Rendering fat

We urgently needed space in our various freezers so we have taken out all the bags of lemon skins (we used the lemons initially to make lemon curd) and pig fat. The fat is now being rendered so that we can renew our supply of lard. The fat was mainly bacon rind and the fatty bits of pork joints from our Tamworth pigs. It has all been chopped up and added to a couple of pans with a bit of water over the bottom. Gradually the fat has been liquifying in the heat. Every 15 minutes or so, the fat is drained into a bowl.

Rendering fat in the domestic kitchen is a dying skill. We had to go back to books and government advice leaflets from the war years to work out how to do it.