How to salt lard in Ukrainian

The first step, of course, is to choose the right lard. When choosing a suitable piece, you need to pay attention to the color of the lard: it should be white or pinkish, but uniform. The lard skin should be thin, smooth and without bristles. It is best to smell the lard before buying - if the piece has a subtle, sweetish-milky smell, then you can safely take it. If a specific aroma is felt, then most likely it is boar lard. This smell cannot be removed by any spices, so in this case it is better to refuse the purchase.
Before testing, you can also check the lard for softness - if the piece can be easily pierced with a knife, fork or match, then you can safely take it!

Classic recipe for salting lard in Ukrainian

Delicious, well-salted salsa on black bread, with pickles and garlic - this is a classic set of hearty snacks and a traditional snack with a glass of strong alcohol. If you love and respect this truly “folk” food, you just need to know how to salt lard at home. Moreover, you don’t need any special skills for this. The main thing is to purchase high-quality raw materials, and with the help of our advice, an excellent result is guaranteed even by an inexperienced housewife.

Ukrainian lard is still considered exemplary. This is largely explained by the diet of pigs - they are usually raised on grain feed, so the taste of meat and lard is significantly different for the better. It is also important to know the correct recipe for how to salt lard in Ukrainian so that it comes out soft and fragrant.

Cooking method:

Rinse one kg of fresh lard with water and thoroughly scrape the skin with a knife;
cut into large cubes;
prepare brine (salt brine) - pour 3 tablespoons of salt, 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper into a wide saucepan, put 5 - 6 allspice peas, 5 cloves of garlic and bay leaves. Pour in cold water and stir until the salt is completely dissolved;
put the lard in the brine and press down on top with pressure so that it is completely immersed in water;
This is where your mission ends - you just need to leave the dishes for the day for five days in a cool place, tightly covering them with a lid;
after the lard is completely salted, pour out the brine and dry each piece with a paper towel;
The product is already completely ready for use, but it is recommended to eat it after cooling in the refrigerator or freezer.

Advice! Never use sea or iodized salt for pickling. To obtain a well-salted piece of lard, only classic stone, or extra without additives, is suitable.

It is very unpleasant when, after all the money and effort spent, the resulting product does not meet expectations - it becomes tough and tasteless. In order to avoid getting into such a situation, you need to know how to salt lard so that it is soft.

One of the best ways is to salt lard in hot brine. This is the fastest method - you can enjoy bacon in just a day. And by exposing pork fat to hot temperatures, you don’t have to worry about the safety of the finished dish.

In hot brine with garlic

In an apartment, the easiest and most convenient way to salt lard is in a jar. To do this, it is better to take fresh brisket with soft skin and layers of meat.

Cooking method:

wash, clean and cut the lard into pieces. Their size is determined by the volume of the jar in which the process will take place;
Using a sharp knife, pierce the pulp in several places and carefully push the garlic plates into the resulting slits;
rub each part with a mixture of spices, which includes pepper, cumin, paprika and others of your choice;
Now all that remains is to place the lard tightly in the jar so that the bars do not lose their shape and the spicy “powder” does not crumble;
in a separate bowl, cook brine - dissolve 2 heaping tablespoons of salt in one liter of water, add bay leaf and allspice;
boil the brine for 2 - 3 minutes, turn off the heat and leave to cool slightly under the closed lid;
very carefully, in a thin stream, pour the hot liquid into the jar of lard;
We close the neck of the jar with a nylon lid and take it to a cool place to cool. In the demi-season, a balcony is best suited for this, and in the summer - a cellar;
The lard is prepared in this way within 24 hours, but if you have any suspicions that this is not enough, keep it in the jar for some more time until the brisket is completely salted.

Advice! Experienced housewives advise adding a little sugar to the brine, this makes the lard consistency softer and the taste more piquant.

By preparing lard according to the traditional Belarusian recipe, you will get pieces of a pleasant golden color that look very much like homemade smoked meats. This effect is achieved by onion peels, which are present in this version of pickling.

Cooking method:

in one liter of cold water we throw 2 tablespoons of salt, five cloves of garlic, 2 - 3 peppercorns, bay leaves and always clean peels from 2 - 3 onions;
put prepared lard into the brine, cut into medium-sized pieces;
bring to a boil and cook covered over medium heat for 10 - 15 minutes;
after the lard has boiled, you need to leave it to cool in the pan at room temperature;
after time, take out the pieces, dry them with a paper napkin and rub the sides with a mixture of cumin, pepper, paprika and crushed garlic for greater aroma and spiciness;
wrap in baking paper or clean gauze and place in the freezer.

Advice! For high-quality pickling, always try to place the cut pieces as closely as possible to each other. Lard should not “float” in the brine. It is enough for the liquid to cover the surface of the product by only a couple of cm.

Little tricks for salting

Each housewife or cook has her own subtleties in preparing this or that dish.

This is what lard looks like, which is simply ideal for any type of salting.

To ensure that the product turns out to be of good quality when salting, you should use a few tricks:

For salting, only fresh lard is suitable and preferably with a skin, which should be clean and without roughness.
The depth of the product must be at least three centimeters. When cut, the lard should be white with a slight pink tint.
For salting lard, choose a product that can be easily pierced with a match.
Lard should not have a specific smell.
Under no circumstances should you use aluminum utensils when salting lard, since when interacting with the brine solution, an oxide film may appear that will come into contact with the product and spoil its taste.

Salting lard at home is absolutely simple and the taste is in no way inferior to a store-bought product, and even superior. And if you also use some new seasonings in preparing the dish, then the dish will definitely become a masterpiece of any festive or everyday table.

In Transcarpathian

In Transcarpathia there are many options for preparing homemade bacon. But the classic one is the one where lard is marinated with the addition of vinegar. It is best to use undercut (pork belly) for this - it is in it that the optimal proportion of lard and pork meat is maintained.

Cooking method:

cut parts of the peritoneum into long strips and make cuts in them, into which alternately push a piece of garlic and hot pepper;
add salt, pepper and roll, skin side up;
tie tightly with threads, place in boiling marinade;
We make the marinade like this: for 1 kg of lard, take 2.5 liters of water, 5 tablespoons of salt, a spoonful of sugar, a spoonful of vinegar, fresh onion rings and a head of garlic;
It is enough to boil for 2 - 3 minutes, after which turn off the heat, place a pressure (for example, a jar of water) on top of the undercut and leave it to simmer in the hot liquid;
After two to three days, the lard is ready for use.

Recipe for cooking salted lard in brine in a slow cooker

Lard cooked in a slow cooker tastes like something between a salted and baked product. To get such a unique flavor, we will cook lard in foil.

Cooking method:

rub 1 kg of fresh, well-washed lard with spices (you can take a ready-made mixture “For meat” or “For lard”);
stuff with garlic and generously sprinkle with salt on all sides;
wrap in foil and leave for a while to soak in better;
Place a wrapped block at the bottom of the multicooker bowl, add a glass of water and cook in the “Stew” mode for 2 hours;
after finishing the process, take out the package and carefully, so as not to get burned, unfold the foil;
Cool the finished lard and you can start eating.

Dry salting with spices

A simple method of non-brine preparation is described above. True, it is designed almost on an industrial scale. If you are not preparing the delicacy for future use, but just to enjoy it, and also respect spicy dishes, use another recipe for making Ukrainian lard. A kilogram of product is cut into suitable pieces or ribbons, cuts are made in it, where halves of garlic cloves are inserted. The lard itself is rubbed with salt and spices (for five tablespoons of salt - half a spoonful of white and red peppers, a whole one - ground black pepper, a spoonful of coriander and cloves, plus five finely broken bay leaves). The pieces are placed tightly in a container (skin to skin) and left right in the kitchen for a day. After about five days, put it in the refrigerator and you can start tasting.

How many days do you salt lard?

The answer to the question of how many days to salt lard depends on several factors:

on the characteristics of the raw materials - from which part of the carcass the fat is cut;
on the processing method - dry or wet;
on the size of the pieces that are salted.

With the dry method, lard should be kept in salt for 3 days to a week at room temperature and another 2 to 3 days in the refrigerator. Only after this can it be eaten.

The wet method cooks lard faster. It is enough to hold it under pressure in a saline solution for 3–4 days, dry it, rub it with spices and cool it.

Note! It is very important to remember that lard is a product of animal origin, which means it can be contaminated with parasites and harmful microorganisms. That’s why it’s so important to salt it well to make sure it’s completely safe for our health.

How to speed up the salting process?

The fastest way to speed up pickling is to boil. Lard is boiled in brine for 10 minutes to several hours, after which it can be immediately eaten.

There are a few more secrets to speed up the process:

first soak the lard in water for at least 12 hours;
cut smaller pieces, about 5 by 5 cm;
Cool the hot brine with lard at room temperature;
make more deep cuts - this will allow the product to soak in better.

Knowing these recipes, you can pamper your loved ones with a tasty and satisfying snack, make a healthy sandwich, or use salted lard when preparing a dressing for borscht or potatoes. If you do not abuse it and observe moderation, your body will only be grateful to you for such natural, high-quality food.

From Rome to Columbus

The word “fat” comes from the Proto-Slavic “sadlo”, which is the same root as the modern Russian word “to sit down”. The analogy that can be seen here is that lard seems to “sit” on the meat, is on top of it, “sits” on the meat just like a suit “sits.” In some Slavic languages, such as Slovak, lard is still denoted using the archaic form "sadlo".

Despite the fact that today lard is a symbol of the national cuisine of Ukraine, the first mention of eating lard was recorded in ancient Italy, where workers working in quarries ate it. Lard is a very high-calorie product, so if you eat a few pieces on an empty stomach, you can quickly curb your appetite. In addition, when salted, it is much more convenient to store than meat. The Italians took Lardo lard with them, eating it along with bread, tomatoes and olives.

“Lardo” was prepared in special troughs made of Carrara marble, which maintained the temperature and humidity necessary for preparing the product. Pork lard was rubbed with sea salt, and the trough with garlic, after which the product was placed for a long time in a mixture of special spices. The lard was “matured” for six months in wine cellars or marble grottoes.

Gradually, Lardo from the food of the poor turned into a national dish exported. Cheap, tasty and satisfying food - Lardo has been known since Roman times. Emperor Justinian passed a law ordering the supply of Lardo to the army for Roman legionnaires.

Ukrainian style lard – recipes

Lard is a valuable fatty product of animal origin. Lard has particularly beneficial qualities; it contains vitamins A, E, B and polyunsaturated fatty acids, including arachidonic acid. In some countries, namely Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, the Baltic states, and some other Eastern European and German-speaking countries, lard is prepared as a separate product according to special traditional recipes and eaten as a separate snack.

It is believed that for the first time the ingenious and simplest idea of preparing lard by salting it raw was implemented in mass production not at all in Ukraine, as some people think, but in Northern Italy, where this wonderful product has been prepared since ancient times to this day.

However, one way or another, in Ukraine they especially love lard and consider it a local, sacredly significant product, one of the national and cultural symbols. Of course, people here are seriously skilled in the methods of preparing and preparing lard.

How to cook lard in Ukrainian?

Here are recipes for salting lard in Ukrainian in different ways.

Choosing good lard

When buying lard, pay attention to its freshness and color, and not to the thickness of the piece. Thin pieces of lard may indicate that the animal was young or a specialized meat breed; the pink color only indicates that the slaughter is not quite correct. It is best to choose fresh white lard with skin (you can have undercuts with thin layers of meat) from young animals (the color of the skin can be dark or light, which does not affect the quality of the lard). Purchased lard must be checked by a veterinary service. There are two main recipes for salting lard in Ukrainian: in brine and salting in a “dry” way.

Lard in brine in Ukrainian

pork lard with skin – 1 kg;
black or allspice peppercorns – 5-8 pcs.;
cloves – 3 inflorescences;
bay leaf – 3-5 pcs.;
garlic – 5 cloves;
coarse table salt;
water – up to 1 liter.

Cut the lard into rectangular pieces measuring approximately 5 by 8 cm and place in a clean glass jar or ceramic container along with coarsely chopped garlic and spices.

Pour water into the pan and add enough salt so that the raw egg floats to the surface; the salt must be completely dissolved. Boil the brine for 3 minutes, cool for 8 minutes and carefully pour into the lard so that it is completely covered. We close the container with a lid and leave it in a cool place (but not in the refrigerator) for 1 day, then place the jar in the refrigerator for another 2 days. We store the finished lard in brine, remove it as needed and cut it into thin slices, then you can use it to make wonderful sandwiches with bread, raw onions and herbs - accompanied by aromatic vodka with honey and horseradish - very tasty!

Recipe for salting lard in the Ukrainian “dry” way

pork lard with skin – 1 kg;
coarse salt;
ground black pepper.

Salting lard in the Ukrainian “dry” way is extremely simple, even easier than in brine.

Place the layer of lard on the board, skin side down, and make slits up to the skin in such a way as to mark rectangular-shaped pieces with an approximate size of 6 by 8 cm. Transfer the layer of lard to a sheet of parchment paper and sprinkle with salt and a small amount of ground black pepper. The pepper-salt mixture must get into the slits (you can also put pieces of garlic there). Wrap the lard in paper and place it in the refrigerator for 1 day, then transfer it to the freezer for another 2 days. We remove the salt from the finished salted lard with a knife and cut it into thin slices.

Recipe for boiled lard in Ukrainian

lard (or lard with layers of meat) – 1 kg;
allspice peas – 16 pcs.;
bay leaf – 5 pcs.;
cloves – 5 inflorescences;
salt;
onion peel;
ground red and black pepper.

Dissolve salt in 1 liter of water in such an amount that the raw egg floats to the surface. Place lard, cut into rectangular pieces, into a compact saucepan (see size above). Fill with brine, add onion skins and all the spices. Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Cool in brine, then remove and, when the water has drained, sprinkle with ground pepper. Store in a closed container in the refrigerator.

Popular recipes

There are a lot of ways to salt lard; the most popular ones are presented below. Next, you choose according to your taste. Pay attention to storage lines.

Classic method of lard in brine

The product prepared in this way turns out to be softer and more delicate in taste than salted in a dry way. In the second option, freezing the product will add piquancy to it.

The amount of spices and salt can be varied. Let's consider several methods of this salting.

First method. Ingredients:

Cut the product into pieces approximately the size of a fist.
Place in a saucepan and fill with cold water to the brim. Add salt, 200 g is about 5-6 tablespoons. Boil.
Leave covered for 3 minutes.
Remove the lid and let it sit at room temperature for about 12 hours.
Take out, sprinkle with spices, rub with crushed garlic (optional).
Place in a container and leave in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours.

Without loss of quality and taste, it can be stored in a cool place for up to 2 years.

Second way. Ingredients:

2-3 heads of garlic;
4 bay leaves;
a few peas of allspice.

Cut the lard into small pieces. Rub with salt and leave in a cool place (or in the refrigerator) for 2 days.
Take it out and put it in boiled water. Add garlic, leaf, peppercorns.
Cook for no more than 5 minutes.
Cool, wrap in cling film, and place in the freezer of the refrigerator for a day.
The next day you can try.

Ukrainian lard: recipe with photos

Another way to prepare lard in Ukrainian is “dry”. Using this recipe, you can pickle delicious lard quickly and easily.

Three days after salting, you can try this delicious Ukrainian-style lard. The most delicious thing is to put a thin slice on a piece of bread, smeared with mustard. Yes, with freshly cooked Ukrainian borscht - delicious! Let's cook.

Description of preparation:

Salting lard is very simple. The most amazing thing is that it is impossible to oversalt it, because it will take as much salt as it needs. In addition to traditional garlic, you can always add your favorite spices for flavor. The choice of lard is very individual: some people like it with a minimum of meat layers, while others like it the other way around. This salting method can safely be called one of the most successful, so I recommend it!

Purpose: For lunch / For dinner Main ingredient: Meat / Offal / Lard / Salt Dish: Appetizers / Salty Geography of cuisine: Ukrainian / European

basic information

Raw lard should not be consumed, as this can lead to infection with various diseases. Fried food is very harmful: all the beneficial substances are emasculated from it, leaving only carcinogens. But salty food retains all its advantages. The main thing is to decide on the salting method.

removes harmful substances from the body (salts of heavy metals, toxins, etc.);
does not contain carcinogens;
cleanses the blood of cholesterol;
prevents the development of malignant tumors;
helps in the treatment of lung and liver diseases;
contains vitamins A, E, D, F and beneficial amino acids;
is not radioactive.

Salted lard is a masterpiece of Ukrainian culinary thought

Not only fresh lard is salted, but also boiled lard, so you can diversify your diet with different versions of this dish.

Surprisingly, properly salted lard is almost a dietary product, since it is almost impossible to gain weight from it. Ukrainian-style salted lard can be served as a separate appetizer or used later to prepare a variety of pasty appetizers and even as a component during the preparation of Ukrainian borscht. The best recipes for salting this product were passed down by Ukrainian housewives from mother to daughter, so this dish has passed through the centuries and currently has a lot of fans among lovers of Ukrainian cuisine. The main thing in salting is to adhere to the recipe and the subtleties of choosing the main ingredients so that the result is truly unsurpassed.

How to choose the right lard and salt for salting according to Ukrainian recipes?

In order to get the perfect salted lard, it is very important to choose the most important ingredient. There are several criteria for choosing this product, including its quality, freshness and, of course, the presence or absence of a meat layer. It’s worth noting right away that lard that has a meat layer and those that don’t are subject to salting. In this case, it all depends on individual preferences, but if the dish is planned to be used as a snack, it is worth paying attention to the one that has a meat layer, although it is usually more expensive due to the peculiarities of raising pigs to obtain such fat. It is very important that the lard is fresh, as old lard after salting takes on an unpleasant aftertaste.

So, when purchasing lard, you need to carefully inspect it; it should have a pink or yellow crust without any fur residue, that is, carefully processed. The color of the lard itself should be light pink or white, but in no case bluish or purple. If lard is purchased without a meat layer, it is necessary that its thickness be at least 4-5 cm. If lard with a layer is taken, a layer of pure lard of 2 cm is allowed, and then mixed layers of meat and lard. In addition, a good product for pickling should not have any foreign odors or tastes. Usually only the product obtained from old or sick pigs, as well as adult boars, has an unpleasant odor and sometimes smells strongly of urine, so it is better not to purchase this. Fresh, beautiful lard without foreign odors is exactly what you need to prepare the perfect snack according to traditional Ukrainian recipes.

Salt is the second most important ingredient needed for salting, and not just any salt will do the job. Currently, there are a wide variety of salts on the market, with varying degrees of processing and even with the addition of additional components, for example, iodine, but such processed salt is not the best option for salting. In order for the lard to be saturated with salt to the entire depth of the piece, it is very important that the salt melts slowly, because the time for which the main ingredient needs to be placed in the salt is quite long. Considering this undoubtedly important parameter for salt, we have to admit that the best option would be ordinary rock salt, which has undergone a minimum of processing.

SHASHLIK NAPOLEON on a spit

Seven varieties of lard are served to guests by 47-year-old Yuriy Matuzka, chef of the Kyiv restaurant “Khutorok on the Dnieper.”

— One of our types of lard is general’s lard. It has a layer of meat. Therefore, it is the most expensive on the market and here.

The chef himself goes to the market to choose it. He loves it very much and tries it when he buys it.

— The lard must be homemade and of high quality. This can be marinated, dried and spices added. I make sure that there is sprout - a layer of meat. The skin is soft. Please let me try not the piece cut off from the top, but the piece cut lengthwise. Then you can feel the real taste and quality. You can immediately cut it and put it on a plate.

Salted lard is a masterpiece of Ukrainian culinary thought

Not only fresh lard is salted, but also boiled lard, so you can diversify your diet with different versions of this dish.

How to choose the right lard and salt for salting according to Ukrainian recipes?

Lard at home. Is it better to cook it yourself or buy it at the store?

You can prepare many dishes from lard. They eat it as a snack, make sandwiches with it, and some even cook borscht from it. In a famous song, Vysotsky says that the most ordinary potato is transformed when you mash it with lard. When you think about this, you immediately want to eat a piece, but where can you get it?

The first thought that comes up is to buy in a store, this is the simplest and most affordable solution. However, if salted lard looks appetizing on a supermarket display, the sight of chilled unsalted lard is somewhat repulsive. Yes, a store is not what we need, but there is also a market!

The choice at the market is much wider: there you can always find fresh lard that you can touch, and salted lard that you can taste. It is better, of course, to buy the product from the owner, and not from resellers; only in this case can you obtain comprehensive information.

When choosing, you should give preference to pig lard rather than wild boar lard: it tastes better and does not have an off-putting odor. To be more confident, you should not only smell it, but also scorch it a little. A quality product should exude a delicate and subtle aroma, but not the smell of urea.

The most delicious are pieces of lard from the side or back of a pork carcass. This thin-skinned lard is the most tender and suitable for consumption both raw and salted, as well as smoked and stewed.

If the lard has a reddish tint, this indicates that the pig could not be slaughtered for a long time, and particles of blood have penetrated into the lard, which will certainly affect the taste of the lard. It is also useful to know that fresh lard should not have a yellowish or grayish tint, and its optimal thickness is from 3 to 6 cm.

It follows that lard can still be bought (and not in a store, but at the market), but it is certainly better to cook lard yourself. Firstly, you will be confident in the quality of the product, and secondly, you will be able to choose the perfect recipe and focus on all your taste preferences.

The easiest way to salt lard

So, first of all, you need to cut the lard so that the pieces are no more than 4-5 cm wide and about 8-10 cm long. Such sizes of pieces will allow the lard to be well salted in a fairly short time. Next you need to prepare the spices for pickling. As a rule, regular pickling uses garlic or red pepper, salt and no other ingredients. Garlic or red capsicum, depending on what was decided to be used, must be thoroughly ground, for which you can use a blender, and the resulting mass must be thoroughly mixed with salt; do not worry if the composition turns out to be somewhat wet - this is quite normal for salting.

It is best to carry out salting in a glass container; any other will not work, since a reaction is possible, so first you need to pour 2-3 mm of the prepared spice mixture onto the bottom of a suitable container, so that later you can put pieces of lard on it. Before placing the lard in a container for salting, it is necessary to thoroughly rub it with a mixture of spices, on all sides. You need to make sure that the lard is completely covered with salt, otherwise it will not be salted. Next, the prepared pieces need to be placed in a salting container, but so that they are placed tightly to each other. The remaining spice mixture should be sprinkled on top of the lard.

Next, you need to cover the dish in which the product is salted with a lid and place it in a dark place for 2-3 days so that the dish is well saturated with salt. When the required time has arrived, you need to take out the lard and carefully clean off the excess salt from the sides. It is strictly not recommended to leave lard in salt for long-term storage, as it quickly loses its taste and becomes old and suitable only for cooking various dishes with it, for example, frying potatoes.

Salted lard with herbs in Ukrainian

In order for the lard to end up softer and have a spicy taste, Ukrainian housewives include some herbs in the spices for salting lard. But you need to properly prepare the herbal ingredients so that they give the desired effect. So, for high-quality salting of lard you will need garlic, dill, cumin, marjoram and cardamom.

All herbal ingredients are needed exclusively in dried form. In order to achieve the desired result, it is best to grind the herbs in a mortar or blender. Garlic also needs to be chopped to add spices. All spices must be mixed in proportions of 3 cups salt and 1 cup chopped dry herbs. The spice mixture should be set aside for several days so that the salt is saturated and only after that you can start salting the lard.

The lard needs to be prepared for salting, that is, cut into small pieces for further display in a glass container. As in the first case, you need to add a small layer of salt to the bottom of the dish, and pour the remaining spices on top. The sealed container with the salted dish should be placed in a dark, cool place for 3 days, after which you need to clean off the excess salt and enjoy the delicious spicy salsa.

Salting boiled lard according to Ukrainian recipe

Salted boiled lard, of course, is not as durable as fresh lard and cannot be stored for more than 7 days, but this option for preparing this dish is worth the effort. For this method of salting, you should not take the ingredients by eye. For 0.5 kg of lard you will need 5-6 tbsp. spoons of salt, bay leaf, dill, several cloves of garlic, onion peels.

To prepare boiled salted lard, it is better to take a product with a meat layer, it will turn out much tastier. First you need to boil water and add a large amount of onion peels to it, this is necessary so that the final dish acquires a beautiful golden hue. Next, you need to place all the plant spices and, of course, salt into the water.

Lastly, chopped lard is added to the water. The water must completely cover the pieces, otherwise the lard will salt unevenly. There is no need to worry that the final dish will be too salty, since with this method of preparation, exactly the amount needed for optimal salting is absorbed. The optimal cooking time for lard for salting is 15-20 minutes, after which it must be removed from the water and rubbed with pepper. The finished dish prepared in this way should not be stored for a long time, as it will spoil; in addition, it is not recommended to freeze it, as this will affect the taste.

Boiled smoked lard

Everyone will agree that lard prepared with your own hands at home is not only much tastier than store-bought, but also healthier.
Indeed, in this case, no flavor enhancers, stabilizers or other additives are used for cooking. Cooked-smoked lard is not only surprisingly tasty, but also looks beautiful. To prepare you will need:

kilogram of lard;
water – 4 liters;
salt – 100 gr.;
laurel leaf;
peppercorns;
foil;
metal container;
fruit tree sawdust.

Put bay leaf, salt, pepper into the water and boil.
Put lard there and boil for fifteen minutes. Remove the product from the pan and place it in a bowl or on a board until it cools.
Take a dry metal container (you can use a cauldron or a saucepan with thick walls). Place sawdust on the bottom.
Place some kind of lattice stand over the wood chips. Next you need to put foil and lard on it. Cover with a lid and place on very low heat. Smoke for 30-40 minutes.
After this, the fire must be removed, the container must not be opened, but left as it is until it cools completely, about eight hours. Serve thinly sliced on a platter, you can garnish with herbs.

When smoking lard, it is very important that the lid fits tightly to the vessel. Smoke should not come out.

Small subtleties of salting lard

Regardless of how you salt lard, you must first prepare this product. Few people know that lard bought at the market should not be washed before salting; it must be scraped with a knife. This is a rather painstaking process, but this is how you can get rid of all contaminants, because fat can absorb many substances that it comes into contact with, and it is simply impossible to wash the fat well with water. The product is scraped until the top loose layer is removed. Only carefully prepared lard can be properly salted, so you should pay special attention to this.

Housewives make a big mistake by adding large amounts of garlic to spices. This ingredient, of course, makes the product more tasty, but still there is no need for excessive spiciness. Everything needs to be in moderation, so it is recommended to add no more than 2-3 cloves to the spices. Some people try to replace garlic with black pepper, which is almost pointless, since this ingredient is more for adding smell than taste. Traditional salting recipes allow you to get the perfect salted lard, so in this case there is little point in experimenting, since these recipes have been tested for centuries.