Cracklins

[Big7]

Guy here homesteading, making lard and cracklings from leaf fat. It's the whole process, starting when his neighbor gave him the fat to putting it in the jars. I know this ain't rocket science but it could be useful to some folks. It's a good "survival food" that can be used for many things. Fishing out the cracklings starts a little past 3/4 of the way through.

 

[sbroadwell]

Yep, Stricklands is good. Bells here has it, and it’s what I use when I’m too lazy to make my own. Mine is better, a recipe I got years ago from the Market Bulletin,but takes some time.
And, I make my own cracklings like that. Use a big cast iron Lodge fish cooker in the oven at about 350F, for several hours. I end up with cracklings and lard

 

[NCHillbilly]

Where I grew fat was trimmed off the hams, shoulders and all other pieces of the hog before this meat was cured. The fat was cut into pieces about the size of the end of your thumb. These pieces were cooked in an iron pot over an open fire to render the lard. This lard was very necessary for cooking and making bread etc in earlier times. These little pieces of fat left in the pot after the lard was removed were known as cracklins. No skin involved. These cracklins were as Nic said were tasty morsels to be eaten out of hand or used in corn bread.

100%.

 

[redeli]

luv them

 

[Hoss]

Where I grew fat was trimmed off the hams, shoulders and all other pieces of the hog before this meat was cured. The fat was cut into pieces about the size of the end of your thumb. These pieces were cooked in an iron pot over an open fire to render the lard. This lard was very necessary for cooking and making bread etc in earlier times. These little pieces of fat left in the pot after the lard was removed were known as cracklins. No skin involved. These cracklins were as Nic said were tasty morsels to be eaten out of hand or used in corn bread.

Tended to eat more beef growing up, but when a hog was butchered, this is how my Grandmother and mother rendered lard and made cracklins.

 

[notnksnemor]

What do you call a cracklin?

Tasty!

I'll leave the molecular make up of them to others and concentrate on eatin' 'em.

 

[Jim Baker]

When I worked summers in the Packing house one of my jobs was shoveling fresh cooked cracklins out of the lard rendering pot. the pot was about 8 ft across and 4 ft deep. The cracklins would be removed after the lard was collected. Long story but there are few things better than fresh, warm cracklin just rendered.

 

[mrs. hornet22]

Used to put them in cornbread, but my old teeth don't work like they used to. I gotta save what I have left.

 

[Core Lokt]

Leaf lard is the layer on the underside of the top of the ribs. People pay goot money for it. Mostly used in baking goods. We have orders for it at the hog kill'n a lot of times.