A wonderful recipe that will allow you to enjoy the aromatic lard that melts in your mouth at home. No smoke and soot. It is very simple to implement it in an apartment, you need to know just a couple of secrets and follow the correct technology. But the taste is simply divine, so much so that all the home and guests can even swallow their fingers.
1. Which fat is better to take?
For cooking, we take already purchased salted lard or prepared ourselves. If you want to personally salt it, you need to count on this process to take at least a week. The purchased piece is sprinkled with salt, if desired, spices and garlic and sent to infuse in the refrigerator. This method of salting is called dry, in its own juice. For cooking to taste, choose a piece of pure bacon or with one or two layers of meat. It turns out even tastier and more interesting with them.
2. Preparatory stage
Salted lard, first of all, must be rinsed under water to remove excess salt. Many culinary experts believe that after this it should be dried dry with paper towels. It is desirable but not required. If you leave a little moisture, the lard becomes softer, it melts in the mouth better and is soaked in smoked products, so everything can be left as it is if you wish. Better yet, try both. Next, you need to pour special chips for smoking into a pre-prepared pot. The most delicious is bacon cooked on alder and fruit chips. But you can also choose beech to your taste. One small handful of each species is enough.
3. Correct use of foil
Smoked bacon in an apartment cannot be cooked perfectly if there is no foil. From it you need to cut off a small square, a little larger in size than the top of the pot. Then we take a deep bowl, turn it over, put the foil on it and use it to repeat the shape of the plate. Thus, an impromptu plate will turn out from foil. It is in it that we will put lard so that fat and juices from it do not drip onto the chips. In this way, excessive smoking and burning can be avoided.
4. To be continued
Put a grate on top of the foil. You can buy it at any hardware store. The fat needs to be cut into small pieces or simply cut to the skin. Now we put it on the wire rack with the sandpaper down. Close the top of the pot with a lid that matches the size - so that there are no gaps on the sides. But first, the lower part of the lid must be wrapped in foil. So all the cracks will be well closed, and smoke and excess odors will not get into the apartment. Of course, a weak aroma will still spread throughout the kitchen, but it is rather pleasant and will not cause any inconvenience. It will help warm up your appetite in advance.
5. We put on the stove
We put a closed pot with bacon on maximum heat. In this mode, it should cook for 15 minutes. After that, turn off the fire and, without opening the lid, let the lard brew. It should take 2 hours to fully cook. The lard will slowly languish and then gradually cool down. For this period, it can be taken out of the apartment onto the balcony so that the smell does not spread much.
6. Done, you can try
After the time has elapsed, the bacon can be removed from the pan. It is still warm, so put it on a plate and let it cool slightly. In order for the lard to fully infuse and acquire the desired solid condition, it must be sent to the refrigerator overnight (or at least for a couple of hours). Without refrigeration, it will also be tasty, but not so, since during this period all smoking processes are completed.
But contrary to popular belief, lard is useful. No kidding! As well as ketchup, ice cream and other 7 foods that are supposedly harmful.