Granny makes the best biscuits. She just does. Procedure matters, as with most things baking. Her process is important, but her secret ingredients are love and lard.

Her love is her’s alone and isn’t available for purchase. Lard, on the other hand, can be purchased.

What Is Lard?

Lard is rendered pork fat. During the butchering processes, excess fat that isn’t used for other cuts of meat is rendered down to produce a nearly pure fat.

Some cuts are preferred because they are fatty. Pork belly, which becomes bacon, and the thick layer of fat on the back — called fatback — are two cuts prized for the fat. Fatback is used for sausage making, barding or larding lean cuts of game; or for curing into dishes like Salo.

How Lard Is Made

To render the fat from the pork, the cut is heated slowly, which causes the fat to melt from the rest of the tissue. Describing the rendering process can get a bit sciency — and here, we discuss cooking. See below for a simple, easy-to-follow explanation.

Fat is stored in fat cells. Fat cell walls, called the cell membrane, are made up of various proteins, phospholipids, cholesterol, and a small amount of carbohydrates. Remember the proteins; they are the key to understanding how lard is made.

Protein responds to heat in predictable ways, which chemists call denaturing. When you heat a protein, expected and predictable things happen: the proteins change their shape. Think about a ball of Scotch tape. It’s a big sticky mess and impossible to unravel. A protein is a bit like that, a ball of stuff sticking to itself. When enough heat is applied to that ball of protein, the hydrogen bonds break and that ball starts to unwind and become a straight-ish strand of protein. Chemists call that denaturing.

As the cell membrane heats during rendering, it denatures just like meat does. As the membrane denatures, the solid fat turns liquid and runs out of the now large (that’s relative) holes in the membrane. As the fat keeps cooking, the Maillard reaction starts to caramelize what remains of the cell walls. Water, in the fat and from the denatured cell membrane, boils off — leaving yummy crispins and clear fat.

Types of Lard

Lard comes in three forms: rendered, processed, and leaf lard.

Rendered lard is the simplest form. It is what was described above. Home cooks can render lard at home from fatback they buy at the grocery store or from the butcher or a pig farmer who butchers on-site.

Rendered fat is heated at relatively low heat for as long as is required to extract the fat. This process can be made more efficient if the fat to be rendered is ground or diced into small pieces.

Processed lard comes with a terminology issue. Rendered lard is, by definition, processed. A new category seems confusing. This category means more processing than the bare minimum was performed on the lard.

Hydrogenation is the complex process of adding hydrogen atoms to the carbon chain making up the fatty acid. Brittanica.com explains that a fatty acid is a series of carbon atoms bonded to each other and hydrogen atoms attached to the carbon atoms. A carboxylic acid molecule is at the end of the carbon chain, which gives the whole thing the phrase fatty acid. 

Hydrogenation forces hydrogen atoms onto the carbon chain where it can bond. When a carbon chain has all the hydrogen atoms it can hold, it is saturated with hydrogen, which we call saturated fat. Shelf life, improved flavor, and consistent texture are three benefits of hydrogenation. 

Deodorization of lard is often the last stage. Deodorization doesn’t seem to have any impact on the consistency of the hydrogenated lard.

Processed lard can be partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated. In both cases, the added hydrogen molecules alter the composition of the fatty acid chain, which makes saturated fat solid at room temperature.

Leaf lard is granny’s secret to those amazing biscuits. Leaf lard is a lard made from the visceral fat that surrounds the kidneys and resembles — roughly, a leaf. Visceral fat is found in the abdominal cavity.

Leaf lard is the smoothest lard, has a high smoke point, and is the best lard for baking. Leaf lard is seldom seen in grocery stores.

Choosing the Best Lard

The best lard might be the lard you can buy at the grocery store. If the choice is something or nothing, well, that’s not really a choice. Buy what you can.

If the lard in the store is dusty, maybe that store has low turnover. Check the package for an expiration date. Not all packages will have such a date. The further into the future the date reads the better the chance that’s a new package.

Look for packages, boxes, tubs, or jars, that appear undisturbed and not cracked or broken. 

Broken glass jars risks glass in you or your food. Cracked plastic tubs or torn paper boxes leave openings for oxygen to come in contact with the lard. Exposure to oxygen can lead to the lard developing off flavors, from mild to putrid, and possible unpleasant odors. The biggest challenge with damaged containers is there’s no way to know how long that container has been broken and allowing oxygen to come in contact with the lard.

Food terms can be confusing and hard to decipher. Lard that is certified organic means those hogs were not cages, were not injected with GMO antibiotics and were not given hormones.

Pasture raised or sustainable farming isn’t a legal term; it is a point of pride for the farmer. Hogs raised in pastures likely were not subjected to hormones or antibiotics. It is possible they also didn’t pay to get the certified organic seal.

Non GMO fits in with the sustainable farming concept rejecting genetically modified organisms in the feed or medicine.

Online opportunities exist for lard, which range in price range and production quality.

Storing Lard

I store lard in the refrigerator. I know that I’ll be using it for something baking, pie crust or biscuits, and prefer cold lard to work into the flour. Cold lard doesn’t absorb flour as easily as warm lard. That leaves small pieces of lard in the pie dough or biscuit and that’s one of Granny’s secrets to superb, flaky biscuits (pie dough is actually a biscuit).

Cold lard doesn’t absorb flour as easily as warm lard.

Lard should be kept away from heat sources and light. Many packages already keep out the light, which makes that part easy. Kitchen Sanity website has some good information about lard storage and use: Airtight containers are best, if possible. The colder it is kept the longer it will last.

Store lard away from strong scented or flavored ingredients since fats will easily absorb the flavors around them.

Consumers interested in certified organic pigs sourced from regenerative farms can find such lard.

Lard’s Shelf Life

Fats and oils will go rancid. Left out at room temperature and well wrapped to keep out air and moisture, lard can last up to 6 months. Stored in the refrigerator, lard will last up to a year, and up to 2 years in the freezer.

Lard that smells off or has discolorations on the surface should be discarded.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where to buy lard

Most grocery store chains sell lard. Many online retail sites also sell lard. Some companies sell lard from their website. Check with your local butcher shop or grocery store meat department for pork fat if you want to make your own lard.

Is lard the same as shortening?

While they may appear the same, shortening is made from plant fats. Cottonseed oil was the first Crisco. Now, Crisco is made from soybean oil and palm oil.

What can you use in place of lard?

Various fats can replace lard, depending on the intended use. Butter is a good substitute in baking. Beef tallow is useful, although it might have a different flavor profile. Shortening can be used in place of lard for baking. Coconut oil can be used as a substitute for pan frying. Peanut oil is an acceptable substitute in the deep fryer (provided there are no allergy issues).

What is lard’s smoke point?

Lard smokes at around 370° F. That temperature makes lard a good fat for pan frying and egg cookery and stewing cabbage. 370° is a bit too low for sauteing pieces of meat or poultry that require a good browned surface.

Can you deep-fry with lard?

Absolutely! Lard is the best choice for doughnuts. Leaf lard is better, if you can find it and can afford it. Lard has nearly no flavor of its own so the fried foods develop the expected crunch without any oiliness.

Why is lard no longer used?

Lard lost out to hydrogenated seed oils when shortening was popularized. The decline continues for many decades. Chefs are relearning the value, both for flavor and for heart health, of lard and leaf lard. Information on Healthline suggests that the previously, firmly held thoughts about saturated fats may not be as simple, or as correct, as they were presented.