Homemade Pork Lard/Lardons

Dangerous blog posting tonight! Hehehe disclaimer : Consume at your own risk *just joking* This is the first time I've cook a batch of homemade pork lard, chilled and use it as and when I need it for cooking. The homemade pork lard can be basically used in any dishes for that unique flavour and the crispy pork lardons as garnishing or just pop them directly into your mouth, if you dared! ^0^ It is really easy to render pork lard at home.....just get some pork fats from the butcher and is really economical too. I purchased about 800gm of pork fats (skin removed) for S$2, and is really diced by the butcher which made my job easier! After processing, the 800gm of pork fats yielded a fairly good amount of pork lard! 

In a clean dry pan, add in diced pork fats. *Do not add any water. Cook over medium low heat. Stirring occasionally. 

Add in 3 blades of fresh pandan leaves (cut into sections), fry together with the pork fats. When the pandan leaves turn crisp and brown, remove and discard it. *This is an interesting method I've learnt from my friend :) The purpose of adding pandan leaves is to reduce/eliminate any unpleasant smell during the rendering process. No....the lard or crispy lardons do not have the pandan flavour ^0^

Continue to fry the pork fats in its oil till golden brown. The oil will be less bubbling when the moisture has evaporated from the fats. The whole process took about 15 mins using medium low heat. At the end of 1 min I turned on high heat to force out the oil from the golden crispy pork lardons. Note : Be cautious as it may splatter slightly during the process. Use a deeper pan/wok if you are uncomfortable with rendering pork lard in a shallow pan as what I did. 

Remove from crisp pork lardons and drain well over a sieve. Cool completely and store in air-tight container.

Cool down the pork lard and sieve into clean glass container. 

Chill in fridge to prolong its shelf-life. Though it is super irresistable, especially the crispy pork lardons, use sparingly and consume in moderation! ^0^