Two cuts of heritage pork fat for rendering, cooking, baking, and charcuterie. Pick your variety below.
Back Fat. The hard fat from along the spine. The traditional choice for charcuterie, lardo, and grinding into sausage. Renders to a clean cooking fat with savory pork flavor — great for searing, frying, and roasting vegetables.
Leaf Lard. The soft visceral fat from around the kidneys. The gold standard for pastry: flaky pie crusts, biscuits, and any baking where you want pure, neutral-tasting fat that performs better than butter. The smaller yield and labor to separate it is why it costs more than back fat.
Cut into small cubes (or grind), cook low and slow in a heavy pot over the lowest heat with a splash of water. Strain through cheesecloth. Store in glass jars in the fridge (3 months) or freezer (a year). A pound of fat yields roughly 10-12 oz of rendered lard.
Render first, then use the rendered lard in place of butter, shortening, or vegetable oil.
Freezer up to 6 months unrendered. After rendering, fridge 3 months or freezer 1 year.