With a little lard and some tenderness

As all three of my readers know, I love to cook. I took my love of cooking to all new heights last weekend when I rendered lard. Why would I render lard, you ask? Well, the simple answer is this: lard is a very suitable substitute for shortening and is much better for me than all that hydrogenated Crisco-ey goodness. I know many of you are balking at the word "lard", but hey, Mama's little baby loves shortening and a girl's gotta have some fun in the kitchen, right? Right? So, on with the pics:

First the fat back:

Then, I chopped it up and threw it in a pan and cooked it till these little chitterlings browned, then I removed them and strained the lard:

Am I the only one thinking of Tina right now? (Napoleon Dynamite, "Eat your food, you fat lard!")
Anyhow, the strained lard looked like this:



Yummy. Nice cup of hot fat. I think that's a line from The Hobbit...maybe...
And, then I let it harden in the fridge and I used it to make my Mother-in-law a yummy blackberry cobbler for Mother's Day. Check out the golden, flaky crust below:

Three cheers for lard! And, if you really want to technically know why lard is your friend, here's a link that might be helpful, which also includes a more in depth look at how to render lard:

http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2009/04/how-to-render-lard.html