February 19, 2010 - 10:32am
Leaf Lard or other good lard where to buy
Living in the east just outside of Pittsburgh PA I would love to buy leaf lard or other good lard . No one knows what I'm talking about when I ask if they sell it. On this site I saw several places that do sell it but with the cost of the lard and shipping i think it was over $10.00 a pd. Any help?
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You might want to call around to local butchers. I don't live anywhere near PA, but I started also looking for leaf lard for pastry recently, and couldn't find it anywhere. Then I talked to our local butcher, who said they could supply me with back fat for rendering quite cheaply since people rarely bought it. I was considering it, and then I remembered a local organic farm I see at our farmer's market. I called them and they also told me that they don't normally sell pig fat, since nobody seems to want it, but that they could get some saved for me at the slaughterhouse the next time they send their pigs off.
So now they have 10 lbs of back fat and the leaf lard from one of their heritage pigs in their freezer for me. I'm going to drive up there in a few days to get it. And the cost: $1.50 per lb.
Of course, I'll have to render it myself. But this is simple - lots of techniques posted online. You get about 60-70% of the weight of the unrendered fat as lard. Then I'll have free-range, home-rendered lard, full of omega 3s etc.
I don't know if you have a large Hispanic population or not but if you do try stores that carry those products. Hispanic people use lard in a lot of their cooking.
I've had them ship leaf lard to Florida and then I freeze it immediately. They produce a quality product.