Hatch green chilli

[Jimi]

No pheasant here in pork country. Just pig parts.

[Decolb]

Jimi Gotta make pheasant taste good somehow

[Jonathon]

Decolb I used 25% pork fat, a 50/50 split with wild game and poirk butts is fine for stronger tasting game but pheasant is pretty light tasting so I like to use just pork fat when I can. it is super inexpensive ($1 a lb at a local butcher), nice and white colored, little taste and most importantly nice and creamy!

[beekeeper84]

Jonathon you should try lard in place of just fat I have and it made some awsome chicken brats.

[Jonathon]

beekeeper84 How are you rendering it or are you buying it as lard already?

[Jimi]

Jonathon
Re rendering vs. purchase: Here in NC, hog raising country, rendered lard of seemingly good quality is readily available. It just occurred to me however, to question the difference of lard from a commercially raised animal vs. a “home grown” beast. Anyone have an answer?

[Jonathon]

Jimi I’d imagine that it would depend mostly on the diet and the processing of the lard. I think Departing Contestant raised hogs when he was growing up, maybe he could give his opinion here?

[beekeeper84]

Jonathon low and slow in a big pot. We raise Our own pigs here so I can’t speak much for what’s avaliable commercially. The wife makes soap out of half of it so I make around 4 or 5 gallons at a time. I don’t imagine there’s alot of difference between commercial and home grown there could be a quality difference in how it’s processed though as most commercially avaliable products are dependent on speed and I’m not lol. It takes me around 5-8 hours to render lard.
Steps I use not very specific but it’s the way that works for me.

1. Grind the inner leaf fat with a breaker plate.
2. Add enough to fill whatever pot your using.
3. Low and slow is the key if you go to high it will make it taste “porky”. I never heat it past low on my stove that’s the setting no idea what temp that actually is.
4. Scoop out liquid lard and put into jars. The leftover bits will sink to the bottom most of the time.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 until your out of inner leaf fat.

[Jimi]

That is similar to the way I have seen it done in New Mexico at a Matanza. There, of course, they cooked the chicaronés in it before putting it into jars.

[Departing Contestant]

Jimi the main difference is in the label. most commercially produced has additives to keep it shelf stable. the lard we had must be refrigerated, As with anything commercially produced I have to believe they use every ounce of fat from every inch of the pig. We only used good clean leaf lard. We always had lard and bacon fat in the fridge. These are the best things on God’s green earth to cook with. Especially if you are baking - Lard makes the best pastry. there you go

[beekeeper84]

Departing Contestant I agree lard biscuits,lard pie crust I didn’t get fat on accident lol.