Since raising Guinea Hogs last year, I’ve become a fierce advocate for lard. I defend its merits to anyone who expresses even a mild interest in food. The Guinea Hogs were extremely fat, and after rendering the fat back, I was left with two large, gorgeous tubs of snowy white lard. As soon as I made my first lard pastry crust that turned out incredibly rich and flaky, I became an addict. I cooked greens, fried eggs and even made cookies using lard instead of butter. As my enthusiasm grew for cooking with lard, so did the skepticism, or possible disgust, of those around me. So I set out to research the nutritional merits of lard in order to defend it. And I discovered that lard is lower in saturated fat and higher in monounsaturated fats than butter (I really need to get the book Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient by Jennifer McClagan – it has a recipe for bacon fat aoili!). Lard is certainly not a health food, but fat is an absolutely vital part of a balanced diet that helps the body “digest protein and absorb nutrients, calcium, and the fat-soluble vitamins A,D, E, and K”. Read about it here at www.bonappetit.com/blogsandforums/blogs/consciouscook/2009/09/fat-fight-is-butter-better-1.html
So after a year of defending lard, I am now ready to sing its praises. Unfortunately, the title “Praise the Lard!” was already taken (an excellent post about lard on the blog, crabappleherbs.com/blog/2007/11/15/thank-the-lard).
I simply can’t get over what an extraordinary substance lard is, not only for cooking and baking, but also for making soap. The idea of washing my face with pork fat seemed a bit weird at first, but lard makes a mild, creamy soap with a rich lather.
I found this simple soap recipe from the book, The Homemade Soap Book
Lardy Cake (Not sure why it’s called cake)
The book says, “It can have a fatty smell so it is a good idea to disguise this with essential oils.”
16 oz lard
2 oz sodium hydroxide
5 oz distilled or filtered spring water
1 tbsp essential oil
I selected chamomile oil because it was what I had on hand, and then I used the procedure described on Snowdrift farm’s website: http://www.snowdriftfarm.com/soapsafely.html.
Pigs are amazing. Not only have my two pigs this year saved 600 gallons of food from the landfill (that’s over a thousand pounds), but they have turned that waste food into high-quality meat for me. The meat keeps me satiated, the fat keeps my desserts flavorful and the lard soap keeps me clean. During my seven-year tenure as a vegetarian, I never missed pork–now, I don’t see how I could live without it.
I love lard! We have a ton of rendered lamb fat which, after finding out how awesome it is in cooking (french fries done in lamb fat are amazing), led me to make soap.
You might want to give the crockpot hot process a try. It eliminates the 2-3 week curing period because all of the lye is cooked out (saponification process is accelerated by the heat).
Basic instructions: melt the oils, put in the crock pot. Mix the lye and the water (always add the lye to the water). Once dissolved, add to the crockpot and use a stick blender until trace. Set crockpot for low, put the lid on, and let it go for about 20-30 minutes. I do the “zap” test: pull a small amount out, let it cool, touch it to your tongue. If it zaps like a 9-volt battery, it needs more time (lye has not finished cooking out). Once there’s no zap, let it cool a bit (too hot and the essential oils can “flash” out) and add essential oils. Put into molds (empty Pringle cans are perfect for round soaps), remove the next day and cut. It’s usable immediately, but hardens up a bit after a week or so.
If you want a more detailed recipe, let me know, but I got most of my method from the soapmakingforum.com. Lots of good info there. Brambleberry.com is a great place to get oils (I only use 2-5% lamb fat now — lamb is infinitely more meaty smelling than pig/cow lard). Also, Wal-Mart sells coconut oil and most groceries sell plain (“pure”) olive oil. Soapcalc.net is great, too, for putting together a recipe and getting an idea of its qualities (cleansing, bubbles, etc.) before you try and make it.
I think soap making is a really awesome hobby — working with lye isn’t nearly as scary as it was made out to be, and homemade soap makes some awesome presents: lavender/honey went over real well this Christmas!