MetaChat - In preparing the crockpot this morning,

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21 October 2008

In preparing the crockpot this morning, I had to cut off a lot of fat from my cuts of pork shoulder.→[More:]

It seems like such a waste to toss it, but I don't want to add it to my frozen bag of chicken pieces awaiting chicken stock. It's still before 6.30, and the only quick recipe I can find online is some kind of fat and apple spread for bread. Which is... weird.

So what should I do with all this fat? I have somewhere between a half and a full pound of it.

(MeCha is blocked at work, which makes me 1,000 kinds of sad. But I can check back at lunch. In exchange I give you a sad photo of Olive in heat.)

post by: rhapsodie at: 09:28 | 20 comments

Some people put pork fat in their spaghetti sauce.

posted by LoriFLA 21 October | 09:33

My mother used to take it back to the butcher for a refund.

posted by StickyCarpet 21 October | 09:34

Render it, then use it to make homemade doughnuts. *drool*

posted by Melismata 21 October | 09:37

Render it and use when you make yorkshire pudding.

posted by Wolfdog 21 October | 10:10

Rub it on your face to prevent wind-burn while seal-hunting.

posted by BitterOldPunk 21 October | 10:10

Sometimes you people scare me.

posted by rainbaby 21 October | 10:18

Could you use it like suet in a bird feeder?

posted by DarkForest 21 October | 10:38

Yes, the pork fat / apple spread sounds gross, but it's yummy, if a little greasier than most bread spreads. Fat carries flavor, you know!

Personally, I would store just store the fat and just use it to flavor soups, beans, to fry onions, you know, in place of oil or butter in cooking where a porkier flavor would be welcome.

posted by crush-onastick 21 October | 11:22

Yeah, I would use it as a flavoring additive to soups, beans, onions etc. Freeze it though, to make it easier to cut through and easier to measure.

posted by Luminous Phenomena 21 October | 11:31

I chop up extra fat into tiny cubes and put it out for the birds.

posted by essexjan 21 October | 11:37

I concur with the save-it-for-soup crowd. I've done this before with fat from bacon from a friend's farm (its really really fatty, even for bacon), and it works very well. I'd suggest freezing it in manageable chunks, then cut off a hunk as needed. Dice & heat on low to render the fat (I think you'll end up with some crispy brown bits as well this way), then saute onions, etc, etc, etc.

posted by elizard 21 October | 11:41

The new yuppie supermarket in town sells duck fat. Little white balls in a clear plastic container.

Clearly the end times are upon us.

posted by danf 21 October | 11:47

Mmmmm pork fat. Heat it slowly in a skillet until it melts, pour though cheesecloth into heatproof container, and keep in fridge. It will last forever. Use it in place of butter; the lighest, flakiest biscuits and piecrusts are made with lard.

posted by Triode 21 October | 11:50

Duck fat! Man, even if the meal itself wasn't delicious, it's worth roasting a duck or two just for some of that lovely, lovely fat.

(Also, can I change my vote to 'What Triode said'?)

posted by elizard 21 October | 11:55

I was trying to avoid rendering it, but I think I'm going to. The idea of fresh lard is too appealing. Doughnuts? Biscuits? Yes please.

posted by rhapsodie 21 October | 14:49

Duck fat!

Only thing better is goose fat, but that's harder to come by. Since I have at least 2 quarts of clean duck fat, most frozen, 1 cup thawed, pork fat just doesn't cut it. Unless it's some kind of special pork fat, I guess. Is there such a thing as pork-thigh confit?

posted by StickyCarpet 21 October | 15:35

fresh lard

If I'm not mistaken, true lard only comes from inside the beast's torso, in the vicinity of the kidneys.

posted by StickyCarpet 21 October | 15:37

I think I'll take my canola oil and EVOO and go away now.

posted by danf 21 October | 16:00

Sticky, that's called Leaf Lard, and is considered the best for baking because it has the least detectable pork flavor, which for things like fruit pie crusts is desireable. But so long as it's from inside a pig somewhere, it's lard.

It's a bit like maple syrup - the higher the grade, the less distinct the flavor. (I get an disproportionate thrill out of culinary standards which so clearly pre-date the Food-Industrial Complex.)

posted by Triode 21 October | 20:29

This thread just tickles me. My Grandmother would be laughing her ass off right now. She told me whenever they wanted lard when she was a teenager, they killed a pig.

Whenever I've had a surplus of fat, I've saved it for the tamales. MMMMMMMMMMMMM.

posted by lysdexic 21 October | 22:03

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