CrimeaPRESS reports:
Salt the lard. The main thing and the main thing in this matter is not to make a mistake with the choice on the market. Of course, many people prefer to shop in supermarkets, but this option is not suitable for our idea. We want to end up with a high-quality and tasty product, right? Therefore, it requires an appropriate ingredient.
How to choose the right lard for salting
So, arm yourself with optimism and a toothpick and head to the meat aisle. We find the fattest seller (skinny lard sellers, personally, arouse suspicion in me) and ask him to recommend lard for salting. We listen to him carefully, but we ourselves have a mustache and know that:
The best option for salting is lard from the back or side of the carcass. The thickness of the product must be at least 3 cm, excluding the skin. This is lard. Fat from the abdominal cavity is not suitable for salting, similarly to that located along the ridge. The fat in these places is covered with a sinewy film, and therefore hard.- The lard should have an even white or light pink color. Do not take lard with spots, too yellow or too dark (gray) areas. The presence of such “problem areas” indicates the advanced age of the animal or the staleness of the product.
- Pay attention to the skin. It should be thin, light yellow or pinkish in color. Must be tarred with straw. The color is beautiful and the smell is excellent. If the skin is brown and thick, then the product is not suitable for pickling.
- Oh yes… we have a toothpick!) Pierce the lard from the skin side one third of the length of the toothpick. It should enter easily, meeting virtually no resistance. Discard hard lard immediately.
- Don’t be shy to try the slice offered by the seller. The lard should literally melt in your mouth and have a delicate taste… Yes, but what can I say, try it and your taste buds will not let you down. The smell of the lard should be pleasant and fresh, because we are going to salt the lard, ensuring it has proper long-term storage.
So, we are happy and returned home with the purchase. The second issue we have to solve is the salting method. There are quite a few ways to salt lard, we will look at three main ones. Dry salted lard, lard in brine (brine) and lard boiled with spices. In all cases, the result is a tasty and healthy shelf-stable product.
Dry salted lard with spices
Salting lard using this method is quite simple. We need 300 gr. product, two tablespoons of salt, four to five cloves of garlic (optional), ground black pepper (half a teaspoon), a mixture of aromatic peppers in the same proportion and ground coriander.
We use all the purchased lard. We don’t cut it. Pass the garlic through a press, add salt and spices to it, mix everything thoroughly. Don’t be afraid of what is called “oversalting.” The product will take exactly as much salt as it needs.
Generously rub a piece of lard (in some dialects it is also called shmat) with the resulting mixture. Let rest for an hour and wrap in foil or cling film. Wrap it tightly. Leave in a cool place for twelve hours, after which we put it in the refrigerator for two or three days. The end result is a very tasty, tender product, which is recommended to be stored for no more than a month. However, I know firsthand that you won’t have such lard lying around. Yes, if you get a decent-sized piece, of course you need to cut it into narrow strips and correctly, proportionally, calculate the amount of spices.
Salt lard in brine
There are two methods of salting. Hot and cold. Let’s look at both. This method is a little more complicated and time-consuming. For one and a half kilograms of product we take a glass of salt, five to six cloves of garlic, three to four bay leaves, a dozen peppercorns, a mixture of allspice and ground red pepper, peels from a couple of onions, dill and water.
For the cold method
Put one and a half liters of water on the fire and add half a glass of salt and add onion skins for color. Boil until completely dissolved and saturated with color, 10 — 15 minutes. While our solution reaches its condition, we cut the lard into large enough pieces that will fit into a three-liter jar (classic), although you can use any container with an airtight lid.
In a separate container, mix spices and salt. Cut the garlic cloves into strips. Roll the pieces of lard in the resulting mixture and place the first layer in the container. Place garlic and bay leaves on top of it. Prepare and lay the next and subsequent layers in the same order. The salt, pepper and garlic remaining from the deboning are sent into an already boiling solution of saturated color. Boil for a few more minutes.
By the way, do you know who “invented” salted lard? Do you know for sure? You guessed wrong! It was invented three thousand years ago by the ancient Romans. And ancient sources claim that quarry workers ate this product. A special variety was called “Lardo”, and was capable, thanks to its extremely high calorie content, of saturating the body with energy for such hard physical labor. Lardo was prepared using specially prepared garlic and coarse sea salt. It is believed that the word “fat” is Proto-Slavic and comes from the word “sadlo”, meaning, in fact, a saddle, as well as its derivatives — to sit, sit down. By the way, “sadlo” still means lard in the Slovak language— educational program for Emilia.
So, let’s go back to our saddle… uh… that is, lard. We remove the onion skins from our brew and, with extreme caution, pour it (almost boiling) into a container with rows of lard. The liquid should completely cover the contents of the vessel. Close the lid tightly. Let cool to room temperature, then place in the refrigerator for a week. Open the lid periodically to prevent mustiness. During these periods, it is important to stop all attempts at home to get to the product ahead of time!!! Remember! They follow the smell)) And then this recipe will delight everyone with its deep, rich taste and aroma. After the specified time has passed, drain the brine, remove the lard from the jar, dry with paper towels, roll in spices to taste, place in suitable containers and put in the freezer. The shelf life is indecently long, but I don’t think there will be time to experiment with preservation.
Advice for doubters. Brine for lard can be properly prepared using a potato tuber or an egg. Place the available item in warm water and gradually add salt, stirring evenly. As soon as the potato floats, the brine of the correct proportion is ready, — educational program for Emilia.
Hot salting of lard
We take a piece of lard, cut it into four large pieces, put it in a saucepan, fill it with water (it is important to use neutral, filtered or bottled water) and put it on fire.
Bring to a boil and cook for 3-5 minutes. Turn off the heat and only then add salt. Cover the pan with a lid and leave for 12 hours. While the lard is undergoing water treatment, prepare the seasoning. Pass the garlic through press, add pepper and spices to taste. We take the lard out of the brine, dry it with paper towels, evenly cover it with a mixture of our ingredients, wrap each piece in foil and put it in the refrigerator overnight, although three to four hours is enough to give the product a surprisingly rich taste and smell.
Lard boiled with spices
Cut the lard into thin pieces and prepare a spice mixture of salt and pepper in a bowl with high walls. Coriander and other excesses in our case are based on preference. Add crushed garlic, we will still need it in uncut cloves, so take the garlic with a reserve.
Rub the prepared pieces with salt and leave for a couple of hours. Then we roll what we got, first in salt, then in a mixture of seasonings. We stuff the lard with garlic cloves to the permissible depth. After all the manipulations, put the lard in our container and arrange the pieces with a bay leaf. Cover with a clean towel and let our yummy rest for a couple of hours.
The second stage of preparation will be cooking. But unusual. We place the lard we have already prepared in a plastic food sealed (!) bag, tightly wrapping it around our future “signature dish”, removing the air as much as possible. However, you don’t need to make any special efforts, everything in moderation is good.
Place the bag in a pan of cold water, heat it and put it on the fire. Bring to a boil and cook for an hour over low heat. If the pieces are large, increase the cooking time. Turn off and leave in the bowl until completely cool. We take it out, wipe the bag from excess moisture and put the product in the refrigerator for several hours. Store in food foil or parchment, but not in polyethylene. Use by cutting into slices without peeling off the top layer of seasoning.
To summarize, I would like to remind you that the choice of seasonings and their total quantity is entirely a matter of your taste. If using spices for the first time, try not to overdo it. For example, if we are talking about chili peppers and other hot seasonings.
With this material we open the series of articles “Useful Tips”, we hope there will be a lot of interesting things for the reader.
Do you have your own proven recipes? Share with us in the comments.
More useful tips — HERE.
EMILIA KRIMSKAYA
reviewer
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