I recently rendered some lard at home from some pork fat I bought from a nearby Mexican grocery store (Mi Pueblo in San Jose). The lard is delicious and I'm glad I made it, but I wish I knew how best to make it "cleaner". It's not very light-colored now that it's chilled, and I can see some burnt pork solids left it it. What's the best and easiest way to get my lard nice and clear?
Tell me more
×
Seasoned Advice is a question and answer site for
professional and amateur chefs. It's 100% free, no registration required.
|
|
For applications such as these where I really want a fine strain, much more than any of my strainers can handle, I line a larger-hole strainer with cheesecloth (if I have trouble with the cheesecloth staying I use a rubber band to hold it in place). Although I have not tried it with rendered lard, I have used it in a lot of other places (stock immediately comes to mind) where I have a lot of little particles that make it through my finest of strainers. A quick search for a lard/cheesecloth/strainer keyword combination shows that a lot of recipes for home-rendered lard seem to suggest this so I think it would work. You can find a picture of a cheesecloth-lined strainer here or just Google image search it if the link dies. Oh, and as an aside, I find that purchasing the cheesecloth in bulk at a fabric store (such as Jo-Ann Fabrics in the USA) is much, much cheaper than buying small packages in a kitchen store (such as Williams-Sonoma). |
|||
|
|
At Asian grocery stores you can find a variety of very fine-mesh sieves and strainers. I have a couple that are fairly broad and shallow, and in my meat-eating and fat-rendering days I used to use those to get the fat pretty "clean". Restaurant supply places sell bigger strainers (generally under the uncomfortable name "China cap") with very fine mesh, and that might work. Thing is however that you don't necessarily want a lot of volume in the strainer, as the fat has to stay hot and liquid or else you're in trouble. |
|||
|
|
