Lard is a fairly universal component and goes well with various seasonings, spices, and aromatic herbs. If you know how to store salted lard at home, you can enjoy a tender and flavorful snack for several months. At the same time, it is not necessary to limit yourself to existing salting options, because the workpiece can also be smoked and reheated. In each case, a special approach to storing the finished dish is required. An equally important point is the process of choosing a fresh product.
If almost any fresh and high-quality product can be smoked and reheated, then special requirements are put forward for lard intended for salting:
- The product cannot be even slightly weathered; it can only be absolutely fresh.
- The best lard comes from parts removed from the back or sides of the carcass. But lovers of a product with a meat layer should pay attention to the areas from the peritoneum.
Tip: Salted lard made from a boar or an old pig may not be tasty. Its texture will be too dense, and there may even be foreign odors. It is better to reheat such products or subject them to other heat treatment options.
- The thickness of the meat layer may influence how lard is stored. To prevent this from becoming a problem, you should use pieces for salting in which the meat makes up no more than 5% of the total volume.
- It is best to salt fresh lard that is white or pinkish in color and has a pleasant meaty smell. It is better to avoid the yellowish product.
- The skin of the piece should be very thin. It can be easily cut or pierced with a knife.
Regardless of the purpose of the workpieces, they should be free of dirt, stains, inclusions, and traces of blood. You should not hope that problem areas can be cut out. Their presence already indicates non-compliance with the rules of working with animals.
Features of storing fresh lard
At home, lard can be stored exclusively in the refrigerator or freezer. The product quickly deteriorates at temperatures above 10ºС. As for fresh workpieces, they are subject to the following processing:
- If the product is planned to be salted, it is frozen entirely. If the product is planned to be used for other purposes, it can be pre-cut into small pieces.
- It’s even better to use the product immediately, using it to prepare cracklings, minced meat, and fry vegetables.
It is worth considering that lard, like all food products, cannot be re-frozen after defrosting. Therefore, it is better to store it in the freezer, after cutting it into small pieces and wrapping it in cling film. True, given the consistency of the product, it can be cut with a sharp knife even when it is frozen.
How to properly store salted lard?
There are many ways to salt lard, each of which allows you to preserve the product for a long time. If the manipulation of preparing a snack in a box, barrel or glass jar was carried out according to all the rules, its storage will look like this:
- The finished product should be kept in the same container in which it was salted. The container is placed on a glacier or in a cool, well-ventilated room.
- A small amount of lard can even be salted in an enamel pan. In this case, the product should be kept in the refrigerator. The same storage method applies to food products salted in large glass jars.
- If a chilled product needs to be eaten within a few weeks, then a frozen product can last for a year. By the way, in this form it is even more convenient to cut the lard into thin slices, which can be served immediately. In this case, simply wrap the component in cling film and freeze it in any way.
When storing a salted product in the freezer, a crust of salt may appear on its surface. It should be scraped off with a knife from the part of the product that will be cut. It is better to leave this protective layer on the rest of the piece.
What to do with smoked and rendered lard?
In the case of storing smoked and melted products, the following rules should be followed:
- A small amount of lard that you plan to eat within a few days can be wrapped in paper and then in cling film and kept in the refrigerator. It is still better to freeze large volumes of the product according to the same principle as the salted component. Large pieces that do not fit in the freezer should be hung on hooks and kept in a dry, well-ventilated basement. There should not be high humidity in it, otherwise the snack will quickly become covered with a film of mucus. Housewives often keep lard in boxes, sprinkling it with ash, sawdust or rye chaff.
- Remelted composition. This product can be fresh or salted; it is used for preparing fried foods and some types of baked goods. The finished composition is simply poured into a glass jar, cooled, and then closed with a nylon lid. You can store it in the refrigerator, but it is better to use the freezer.
Any type of lard must be regularly checked for yellowing or mold. The first type of formations can be removed, the second is an indicator of spoilage of the product, it is better to throw it away. If the product's smell begins to change, it should be used as soon as possible for its intended purpose.
Salting lard in jars for long-term storage is done by many housewives. In order to prevent stocks of this product from spoiling during the warm season, it is necessary to find a storage method in which the lard will not be affected by high temperatures even if it is outside the refrigerator.
Lard in a jar
How to pickle lard in a jar?
It is very important that the taste remains unchanged and the product itself does not acquire any foreign odors. For long-term storage, lard should be salted in a jar. This recipe will be ideal even if there is no free space in the freezer. Many people are interested in how to salt lard correctly. After all, it has a unique taste, and with a good selection of seasonings, it also has an aroma. Many people believe that they can simply season it with salt. But that's not true.
- In order to preserve lard, you will need a 3-liter jar and salt with seasoning.
- If you have to store it for a long time, you should not add garlic to the pickling seasoning.
- A product containing garlic can be stored in a jar for no longer than 6 months.
Products with a meat layer are not suitable for long-term storage. The meat absorbs salt strongly and becomes very tough.
You can also use a plastic lid for sealing. In this case, the container itself must be prepared, as is done with other seaming. It must be thoroughly washed and sterilized. With this method, lard is cut into equal pieces.
Ingredients
- for a 3 liter jar you need 2 kg of lard
- 4-5 glasses of water
- 1 cup coarse salt
- 4-5 bay leaves, black peppercorns, garlic cloves
Cooking method
- Add 1 cup of coarse salt to 4-5 glasses of water. Mix well, boil, then cool to room temperature.
- Cut the lard into small pieces. .
- Rub with ground black pepper and crushed garlic.
- Place in a jar (not tightly), add 4-5 bay leaves, black peppercorns, garlic cloves (can be cut in half) between the layers and fill with brine about 2 fingers above the lard, then cover with a lid (loosely).
- The lard should be stored in a room in the dark for a week, then in the refrigerator.
Lard can spoil if it is packed tightly into a jar. Lard prepared according to this recipe does not change its properties and is stored for a long time.
Lard in brine "tuzluk"
Lard prepared in this way does not age, does not turn yellow and is stored for a long time, maintaining excellent taste.
Ingredients
- 5 glasses of water
- 1 glass of salt
- 3-5 bay leaves, black peppercorns, 5-8 cloves of garlic
Cooking method
- Prepare the brine: for 5 glasses of water - 1 glass of salt, boil, cool to room temperature.
- In the meantime, cut the lard into small pieces (to make it easier to remove) and place loosely (!) in a 3-liter jar, add 3-5 bay leaves, black peppercorns, 5-8 cloves of garlic between the layers and pour in brine, cover lid loosely.
- Keep it in the room for a week (it will be ready to eat), then take it out into the cold. Typically, no more than 2 kg of lard goes into such a container. The main thing is not to pack it tightly in the jar, otherwise the lard will simply “suffocate”.
A product that is stigmatized by nutritionists, but invariably holds a leading position in the ranking of popular products, is, of course, lard (lard). Famous chefs consider Italy to be its homeland. It was there that they first thought of feeding slaves with animal fat... Then the product spread throughout the world. He is loved in England, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, etc. It is smoked, added to sausages, rendered, etc.
Today, the benefits of human consumption of the product have been scientifically proven. It supplies us with the necessary acids (oleic, linoleic, palmitic, arachidonic, etc.) and vitamins. Its biological activity is higher than beef fat and butter. Well, and finally, it is simply delicious.
Regular consumption of the product in small quantities improves brain function, has a beneficial effect on the heart, and lowers cholesterol levels. Especially if you season it with garlic. The main thing is to know when to stop.
When buying lard, the housewife thinks not only about how to prepare it, but also how to keep it fresh longer. In this article we will tell you how to store lard, preserving its taste.
So, you went shopping for a white delicacy. Choose the best in quality. Buy the product if it:
- white or pinkish. No shades of yellow or gray;
- 3 - 6 centimeters thick. It has a pleasant aroma (meaty);
- the skin is thin and without any hint of stubble;
- unweathered.
If you buy lard at the market, be sure to check for a stamp. If there is none, feel free to move on to the next seller.
If the seller claims that he processed the product with straw, ask for a knife and scrape the skin. The top layer should be easy to peel off and the lighter layer underneath should be visible. If lard, instead of straws, was treated with so-called “liquid smoke,” then there will be no such effect. As well as the special benefits from such a product.
Lard does not stay fresh for long - about 5 hours. Try to place it in the refrigerator or freezer as soon as possible after purchase. If you are the happy owner of a large piece, cut it into separate portions. Wrap them in cling film and place them in the freezer, where the lard will be stored without losing its beneficial properties for up to one year. The only condition is that lard does not tolerate repeated freezing. If you defrost/freeze it several times, the taste will be irrevocably damaged.
Storing the product in the refrigerator depends on the temperature set inside the chamber and cannot exceed several days.
How to store salted lard
Salting is one of the ways to protect the product from spoilage. It is sprinkled with salt (dry method) or salted in brine.
With the dry method, the bacon is placed in an enamel bowl or glass jar and completely covered with salt, filling all the voids. Salted lard can be stored in the same containers both in the refrigerator and in a cool, well-ventilated pantry.
The pickling brine can be hot or cooled to 40 degrees. It is prepared with the addition of salt, herbs and various spices. Typically, lard in brine is kept in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. After salting, take it out, blot it with napkins or a towel, wrap it in parchment paper and put it in a container. Lard prepared in this way will be stored in the refrigerator for up to 30 days. If you have prepared a lot of product, feel free to put it in the freezer. There it will be stored without loss for up to a year. Another reason to freeze the product is that when slicing it is easy to get thin slices.
It is convenient to store lard directly in the brine. For these purposes, put in a pre-sterilized jar: pieces of the product, spices to taste, herbs. Pour hot brine over everything and cover with a sterile lid. The shelf life of a product prepared in this way in the pantry is several years.
How to store smoked lard
Many people like smoked lard. It is smoked in different ways:
- in the oven at home;
- in the smokehouse.
This process is quite labor-intensive and time-consuming. Therefore, I especially want to preserve the results of my labors longer.
To properly store lard in the refrigerator, wrap it in parchment paper or foil, then in cling film. Packaged in this way, it can be stored in the refrigerator for a long time (up to 4 weeks).
In the freezer, shelf life increases to 12 months. Still, it is better for gourmets not to freeze smoked bacon, since long-term freezing causes its taste to deteriorate.
Smoked lard can be stored in pantries directly suspended on hooks. Humidity in such pantries should be minimal.
Many housewives put the prepared lard in special wooden boxes. To protect against high humidity, the product is sprinkled with sawdust or rye chaff.
If stored improperly, mold may appear on the product. Don't risk your own health by trying to cut off a green area. If there is mold, the whole piece is trash. Eating it can lead to severe poisoning.
How to store rendered lard
Some housewives render lard to use later in cooking. Moreover, both fresh goods and salted goods are heated. Fried potatoes made with this kind of fat are especially tasty. Be sure to try it.
The lard is cut into small pieces and heated in a frying pan. During the rendering process, collect the fat in a glass jar. Be careful. Once on the skin, hot fat can cause severe burns. After cooling, close the jar with a plastic lid and place in the refrigerator.
To store the fat in the freezer, let it cool slightly, pour into a plastic container and cover. The fat can be stored without loss for several years, but it is better to eat it within the first 12 months.
How to store boiled lard?
Boiled lard is an unusual delicacy. For this type of cooking, parts from the back or sides are usually used. It is cooked with spices:
- in marinade;
- in the package;
- in the form of a roll.
There are a lot of recipes for cooking in marinade. The main thing is to prepare a tasty marinade based on water and salt with the addition of various herbs and spices, and place the bacon in it. The finished product is removed from the marinade (broth), blotted and wrapped in parchment paper or foil. Lard can be stored in the refrigerator for several months.
Quite an unusual recipe for cooking a product in a bag. Special food bags are used in which herbs, spices are placed, and lard grated with salt is added. The package with the product is additionally placed in several bags for sealing, placed in cold water and boiled for about 2 hours. At the end of cooking, the bags are removed from the water, but the lard is not removed from the bags. Cool and refrigerate for about 2 days. After this, the lard can be removed from the bag for consumption or storage in the refrigerator, or you can put it directly with the bag in the freezer for long-term storage.
To prepare it in a roll, you need to rub a layer of not very thick product with spices, roll it into a roll and secure it with strong threads. This roll is boiled in a marinade with spices for about two hours and left in it for an additional 12 hours. Take out the lard, dry it with a towel or napkins, wrap it in parchment paper or foil, and store it in the same way as salted lard.
How to store lard on the road without a refrigerator
Are you planning a trip? Remember, you cannot take raw lard into your luggage. Without refrigeration, after about 5 hours you'll just have to throw it away.
Salted/smoked/boiled lard will last for several days without problems. Wrap it in parchment/foil/breathable fabric and do not use plastic bags so that the lard does not “suffocate”.
Alternatively, freeze a piece of product before traveling and wrap it in paper and several layers of newspaper. This will extend the shelf life.
The method of rolling the product into jars allows you to preserve all the taste of the product and limits access to microorganisms. In such packaging the product will easily travel.
The ideal option is vacuum packaging or a bag. Metal containers that close hermetically and dry ice are suitable.
Methods for storing lard directly depend on the type of product, because it can be fresh, salted, boiled, smoked or melted. Any lard, regardless of the type of processing, should be properly stored at a temperature below +10°C. In a city apartment, you will have to keep the product in the refrigerator - only there you can create suitable conditions. Residents of rural areas can do without a refrigerator by storing lard in a cellar or making a homemade icebox. Only in this case it is necessary to ensure low air humidity and sufficient ventilation of the room to prevent the development of fungi and mold.
Fresh lard
Fresh lard, if it is not planned to be processed in the near future, must be kept in the freezer:
- If in the future the product will be used for preparing various dishes, it can be pre-cut into portioned pieces, having thought in advance what size they should be.
- If you plan to salt the lard in the future, you can freeze it as a whole piece by making deep transverse cuts with a sharp knife - they will be useful for evenly salting the piece.
Large and small pieces of fresh lard should be wrapped tightly in cling film and placed in the freezer.
Fresh lard, like any other semi-finished product, should not be re-frozen. This increases the risk of developing pathogenic bacteria and worsens the taste of the finished snack.
Salted bacon
Salted lard, unlike fresh lard, is a ready-made product that can be taken out of the refrigerator at any time and served on the table. It’s not difficult to get tasty bacon at home - you can pickle it in brine or use dry salting:
- Line the bottom of a wooden box with parchment paper and add a layer of rock salt.
- Place pieces of lard on top, skin side down, and cover them with a layer of salt.
- If there are a lot of pieces of pork product, lay them out in several rows, generously sprinkling each row and the spaces between them with the same salt.
- The top layer in the box should be salt - it should be covered with paper and a clean cotton cloth.
- Place a weight on top and put the box in a dark, well-ventilated and cool place. It is better if it is a dry cellar or a glacier.
There is no need to worry that the lard will not be salted or spoiled - salt is an excellent preservative. In addition, the pork product will absorb exactly as much salt as needed, and not a gram more. So it’s very difficult to spoil the taste of the finished bacon. And if you pickle it with garlic, minced, or use various spices (ground black pepper, dill, cumin, herbes de Provence), you will get an incomparable appetizer.
This option is more suitable for salting lard on a large scale. Similarly, you can pickle a small piece of fresh product bought in a store or market, but as a container it is better to take an enamel pan without chips or damage. Otherwise, the technology for producing salted lard is no different:
Salt → Fresh lard → Salt → Paper → Cargo
The product processed in this way must be kept at room temperature for 24 hours and then put in the refrigerator. After 3-4 days (this period is usually enough for salting), it is worth checking the readiness of the bacon: if the color of the veins has turned red-brown, it is ready for use.
After salting, the piece must be removed from the pan, the excess salt scraped off, the lard wrapped in cling film and put in the freezer. As needed, you can take out the savory appetizer, cut it into thin slices or bars (as you like) and serve. Well-salted lard can be stored in the freezer for up to a year or even longer.
You can store the product by salting it in a glass jar. This can be a small 1.5-liter container or a spacious 3-liter container. When salting bacon in a jar, it must first be sterilized and dried, place the pork pieces tightly in a container, generously sprinkle with salt, add it to the very top and tightly close the jar with a nylon lid. If the salted product is intended for long-term storage, the container can be sealed with a sterilized tin lid. If this is not done, the lard will “age” - it will turn yellow from exposure to oxygen and lose its characteristic taste.
Lard in jars for long-term storage
Smoked lard
A tasty hot smoked product is made from salted lard. Regardless of whether it is purchased in a store or prepared with your own hands, smoked lard should be stored in the refrigerator, first wrapped in paper and then wrapped in several layers of cling film.
In this form it will remain in the refrigerator for 3-4 weeks. But if you need to preserve a fragrant piece for a longer period, you should put it in the freezer - there it can stay much longer without losing its taste and nutritional value.
For large volumes of smoked lard, when it is difficult to fit in the freezer, the finished pieces can be hung on hooks in a dark, cool, ventilated room: a cellar or attic. The bacon must first be wrapped in paper or breathable fabric. Alternatively, smoked lard can be placed in wooden boxes and the pieces can be sprinkled with rye chaff or dry sawdust from fruit or deciduous trees.
A cellar or basement with high humidity is absolutely not suitable for storing smoked lard. In such conditions, the product will become covered with a slimy coating of mold in a short time and will become unfit for consumption.
Lard (lard) is rightfully considered one of the most popular types of snacks. Few people can refuse a fragrant, tender piece of bacon with a slice of black bread, pickled cucumber and fresh herbs. This is a universal dish, suitable for both a festive feast and a hearty snack for every day. Lard goes well with various spices, which emphasize and highlight its delicate taste. In many families, original recipes for homemade salting and smoking pork fat are passed down from generation to generation.
Lard can be eaten fresh or salted, smoked, boiled, or used instead of vegetable oil. In this article we will look at how to properly store each type of lard.
In addition to its spicy taste, lard is also valued for its unique beneficial qualities. The vitamins, antioxidants and valuable fatty acids it contains are vital for our body. In the meantime, nutritionists argue about the benefits, harms and calorie content of the product, we will talk about how to properly store lard so that it remains tasty and aromatic for as long as possible.
There are many options for preparing lard. It can be eaten fresh or salted, smoked, boiled, used instead of vegetable oil or to add juiciness to various dishes. Let's consider where and how to properly store each type of lard.
Features of storing fresh lard
Fresh lard (not salted or smoked) is a perishable product. It cannot be stored at room temperature, because when it reaches above +10 °C, the lard begins to deteriorate. In a refrigerator unprocessed lard can last no more than a day. If you haven’t had time to use it during this time, be sure to put it in the freezer. This way you will increase its shelf life to 3-4 months.
Lard cannot be re-frozen - it is used immediately for its intended purpose. Therefore, for subsequent salting or smoking, it is better to freeze it in a large piece.
If you will be using fresh lard to make minced meat, fry vegetables or season soups, divide it into small pieces, wrap it in foil and put it in the freezer.
Original method: storing lard in brine in jars (recipe)
This method is suitable for those who do not have too much space in the refrigerator. The lard bars are placed in a glass jar, bay leaf, garlic, pepper and other spices are added to taste, and then poured with hot brine and rolled up (250 g of salt per 1 liter of water). The resulting product can be stored for 2-3 years in a cool, dark place. As with other types of preservation, lard needs to be monitored and the lids on the jars regularly checked.
We offer another option for storing lard, when the brine is used only at the preparatory stage. Lard processed according to this recipe can be stored in the freezer for 2-3 years.
- Bring water and salt to a boil (200 g of salt per 1 liter of water).
- Add bay leaf, peppercorns and other seasonings and boil for another minute.
- Leave the resulting brine to cool.
- Pieces of lard (undercuts are suitable, no more than 5-7 cm thick) are washed, dried, rubbed with garlic and placed in a glass jar (pan, container).
- Fill the lard with warm brine to the top.
- The cooled container with lard is placed in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
- After the specified time, the pieces of lard are removed from the brine and dried with a paper towel.
- Each bar is wrapped in film (foil) and placed in the freezer. You can first rub the lard with some other dry seasoning (dry herbs).
How to store salted lard
If fresh bacon is stored for only a day, then thanks to various processing methods its shelf life can be extended to a year. One of these options is pickling. There are quite a few different recipes, but the most popular is dry salting: small pieces of lard are rubbed with coarse salt, spices and garlic are added to taste, placed in an enamel or glass container and put away in a cool, dark place for a week.
The resulting lard can be stored in the refrigerator for 1-3 months, depending on the salting. And if you wrap small bars in foil and put them in the freezer, the lard will retain its quality for a year. As needed, remove the pieces and defrost them at room temperature.
When storing lard in the freezer, a salt crust may appear on its surface. Before use, it should be peeled off with a knife from the part that you plan to cut. It is better to leave this protective layer on the remaining parts.
Recipes for salting lard can be found in this article.
Salted lard is stored well in the refrigerator or other cool place.
How to store smoked lard
Not only fresh or salted bacon is popular - many gourmets like to treat themselves to a fragrant smoked slice. Lard processed in this way can be stored for quite a long time, it all depends on the smoking method:
Hot smoking. Lard prepared using the hot method is very tasty, but does not last long (at room temperature - no more than 2 weeks). It will stay fresh in the refrigerator for 1-2 months if the product is sufficiently salted. Don't forget to wrap the lard in paper first.
Cold smoking. If you have a pantry or a cool, well-ventilated and dry attic at your disposal, you can store lard there - hang large pieces on hooks, after wrapping them in paper. The temperature in this case should not rise above +5 °C. A properly prepared and salted cold smoked product can be stored for up to 3 years.
Smoked bacon should not be left in rooms with high humidity. In such conditions, it will quickly deteriorate and become covered with sticky mold. Many housewives, in order to protect lard from moisture, store it in boxes, sprinkled with sawdust, ash or rye chaff.
It is best to store salted and smoked lard in the freezer.
You can also store smoked lard at home. In the refrigerator, wrapped in paper, it will retain its freshness and taste for 6-12 months (depending on the salting: the more salt, the longer the period). In the freezer, the shelf life increases to 2-3 years.
Baked lard
Lard can be stored in various ways. One option is to reheat. Baked lard can replace any fat; it is used not only for cooking, but also for medicinal purposes. You can melt both fresh and already salted lard. This lard is stored in the refrigerator in a glass container. The shelf life in this case is about a year.
