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Leaf Lard

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What is Leaf Lard?

Leaf lard is the fat that surrounds the pig’s kidneys. It is of very high quality and, when rendered, makes some of the best tasting and flakiest crusts ever! Don’t let the name lard put you off. It is lower in saturated fat and cholesterol than butter.Leaf Lard

I was introduced to leaf lard when I was given a one pound container some years ago.

The creamy white substance looked similar to store bought shortening my grandma used in liberal amounts. She was the pie-baker in the family but went to her grave with her crust recipe!

I’d always heard lard makes the best crusts. Searching it out, all I could find was the boxed stuff in the grocery store international section and wondered if there might be another option.

The gift of this little tub was a great opportunity to learn and I got right to work experimenting. I made crust after crust, trying to get the right ratio of butter and lard to create a pie crust that is:

  • flavorful
  • light
  • flaky
  • and easy to work with.

The Great Pie Crust Quest took over two years of work. Friends were ever-willing testers, offering feedback, suggestions and encouragement, every step of the way.

Some days I made four versions of crust to try, tweaking amounts of butter, leaf lard, water, not to mention flour, a whole subject in itself.

Others have discovered this old-fashioned ingredient, too. Lorna Yee (Seattle Magazine and Cookbook Chronicles) calls it her “porcine secret”. Ashley Rodriguez of notwithoutsalt has a short and informative video about rendering your own in which she demonstrates one of the methods to make your own.  It’s quite easy to do.

Where to Purchase?

But most of us will be wanting to purchase some already rendered and then the question is where can one find leaf lard? With a little sleuthing hopefully you will find some. Here are a few suggestions:

  • Ask your local artisan butcher for rendered leaf lard.
  • Check at farmers markets.
  • Do a web search for buy leaf lard and your bound to come up with some places that will mail order right to your door!
  • And a few folks online that I know that sell.

How to Store?

An Update (Aug 25, 2011) :
I’ve been asked about how much leaf lard do I use. I have gone through up to 50 pounds of leaf lard in my workshops each month at times. If you buy it already rendered, you can store it in your freezer for one year and at least six months in the fridge.

Comments

  1. Are you willing to share your favorite pie crust recipe with lard? I’d love to try this!

    Reply

  2. I live in Magnolia and am thrilled to know you are in the neighborhood. I hope to take one of your classes in the near future. I am intriqued to try the rendered leaf lard. I know that when Shauna first started the gluten-free diet she consulted and recommended my book in the process. I look forward to meeting her someday too. She is such a great writer and has done much to lift those on the gluten-free diet out of the doldrums with her wit and wonderful view on life. Right now the fat in my gluten-free pie crust recipe consists of butter–I have experimented with lard in the recipe without good results. I hope to learn more, thank you. Karen

    Reply

  4. I have been trying to make a crut for pies and am not having much luck, I have enrolled in a pie crust class at King arthur flour in Norwich Vermont but have hear how good leaf lard is and after reading what you have above was wondering if you have ever revealed your recipe for the pie crust using leaf lard. If so can you tell me how to find it. Thank You. Al

    Reply

  5. Hi Albert! Oh how I would love to attend a King Arthur Pie Class. They are coming to my neck of the woods in the Fall when they take their baking show on the road. It’s on my calendar! I’m looking forward to meeting the fine KA bakers.

    Now to answer your question. The recipe is out there on the web. If you type in my name and pie crust you’ll probably find it!

    Please check back in and let us know how the KA class is!

    Reply

  8. Many years ago I would buy kidneys, and the butcher would just throw in the surrounding suet and fat. {It would have gone for animal feed} I would grate the suet to make dumplings then render the fat down for my pastry. Over the years I have been seduced by all this fancy advertising that we are bombarded with,and of course my cooking {and health} have paid the price. As of today, I’m back on track, thank you for the nudge. Maureen.

    Reply

    • If you do a web search for leaf lard you’re sure to come up with some places that will mail order to you. Also, check your local artisan butchers and farmers markets. You will want to get already rendered leaf lard but rendering yourself is very easy, too.

      Reply

    • Prairie Pride Farm website! A little on the pricy side, but I intend on buying some. Happy Pie baking & making.

      Reply

  10. We’ve bought a lot of leaf lard over the years. The absolute best I’ve ever had, hands down is “Fannie and Flo” from Etsy. I’m ordering monthly now. Don’t know how they do it, but these old women are rendering goddesses- they know what they’re doing and the price is right! I get the best recipes from them with my orders and they remember me, old school customer service for sure.

    Reply

  11. Fatworks makes great leaf lard and they source from small pasture raised farms throughout the country. They are the best source I have found by far and really care about high quality fats of all kinds. I will say that they are expensive but as I don’t use it a lot of lard it lasts a while at my home. Also they are USDA. Many of the people selling meat on esty, of which lard is classified, are doing so illegally.

    Reply

    • Beverly your statement is inaccurate. I have been licensed under the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture to produce lard for direct to consumer sales. What the USDA certification allows for is wholesale and commercial sales. This is the main reason most people assume this to be true. The local health department and Penn Dept of Agri had to be show how rendered animal fats are exempt from the laws pertaining to PHF sales (meats/potentially hazardous foods). So, no animal fats are not categorized as meats by the FSIS or USDA. What follows is taken from the CFR (Code of Federal Regulations). Animal fats are an exemption from USDA certification if rendered in licensed kitchen and sold direct to consumers.

      §303.1 Exemptions.
      (a) The requirements of the Act and the regulations in this subchapter for inspection of the preparation of products do not apply to:
      (d)(1) The requirements of the Act and the regulations in this subchapter for inspection of the preparation of products do not apply to operations of types traditionally and usually conducted at retail stores and restaurants, when conducted at any retail store or restaurant or similar retail-type establishment for sale in normal retail quantities or service of such articles to consumers at such establishments

      (i) Operations of types traditionally and usually conducted at retail stores and restaurants are the following:

      (c) Curing, cooking, smoking, rendering or refining of livestock fat, or other preparation of products, except slaughtering or the retort processing of canned products;

      (e) Wrapping or rewrapping products.

      I know this because I am one of those people on Etsy (Lardist) and it is completely legal and safe. Be happy to share a link to the entire Code of Federal Regulations.

      Cheers!
      Douglas

      Reply

  13. Where I live in Canada lard is commonly available in all supermarkets, as a packaged product in one pound packages. It’s what I’ve used for pies forever, much in preference to shortening. I do also use butter for some pies. In my family, on all sides, this type of lard has always been used for baking by the most accomplished of pie-makers.

    I’m a bit confused that I can find no mention of this kind of packaged lard in your book or here online. I’m assuming that the commercially packaged lard is not rendered leaf lard.

    The most prominent brand here is Tenderflake (http://tenderflake.ca/product/pure-lard/), although I can’t say that I’ve found generic brands particularly inferior.

    What are your thoughts about packaged lard?

    Reply

    • Thank you for providing the link to Tenderflake. I can only speak to the fats I have direct experience with in my baking in the US.

      I see Tenderflake is the first lard in the Canadian retail marketplace to carry the non-hydrogenated claim and from the company website the ingredients are “Pure lard, bha, bht, citric acid.” In the US, packaged Armour lard’s ingredients are: “lard and fully hydrogenated lard, bha, propyl gallate and citric acid.” Bha and propyl gallate are both suspect as being carcinogenic. My understanding is that bht may be as well.

      I use rendered leaf lard which is fat specifically from around the kidneys of the pig. Both Tenderflake and Amour lard may use fat from other unspecified areas of the pig. For these reasons I do not use packaged lard.

      Reply

      • Thanks for your response. I still do remain a bit confused. I know that you have recipes for use of shortening (e.g. Crisco) which also uses a preservative closely related to BHA. On the basis of what I’ve read I personally doubt that these preservatives are likely to have an impact on health, and they are certainly ubiquitous in many foods. Hard to avoid.

        Since Crisco is at least partially hydrogenated, like some kinds of packaged lard, and since both use preservatives, I’m curious why you don’t address use of packaged lard. I have no doubt that leaf lard has taste, and possibly health, benefits, but it is way more inconvenient and expensive than regular packaged lard — so why not make it an option, or at least talk about it? Just curious, maybe I’m missing something.

        Reply

        • I’ve always felt that it is wise to try a recipe as written once, and change it to one’s own preferences if desired after. I prefer the flake and flavor of rendered leaf lard. If you or any reader would like to sub out leaf lard for boxed lard or vegetable shortening, it is fine. A recipe is a starting place and the art of pie making is its interpretation.

          Reply

  14. Hi there,

    I rendered some leaf lard myself. And when I just tried to use it in my pie dough it felt too hard — like little rocks in the dough! Should I let it come to room temperature before I “smoosh” it? Did I maybe do something wrong in the rendering process? It’s just really hard when I try to scoop it out of the jar.

    Thanks!
    Jacob

    Reply

    • Butter will start melting at 59F and leaf lard at a lower temp than that. I don’t think there’s much of ANYTHING that can go awry in the rendering process as it’s just melting fat. When it’s done and chilled, it shouldn’t feel like little rocks unless you are using it straight out of the freezer, which I don’t think you are. Even if you were, it should warm up to a temp so it is “smooshable”.

      Reply

      • Kate,

        Thank you for your super fast response! I ended up making a new batch of dough but this time I let the lard sit out in the flour until it felt “smooshable.” I think it worked out well and have a pecan pie in the oven now! If you happen to be in San Francisco – you should stop by West Portal and have a slice.

        -Jacob

        Reply

  15. Kate – I think the shop sold me some bad leaf lard when I look at other pictures of what it should look like. It seems like the stuff they gave me has a lot of connective tissue or there was something else going on. I wish I had a picture of what it looked like but it was so long ago. I ended up just throwing it out and using some rendered stuff from FannieandFlo on etsy and it has been wonderful. I will try rendering my own again at a future date.

    Reply

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