the last one is closer to bacon/sausage grease. I save that for savory dishes.
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