Lard FAQ: Everything you wanted to know about pork fat/lard.

“What is lard?”

“Where does lard come from?”

“Are lard and tallow the same thing?”

You ask great questions!  Here’s the quick answers:

What is Lard? Lard comes from pork fat.  The fat can come from the back, covering the loins (pork chops), or from around the internal organs (specifically the kidneys, hence the name “kidney fat”).  The leaf, or internal, lard is a drier fat more commonly used for baking.  The back fat renders into a more all-purpose lard.  However, both are

Where does lard come from? The fat can come from the back, covering the loins (pork chops), or from around the internal organs (specifically the kidneys, hence the name “kidney fat”).  The leaf, or internal, lard is a drier fat more commonly used for baking.  The back fat renders into a more all-purpose lard.  However, both are useful for baking, frying, soap making, and any other use you have for shortening.

Pork fat is raw and has to be rendered, or processed to separate the fat from the protein and water.  Read more about that here.

Are lard and tallow the same thing? No, Tallow is beef fat.  Lard is pork fat.  Chicken and duck fat are a bit more straight forward as to their origins.

Here’s the video I recently made to answer these questions and more:

Read more about how to render lard here: Lard 

Get a great recipe for donuts fried in lard here: Lard and Donuts

Here’s a video on how to render lard, “Praise the Lard (rendering lard),” “Tips for rendering fat.”