As some of you may recall, late last year I embarked on an attempt to cure my own prosciutto.
And now, as the first stage of that nearly 2 year process draws to a close, we’ve come to one of the more time-consuming and arduous tasks.
Having been rested in a salt and herb coat for quite some time now, the prosciutto is nearly ready to be smeared with a mixture of lard and black pepper and hung to be aged until it’s magically delicious.
Of course, to get to that point, one has to have a fair amount of lard.
Lucky for me I bought half a pig last summer, which came with its own lion’s share of fat. As you may know, fat can eventually be rendered down into lard.
Which is exactly why I spent most of my Saturday cooking down 10 (of approximately 30) pounds of pork fat I had in the freezer. The prosciutto won’t require nearly that much, but if I’m going to the trouble, I might as well render some down for myself, too.
But, instead of using the stovetop approach recommended by our organic grocer Bob, I consulted Jennifer McLagan’s Fat and found that it suggested rendering large quantities with the consistent heat of an oven, which is a decidedly more laid back, hands-off approach that I could wholeheartedly get behind.
So, after nearly an hour spent cubing semi-frozen pork fat with a cleaver, I boffed the whole lot into the biggest oven-safe pot I have (my lovely ginormous stainless steel stockpot from Udeal) and settled in for a long afternoon, checking on the fat approximately once per hour and giving it a stir.
Nearly 5 hours later this is all the action that’s happened at 250*:
Now, because it’s all fat, there is a little bit of water in there (McLagan recommends about 1/3 cup per pound) that will evaporate as the fat slowly melts, and at the same time prevents it from burning.
Something tells me it’s going to be a long night.
Until next time…
Tags: Books, Fat, Jennifer McLagan, lard, New Projects, pork, Preservation, prosciutto
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[...] may also have noticed that this past weekend I rendered down the better part of 10 pounds of pork fat into lard, the majority of which has been earmarked for sealing the prosciutto. Even after taking that into [...]