What is this stuff in my lard?

[abadoozy]

I recently purchased half a pig, and it came with a whole pig's worth of leaf lard (yay!). I rendered it using the food processor method, which has worked great for me in the past with goose, duck, and chicken fat.

It didn't work quite so well with the leaf lard, as it's harder to begin with than poultry fat, but it worked OK. I now have close to 5 pounds of really nice lard.

That said, the lard separated after being rendered. In addition to the lard, I had a whole bunch of grey colored.... goop. It's grey, unappetizing, and gelatinous, more like stock than lard. There was no meat or bones along with the fat, and the only thing I added to it as it rendered was a bit of water.

Any ideas? The below pic shows it all - I got maybe 1.5 cups of it out of about 8-10 cups of real lard. The pic below shows the lard on top before refrigerating, the stuff I'm talking about is on the bottom:

[Chris Hennes]

The point of "rendering" is to separate out the pure fat from the matrix it resides in in the animal: that's the matrix. The collagen and other meaty bits that the fat was suspended in. It's flavorful and completely edible, but not exactly stock, per se.

[patrickamory]

Do Mexicans leave much of the matrix in when making manteca? It's so much browner and more flavorful, with more bits floating in it, than regular white American lard.

[andiesenji]

Do Mexicans leave much of the matrix in when making manteca? It's so much browner and more flavorful, with more bits floating in it, than regular white American lard.

My Mexican neighbors render lard and sometimes it is separated so the clear fat that cools into the finer white lard is saved to use in pastry and the rest is cooked longer so it has a sort of "roasted" flavor. This is the stuff that is used to cook carnitas and other meats, poultry, etc.

[Country]

I rendered it using the food processor method, which has worked great for me in the past with goose, duck, and chicken fat.

It didn't work quite so well with the leaf lard...

That might be the problem. The food processor method. I've rendered some pork lard and never had the problem you show. I've always just used the old cast iron kettle with the almost round bottom. Sort of like a deep cast iron wok. There's not much surface area in the bottom and it helps getting it going faster than a flat bottom. Never used water either. Just takes a little longer getting things going, but once there's some melted in the bottom things move right along.

I'm not saying my lard is always perfectly snow white. It is once in a while, but other times kind of off-white. But never like what your pic shows. The next time maybe try just cutting up the fat (without the food processor) and going slow.

[patrickamory]

Do Mexicans leave much of the matrix in when making manteca? It's so much browner and more flavorful, with more bits floating in it, than regular white American lard.

My Mexican neighbors render lard and sometimes it is separated so the clear fat that cools into the finer white lard is saved to use in pastry and the rest is cooked longer so it has a sort of "roasted" flavor. This is the stuff that is used to cook carnitas and other meats, poultry, etc.

Thanks Andie, that makes perfect sense! Mmmm, I love that roasted flavor - that's exactly what it is.

[Dakki]

Do Mexicans leave much of the matrix in when making manteca? It's so much browner and more flavorful, with more bits floating in it, than regular white American lard.

My Mexican neighbors render lard and sometimes it is separated so the clear fat that cools into the finer white lard is saved to use in pastry and the rest is cooked longer so it has a sort of "roasted" flavor. This is the stuff that is used to cook carnitas and other meats, poultry, etc.

This sounds about right. The lighter stuff with little pork aroma is called "manteca blanca" (white lard) while the browner stuff with its stronger smell is just plain "manteca."

In Andalucia they also use "manteca colorada," which means red or colored lard and is flavored with paprika (thus the red/range color) and spices.

[andiesenji]

I just spent a couple of hours visiting with my neighbors (for coffee and flan) and got the explanation of what she does with the lard.

They throw everything that is mostly fat into the kettle and some of the lard does contain bits of meat and there is cuerda (stringy stuff) in the mass. They start out cooking it in water and the water cooks away so only the melted fat with the bits of meat and cuerda remain.

Most of the lighter, clear fat is poured off and allowed to cool until it begins to thicken and then she takes out the amount she is going to use to make breads or pastry and whips this in an electric mixer to make it like "ondalante", which is a word that totally mystifies me. I don't know much Spanish and the sign language simply doesn't compute. Sorry. We do great with small and common words but more complicated phrases not so much.

Anyway, at this point it goes into the fridge until she is ready to use it. I get the idea that it should be chilled before using it in sweet breads or ??? forgot to write that down.

Edited October 24, 2011 by andiesenji (log)

[Dakki]

I think she's talking about the making waves on the surface. This happens when the fat has been homogenized and there's a bit of air in the mix, maybe that's it?

[abadoozy]

I rendered it using the food processor method, which has worked great for me in the past with goose, duck, and chicken fat.

It didn't work quite so well with the leaf lard...

That might be the problem. The food processor method. I've rendered some pork lard and never had the problem you show. I've always just used the old cast iron kettle with the almost round bottom. Sort of like a deep cast iron wok. There's not much surface area in the bottom and it helps getting it going faster than a flat bottom. Never used water either. Just takes a little longer getting things going, but once there's some melted in the bottom things move right along.

I'm not saying my lard is always perfectly snow white. It is once in a while, but other times kind of off-white. But never like what your pic shows. The next time maybe try just cutting up the fat (without the food processor) and going slow.

The guy I got it from didn't use the food processor method, but he did put it in the oven and got the same results. He usually does it on top of the stove. He said he's never seen it before, either, and he does this every year. He's blaming the oven, but I don't see how that can be the case.

[Chris Hennes]

Why are you concerned about this? I would certainly never describe it as a "problem"—depending on the rendering method and specific fatty cuts chosen there will be more or less "stuff" along with the fat. When you render on the stovetop you almost always boil the water component off and are simply left with crispy bits that have effectively fried in the now-rendered lard. If you render in a sealed vessel (say, via sous vide), none of the water boils off and you are left with a liquid layer and a fat layer. This isn't "wrong" or "bad" and it doesn't affect the quality of the rendered lard (except that allowing the little bits to brown gives a roasted-pork flavor to what is otherwise a relatively mild fat).

[nibor]

I just got a bunch of this stuff when rendering fat from a duck carcass. My cat loves the bottom layer. He likes it straight, or mixed in either his wet or dry food.

[Toliver]

I think she's talking about the making waves on the surface. This happens when the fat has been homogenized and there's a bit of air in the mix, maybe that's it?

I think this is correct. "Ondulante" translates to wavy.

Edited to ask: So what's the verdict regarding the OP's question? Does he then have two kinds of lard in that measuring cup...a "white" lard (more pure with little to no flavor) and then a "meaty" lard where it has the flavor of the original meat/protein?

Edited October 24, 2011 by Toliver (log)

[Chris Hennes]

No: it's a relatively pure lard at the top, and a combination of water, gelatin, and other porky bits at the bottom (with very little fat). The lard in this case should be quite white when solid, and have a relatively mild flavor.

[andiesenji]

I think she's talking about the making waves on the surface. This happens when the fat has been homogenized and there's a bit of air in the mix, maybe that's it?

I think this is correct. "Ondulante" translates to wavy.

Edited to ask: So what's the verdict regarding the OP's question? Does he then have two kinds of lard in that measuring cup...a "white" lard (more pure with little to no flavor) and then a "meaty" lard where it has the flavor of the original meat/protein?

I spoke to Celia's son this morning and he told me that with "ondulante" she was trying to say "it looks like clouds" or "fluffy" - beating the lard as it cools in a bowl partially immersed in cold water, and thus easier to mix into the pan dulce, pan de muerto and cochinos.

He says his grandmother did it differently but years ago someone showed his mom how to do it this way and everyone likes the result so it has become a tradition in their family.

I have seen this same technique used by other, non-Mexican cooks too and now that I recall it, have done it myself.

Edited October 24, 2011 by andiesenji (log)

[Country]

I rendered it using the food processor method, which has worked great for me in the past with goose, duck, and chicken fat.

It didn't work quite so well with the leaf lard...

That might be the problem. The food processor method. I've rendered some pork lard and never had the problem you show. I've always just used the old cast iron kettle with the almost round bottom. Sort of like a deep cast iron wok. There's not much surface area in the bottom and it helps getting it going faster than a flat bottom. Never used water either. Just takes a little longer getting things going, but once there's some melted in the bottom things move right along.

I'm not saying my lard is always perfectly snow white. It is once in a while, but other times kind of off-white. But never like what your pic shows. The next time maybe try just cutting up the fat (without the food processor) and going slow.

The guy I got it from didn't use the food processor method, but he did put it in the oven and got the same results. He usually does it on top of the stove. He said he's never seen it before, either, and he does this every year. He's blaming the oven, but I don't see how that can be the case.

I don't see how that could be the case either. But, I've never used an oven. Always stove top, and no water - as described above.

Maybe it has something to do with using water, and/or maybe there's some meat attached to the fat?

[abadoozy]

Why are you concerned about this? I would certainly never describe it as a "problem"—depending on the rendering method and specific fatty cuts chosen there will be more or less "stuff" along with the fat. When you render on the stovetop you almost always boil the water component off and are simply left with crispy bits that have effectively fried in the now-rendered lard. If you render in a sealed vessel (say, via sous vide), none of the water boils off and you are left with a liquid layer and a fat layer. This isn't "wrong" or "bad" and it doesn't affect the quality of the rendered lard (except that allowing the little bits to brown gives a roasted-pork flavor to what is otherwise a relatively mild fat).

I'm not really concerned about it, nor do I think it's a problem. I'd just never seen it before when doing goose/duck/chicken fat and was curious as to what exactly it was. It's the engineer in me, I gotta know all the details or I'm not happy.

[janeer]

Mostly I'm just jealous that you have half a pig and all that lard...