Fresh Pork Lard (Manteca de Cerdo)

By LaLaCooks

From Rick Bayless: Okay, okay. I know Ive said it before, but no one seems to remember. Lard has half the cholesterol and half the saturated fat of butter. You wont drop dead if you eat a little of it every once in a while. And using it wont raise any questions about your moral fiber. In fact, its delicious, digestible and the perfect flavor component in many Mexican dishes. When buying pork lard, I suggest you look for fresh-rendered lard from a Mexican or other ethnic butcher, rather than the hydrogenated blond bricks they sell in most groceries. Or, go through the easy steps of making it yourself.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds of pork fat (scraps trimmed off roasts and chops are good here, but don’t use salt pork or fatty bacon—those flavors are very strong)

Preparation

Step 1

Cut the pork fat into 1-inch cubes, spread out into a deep baking dish and set it in an oven turned on to 275º. Stir it every once in a while as the fat renders into a clear liquid. When the baking dish contains only clear liquid and browned bits, about 2 hours, carefully remove the dish from the oven. Letting the cracklings, as the browned bits are called, color richly gives the lard a fuller, roastier flavor. Let the lard cool to lukewarm, then strain. (The little browned bits are wonderful sprinkled over a salad.) Store the lard in a tightly sealed jar in the refrigerator—or freezer, if you’re not going to use it all within a month.