n.c.iowa | The best or highest quality lard comes from the “leaf fat”which is the fat surrounding the kidneys and into the area around the tenderloin. back fat is usually considered the next grade of lard, it has more of a porky flavor, but because of where it’s located,(between the skin, and loin/shoulder area), so it’s got bits of muscle and flesh in it, so there are more cracklings when rendered.
we didn’t have a big call for lard when we butchered so we only used the leaf fat for rendering, modern genetic pigs make it more of a chore to trim out any useable back fat to use for lard, so we just skip, using it. |