Guest guest Posted March 12, 2005 Report Share Posted March 12, 2005 >>> Saw where somebody had posted about keeping lard in the freezer. Why? We just keep a 5 gallon bucket in the kitchen and dip into it. The bucket we have going now was rendered sometime at the end of 2003 and seems fine. Is there something I need to know? Belinda >>>>>> It was me. I keep the suet in the freezer because it got moldy after only a couple months. A black and green mold. I had it in a plastic bag. It even got moldy when I tried keeping it in the refrigerator. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? It was just my experience... ~Robin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 12, 2005 Report Share Posted March 12, 2005 >It was me. I keep the suet in the freezer because it got moldy after only a >couple months. A black and green mold. I had it in a plastic bag. It even >got moldy when I tried keeping it in the refrigerator. Maybe I'm doing >something wrong? It was just my experience... ~Robin It will get moldy if you don't get ALL the water out of it while rendering. It takes forever to get all the water out. But it really does keep once it is dry. It *can* get rancid supposedly at room temp, but it was kept for years in the past. Shoot, that's what they made candles out of (tallow from sheep mostly). My Mom always kept a can of bacon grease next to the stove. Heidi Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 12, 2005 Report Share Posted March 12, 2005 Wondered about you calling it suet. The rendering is for storage, at least in our case. At the moment I've got about 20 5 gallon buckets of rendered lard sitting downstairs waiting to be turned into soap. If I had to first render it then make it soap it would need more storage space and, as you have found, it would mold. Our kitchen bucket of lard lives all year in TN where there are humid temps and in our house where there is no air conditioning. We've not had a problem with it going bad but then I do my own rendering and I'm a fussy woman somtimes. Belinda I guess I should have mentioned that the suet I was storing was unrendered. I mean it was just a chunk of beautiful white marbly stuff from the inside loin of the pig. Such a nice consistency! I just crumbled some off as I needed it for things like Plum Pudding at Christmas time. Looks like I'd better read up on rendering... BTW I'm assume that rendering is simply for storage purposes? I mean what would keep a person from just tearing off a chunk of fat and throwing it in a fry pan for example.. the water content? Anything else? Also it seems that storing rendered lard at room temp would work better in a dry climate... humidity not good? ~Robin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 12, 2005 Report Share Posted March 12, 2005 >Tallow doesn't smell great no matter *what* you do to it. Hee hee! Actually it makes nice lardo ... add some Penzy's venison sausage seasoning to some salt/brown sugar mix, cover the tallow for a few months ... tastes nice, and you can't taste the tallow taste. Heidi Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 12, 2005 Report Share Posted March 12, 2005 At 07:41 PM 3/12/05 -0800, you wrote: >>Tallow doesn't smell great no matter *what* you do to it. > >Hee hee! Actually it makes nice lardo ... add some Penzy's venison sausage >seasoning to some salt/brown sugar mix, cover the tallow for a few months ... >tastes nice, and you can't taste the tallow taste. > >Heidi Jean I stand corrected. Actually, I sit corrected too. Now if only I actually got up off my tuchus and ORDERED some Penzey's ... for which I requested a catalog oh lo those four or five months ago ... Thank you, Oh Correctinator ... MFJ If I have to be a grownup, can I at least be telekinetic too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 13, 2005 Report Share Posted March 13, 2005 Suet is simply lard that comes from around the kidney (or loin?) of an animal. It was specially used for many English pastries and desserts. It makes an incredible pie crust! Here's a nice little link I just found. A definition and a couple of basic recipes.. " Joy of Cooking " has a lovely Plum Pudding Recipe I make every year in advance of Christmas. http://www.deliaonline.com/ingredients/ingredientsatoz/i_0000000269.asp http://www.deliaonline.com/cookeryschool/howto/how_0000000023.asp ~Robin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 13, 2005 Report Share Posted March 13, 2005 I just read Delia's Mincemeat recipe http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/r_0000001235.asp . Wrong time of year I suppose but it looks yummy. I'm including an excerpt here because it seems like the recipe is crying out for fermentation of some kind... Maybe put some kefir grains in the fruit or ? Here's the excerpt: " Home-made mincemeat is dead simple to make. But in the past people used to have trouble storing it. This was because the high percentage of apples oozed too much juice and the juice started to ferment. In the following recipe the mincemeat is placed in a barely warm oven and so the suet gradually melts and as this happens it coats all the fruits, including the apples, sealing in the juices. " ~Robin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 13, 2005 Report Share Posted March 13, 2005 >I just read Delia's Mincemeat recipe >http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/r_0000001235.asp . Wrong time of year I >suppose but it looks yummy. I'm including an excerpt here because it seems >like the recipe is crying out for fermentation of some kind... Maybe put >some kefir grains in the fruit or ? I made some " traditional " mincement (Joy of Cooking recipe, I think) and it was quite wonderful. However, it was too rich for the modern folks ... I used it for stuffing tamales, which worked quite nicely. I used the fat from my annual beef (internal fat, which would be lard, technically). I had the same problem with " plum pudding " and some of the other recipes. REALLY wonderful, but very filling. They must have needed more calories in those days, or, they only ate once a week. Heidi Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 27, 2008 Report Share Posted July 27, 2008 Your fatback was probably big chunks of fat where the other was finer. My bet it you burned it. The smell and taste will tell you. Also, did you filter out the " cracklins " ? Leaving the little bits of meat in might color the lard as well. Belinda > > Help! So, I had a bunch of frozen pork backfat that I have been slowly > rendering in a pot this weekend, but I can't tell if something went > wrong. When I've made lard before from leaf lard (kidney fat) it was > almost clear in the pot and stark white when cooled. This batch is > translucent brown in the pot and hardens to a beigey-cream. Is it just > because of the different type of fat? Or maybe I burned it/turned the > heat up too high at some point? > > Anyone know? > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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