The Bag Lady SurRenders

Are you as tired of hearing about the Bag Lady's lard rendering as she is of doing it?

She finally got the second batch of fat cut up and into the oven to render overnight. Here are a couple more pictures of what she's been dealing with. (She promises these will be the last pictures of raw pork fat - honest!)

This is leaf fat from one pig. Leaf fat is internal fat that is found around organs like the kidneys:

Leaf fat makes the best lard.

The Bag Lady cut it up and put it into her roaster, which went into the oven at a low temperature (200F) overnight.


In the morning (in a little while, in fact, just as soon as she's had coffee!), she will take it out, strain it and put it into loaf pans to solidify. Then she will cut it into one-pound blocks, wrap it, label it and freeze it.

She made pastry with some of her home-rendered lard and she is happy to report that it is absolutely delicious! Even the Rancher commented on it, and he is not a huge pastry fan (he is one of those crazy types who prefers the filling to the crust!) She was going to post a tutorial of making pastry, but thought she would save that for another day. Like, umm, tomorrow. 'Cause otherwise, she won't have much else to post about. 'Cause, umm, her life has been consumed with really boring stuff laundry and housework lately.

Harvest Completed

The Bag Lady has had a busy few days. She spoke to her mother-in-law on the phone the other day, and her MIL asked how much lard she ended up with. When the Bag Lady told her that she got a little over a pound, she told the Bag Lady that once she tasted pastry made with home-made lard, she would wish she had more.

From her lips to God's ear. A couple hours later, the phone rang. It was the fellow who had supplied the pork, telling her that he had saved her the leaf fat from not one but TWO pigs! The Bag Lady was pleased to hear that. (Especially after she Googled "leaf fat" to discover that it is the fat surrounding the internal organs, and is the preferred rendering fat.)

The Bag Lady rendered one batch of lard over the weekend, and still has another batch to do. She is now swimming in lard! She will have a life-time supply. Pies, tarts, quiche, pigs-in-a-blanket. Apple pie, cherry pie, pumpkin pie, banana cream pie. Meat pie, tourtierre, chicken pot pie. OY!

The Rancher dug the potatoes on the weekend, too. And the Bag Lady dug the rutabagas. So the harvest is complete. There are potatoes for the winter, and enough rutabagas to feed a small nation.

The Bag Lady also used some of the suggestions y'all came up with and made a pot of beans using some of the cracklins. She also used some pork hocks, which she had never tried before. The beans were excellent. THEN she found a recipe on the internet for Cracklin Corn Bread, and made that, too! It was delicious.

The Bag Lady needs a new challenge. Any suggestions for what she should do now?

Happy Friday!

The Bag Lady doesn't really have much to post about today. She's attending a course today (it started yesterday) and hasn't had time to think about much else.

She just wanted to stop in and wish everyone a good weekend!

Luv Me Render?

As promised, here are some pictures of the Bag Lady's attempts at rendering pork fat into lard.
She researched the matter extensively (*ahem* - she asked her sister-in-law's mom how to do it) and went about it in a very scientific manner.

First, she chopped the pork fat into small pieces:


And placed them in a deep, heavy pot:

She cooked them over a low heat for awhile (until she got bored with that - then she put them in the oven at 200F)


After a time (during which she went to town, ran some errands, cleaned her house and did a multitude of other things) she took them out of the oven and put them back on the burner:


She strained off the liquid fat, then returned the remaining fat to the burner on medium heat. She did this a couple of times.


And she was rewarded with this (in case it's difficult to tell from the picture, this is a foil loaf pan, lined with parchment paper into which she poured the liquid fat)


She carefully placed her loaf pan into the fridge and in the morning, she had lard:


In all, she cooked the pork fat for roughly 10 or 11 hours, and ended up with 22 ounces (600 gr) of pure white lard. Oh, and a little pot of this:


Which would, theoretically, be cracklin's, if it had any rind on it. As it is, she isn't sure it's worth doing anything with. Anyone have any suggestions?

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

WARNING: This post contains pictures that may not be suitable for all viewers.

But not this - this is just what the Bag Lady saw the other day when she got to the highway. Yes, that IS a snowplow.




The Bag Lady and the Rancher have been busy with a variety of things, not least of which is the laying in of supplies for the winter ahead. (Sounds industrious, doesn't it?)

Actually, they decided to supplement their meat supply with some pork, so the Rancher contacted a friend of his who raises pigs, and arranged to buy a pig from him. The friend agreed to sell him a pig on the understanding that the Rancher and the Bag Lady would assist in the butchering of said pig! The Rancher and the Bag Lady (especially the Bag Lady) have never really been involved in butchering animals, so it was with some trepidation that they approached the task. They needn't have worried, because there were several people there who were much more experienced and willing to teach.

The Rancher did some trimming, and the Bag Lady did some wrapping (and actually spent most of her time trying to improve her taping techniques and penmanship.... it is not easy to write legibly on butcher paper wrapped around an uneven surface!)

The Bag Lady managed to take a few pictures of the process. If you are squeamish, or have a weak stomach................... fear not! The Bag Lady did not take any pictures of anything that you wouldn't see in your local grocery store! Well, except that some of the pieces are much larger than you would see in the grocery store....

Here is half a pig being carried into the butcher shop:
(yes, that is snow on the ground)


The first cuts are made by hand:

And the fat is trimmed with a very sharp knife:

Smaller pieces are cut with an electric meat saw:

Cutting roasts:



Wrapping pork chops:


The Bag Lady also brought some of the fat home and is rendering it into lard for use in pie crusts. When she mentioned that fact to a friend of hers, her friend immediately made a comment regarding the fact that lard is supposed to be bad for you. In actual fact, there is evidence to the contrary. The Bag Lady found an interesting article about the comparison between animal fat and vegetable fat, and the misconceptions about animal fats. If anyone is interested in learning more about the connections between fats and heart disease, here is an interesting article.

The Bag Lady is still in the process of rendering the fat into lard (it takes a really long time!), and will hopefully have pictures to post for you later, if you are interested. If you are interested in seeing the rendering process, please let the Bag Lady know in the comment section!

She apologizes to anyone who may have been offended by the pictures of butchering contained in this post, but for those of us who eat meat, this is all part of life.

Blogiversary

Holy moly, Bag Lady's Blather is two today!

It's been so much fun, and the time has gone by so fast, it's hard to believe it's been two years.

The Bag Lady has learned an awful lot, and has met so many nice people through blogging, she is very glad she started on this journey!

Her Thanksgiving weekend was very nice, even though she had to work part of the time. The weather was the only bad part about the weekend - it was cold! There is snow on the ground and it feels like December rather than October! According to the weather forecasters, it is supposed to warm up by the end of the week, and the Bag Lady really hopes they are right. It is much too early to be this cold. But she had two lovely Thanksgiving dinners and the wonderful company made up for the cold weather.

How was your weekend?

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Bag Lady had yesterday off from both her jobs, and decided to take a day off from blogging, too! She needed some time to get caught up on all her duties at home - laundry, bill-paying, organizing her new cabinets in her back porch. She didn't get everything done (is housework ever really finished?) but she did make some progress.

The weather was another factor in her decision to get some much-needed work done inside her house. It snowed all day yesterday! The temperature never rose above freezing, and it was depressing to look outside. It's much too early for it to be this cold - the normal average temperature here for this time of year is around +11C. Yesterday's high temperature was only -3C. And the cold snap is expected to continue for the next five days. Sigh. She really hopes that it does warm up before winter actually sets in - she still has to dig the potatoes and turnips in her garden!

The Bag Lady is looking forward to the Thanksgiving weekend, though. She does have to work the evening shift tonight, then the day shift Saturday and Sunday, but has invitations for two different Thanksgiving meals - one on Sunday and another on Monday! She will resemble a stuffed turkey herself after eating two meals prepared by two such fabulous cooks.

The weather is also forcing the Rancher to think seriously about bringing the cows home. If it remains this cold and the water supply where they are freezes, the cows will start wandering, looking for water. So there may also be cattle chasing and moving in the Bag Lady's immediate future!

She hopes all her Canadian blog-buddies have great Thanksgiving weekends, and everyone else has a great regular weekend!