Lard

Is there a more wonderful sounding word? The moment we got our pig back from slaughter, Bruce spent an entire day rendering this pot of pork fat. (All of it, by the way, leaf lard, taken from around the kidneys, the most delicate and prized kind of fat on the pig.)

Spent is a big word for his activity. He put the fat in a gigantic Staub pot, turned the flame as low as it would go, and left it alone for 7 hours. No joke.

At the end, he was left with a pot of rendered lard as well as the solids (these last must be thrown out). In fact, he strained the lard into jars so that any little bits and shards of those solids would not be left in the mix.

Why all this about lard? Because it's real food. About as real as it gets. Definitely curvy. And a huge step back from the tasteless, processed world. 

As you may know, there are two kinds of dietary fat: saturated and unsaturated, with this last category divided into monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Without getting too technical, saturated fats have uniform chemical bonds--but more importantly for the kitchen, they're solid at room temperature. Unsaturated fats have either one (MONOunsaturated) or more (POLYunsaturated) bonds out of synch with the others and so are liquid at room temperature--although many monounsaturated fats (like olive oil) will turn solid in the fridge.

In truth, all dietary fats have all three types of fatty acids in the mix. We identify a fat or oil by which one of the three make up the majority of what's in there. And it can be a very simple majority. A tablespoon of sesame oil has 1.9 grams of saturated fat, 5.4 grams of monounsaturated fat, and 5.6 grams of polyunsaturated fat--and many nutritionists label it a polyunsaturated fat.

Butter is a saturated fat--yes, there are saturated fats in a tablespoon (about 7.2 grams) but there are monounsaturated (3.3 grams) and even polyunsaturated fats (0.5 grams) in the mix.

Why is all this important? Because saturated fats have been blamed for a host of coronary problems--and so many of us have turned to monounsaturated fats like olive oil.

And thus, lard--which is a monounsaturated fat, full of great heart-healthy acids when rendered like this from grass-fed pigs. In a tablespoon of lard, there's 5.0 grams of saturated fat, 5.8 grams of monounsaturated fat, and 1.4 grams of polyunsaturated fat.

So is the stuff you find in the grocery store a monounsaturated fat? Absolutely not! Those blocks on the shelf are in fact a hydrogenated fat, with tons of trans fats in their mix. Manufacturers have taken a great fat (lard) and turned it into a dangerous one (trans fats) to keep it stable on the shelf without refrigeration.

What should you do if you want to start cooking with lard, the God's honest best base for braises and stews (after goose fat, of course)? Go find butchers (at their own shops or at a high-end market) and ask them for some. If they're cutting up pigs, they've got pig fat--and the good stuff, to boot. Put it in a pot and let it go over the lowest heat imaginable until all the fat has rendered out of the solids.

Strain it into a bowl and pour it into sealable jars, where you can keep it in the fridge for about 2 months and frozen for up to 1 year. And don't worry about not having it at the ready when it's squirreled away in the freezer. It'll shard up into chunks even when frozen. Your stews and braises will never be the same. Your friends and family, either.