overload of lard
i picked up my half hog the other day, got home, and realized that i was missing the hocks and the fat. i’m making bean soup out of the hocks, and, well, i’m going to attempt to render lard. from what i read, it shouldn’t be that difficult.
so, i called the processor and yeah yeah – stop by and we’ll get your missing fat to you. so i stopped by on my way home to pick up my pig fat and hocks, and on top of 3 huge tubes of ground fat and my two huge hocks, the guy gave me another 6 pounds of already rendered lard! OMG what am i going to do with all this lard…
well, liz has claimed some already. she’s always on the lookout for lard that isn’t partially hydrogenated (because that stuff causes cancer). but a person can only make so many pies. i did some digging online, and i will be making biscuits as well, and i’ll try frying my chicken in it from now on (apparently it’s the only way to fry any kind of chicken). you can use it to fry a lot of other stuff as well, so maybe i’ll try potatoes.
did some more digging, and apparently i can make SOAP. i’ll have to get my hands on some volatile lye, but it looks relatively easy. if i can handle making bath bombs, i can probably make some soap. woo! project!
(as an aside, i got my seed potatoes in the mail the other day and the tomatoes are ready for transplanting into small pots. this garden is hopefully going to be epic!!)