How to smoke lard at home, how to choose the right lard

Lard, seasoned with salt, pepper and spices, is loved by a huge number of people. Pork lard has been used since ancient times; it warms you up in the cold and quenches your appetite. The taste of lard depends on the quality of its preparation. No one will forget the taste of spicy salsa prepared using the cold smoking method. Today, some manufacturers even produce lard in chocolate. But nothing can compare with the traditional delicious aroma of a smoked product. Food should bring joy, so it’s worth learning how to smoke lard correctly.

The wisdom of home smoking

There are several ways to prepare lard at home.

1. Brick smoking. To do this, you need to take boards with bricks, arrange a kind of cabinet, the top of which must be covered with an iron sheet. Such a smokehouse must be connected to the chimney pipe in the attic.
2. You can use a smokehouse barrel in which a crossbar is placed for hanging lard. The bottom of the barrel is cut out and placed on bricks over the fire. The fireplace is lit using sawdust. The top of the barrel is covered with burlap. You can use two barrels stacked on top of each other.

For hot smoking, it is important to keep the lard in the marinade for 3 days. Who would have thought - the color of the smoke also matters! White smoke is considered the best. Yellow and brown tints indicate that the food is burning.

Preparation stage

Before smoking lard, you need to properly prepare the raw materials. How can I do that? There are several options. Some people prefer to simply cook the lard before smoking it. But for smoking it is recommended to marinate or salt the product. If you choose the marinating method, then the bacon will absorb all the flavors of the spices. Dry pickling is a simpler and faster option.

Note! Simply boiled raw materials turn out soft. And it’s difficult to say exactly how long to cook the product in order to achieve the optimal consistency, since everything is very individual.

This video will help you properly prepare boiled smoked lard at home:

Pickling

How to make pickled raw materials for smoking? Place pieces of lard into a deep container. Make a brine with spices and pour it over the slices. Place pressure on top and leave the bacon for 6 days.

Making marinade for smoked lard at home is very simple. First you need to take as much water as will completely cover the pieces, and add table salt to it. Mix until no grains remain. It is proposed to determine the sufficient amount of salt using a chicken egg. When it is grabbed, the egg floats to the surface. Spices are added to your taste. Often used for boiled lard:

• Bay leaf;
• allspice peas;
• paprika;
• black pepper.

Pre-chopped garlic is appropriate in the recipe.

Dry salting

You can make boiled smoked lard delicious if you salt it in advance. To do this, the bacon is cut into strips 5-6 cm wide. The length is determined independently to make it more convenient to place in the selected container. But we must remember: large chunks take a long time to salt.

Soak the lard for 3 hours in cold water. Drain the liquid. Dry the bacon. Generously rub dry preparations with a mixture of peppers and salt with the addition of garlic and seasonings. Place lard in a large container for salting. The oppression is fixed at the top. After 2-3 days the product is ready for home smoking. The main thing is to remove excess salt.

Note! Lard prepared by dry salting produces lard as a boiled product. There is no need to boil it additionally. This lard is suitable for hot smoking and cold smoking.

Features of cold smoking lard

Cold smoking differs from hot smoking in that it takes longer and the temperatures used are lower - about 20 degrees. When smoked, lard is stored for a long time due to good impregnation with smoke and loss of moisture from the product. What can you do to make the lard have a delicate and soft taste that “melts in your mouth”?

• At the preparatory stage, you need to salt the lard thoroughly.
• At the beginning of the process, the smoke should be weak.
• Do not allow high heat, otherwise smoking will turn into a hot method.

Direct smoking

All practical actions come down to a series of sequential steps:

1. The bottom of the smoking device is covered with a layer of wood chips or sawdust. Their number is determined by the volume of the smokehouse used. For example, for a ten-liter smokehouse, just a couple of handfuls are enough.
2. A tray is placed above the layer of sawdust to collect drops of fat that will clearly be released from the lard.
3. The pieces prepared for smoking are placed directly above the tray. They can be suspended on hooks or simply laid out on the smokehouse grate. It is necessary to leave small gaps between the pieces, which will ensure free circulation of smoke from the wood chips.
4. The filled smokehouse is covered with a lid or damp burlap and a fire is lit under it.
5. The fire should be of such intensity that the temperature in the smokehouse is about 80 ° C and no more. At this temperature, the lard will be smoked, not baked.
6. Smoking time always depends on the design features of the smokehouse used. How much to smoke is determined experimentally. As a rule, pieces of lard are smoked from min = 30 minutes to approximately max = 60 minutes.
7. At the end of the smoking process, the lard can be left in the smokehouse, or it can be removed immediately. The recommendations on this topic are completely opposite and you will have to decide on this issue yourself.
8. Warm lard taken out of the smokehouse is always wrapped in a clean cloth and placed in any cool place to cool completely.
9. After the hot smoked lard has cooled, they will taste it and evaluate the results of their own culinary deeds.
10. Cooked smoked culinary delights, unfortunately, can be stored even for less than a week. But keeping it in the freezer, and even in parchment, increases this period to two weeks.

This is how you can simply and easily prepare this amazing smoked delicacy yourself in a hot smoked smokehouse with a minimum of time spent.

Simple recipes for smoking lard

Lard can be made incredibly tasty and healthy.

1. The recipe is as follows. Using a sharp knife, you can scrape the skin a little, then sprinkle it with salt with a generous hand. Then the lard remains in the refrigerator for 24 hours. After this, the product should be washed, tied up and hung in the air. The cold method involves smoking at a temperature of 20 degrees for 12 hours. You should light a fire with fruit trees.
2. For the second recipe, you should use only fresh lard, not taking into account old or belly fat. First of all, it’s worth salting it well. Salt will collect excess moisture from the product. It is better if it lies in cold salting for 14 days. Then the salt is scraped off, the product is dried with a waffle towel and dried outside for 12 hours - this will remove the remaining moisture. You will have to keep the lard in the smokehouse for 3 days. A brown tint indicates the product is ready.

Smoked lard is a real delicacy. The main thing is to choose correctly.

How to salt lard for cold smoking: recommendations

People learned to smoke in ancient times, when there were no refrigerators, and meat and fish stocks had to be stored for a long time. The technology has not outlived its usefulness at present. Smoked meat is a favorite delicacy in many families. Stores sell ready-made salsa with a delicate smoky aroma, but sometimes doubts arise about its quality.

It's better to cook smoked bacon at home. Let's figure out together how to salt lard for cold smoking. Recommendations from professionals will be needed for those who decide to take this process seriously.

All that remains is to choose which salting method is more suitable for home conditions and give it preference.

Success will already be half guaranteed, and the rest is ensured by the right choice and achieved during the smoking process.

Having chosen a piece of thin belly or brisket with layers of meat, you need to cut it into strips. Then the lard is washed, dried with napkins or aired out. Use dishes whose walls do not oxidize. Previously, families had special barrels or wooden boxes; now you can take any container made of stainless steel or plastic.

Dry salting

It’s worth starting your acquaintance with the simplest method, which is called dry. The main ingredient will be salt, available to everyone. It’s better to take large or medium, you can use sea. Crystals can be mixed with ground pepper. The resulting mixture is generously spread with lard.

Then it is put into a container, where it will have to sit for 8-10 days. If there is no time, then sometimes they limit themselves to 2-3 days, but such a rush can be risky. While salting is in progress, you need to turn the pieces at least 1-2 times a day. When dry salting, you can mix salt with different seasonings. A great addition would be:

1. •coriander;
2. garlic;
3. Bay leaf;
4. paprika;
5. carnation;
6. cinnamon.

All ingredients are mixed until smooth, and then the resulting mixture is rubbed onto the prepared semi-finished products.

Dry salting has a number of advantages that you can pay attention to:

• A fairly simple method that does not require any prior training or skills;
• salting is quickly carried out by eye without the use of auxiliary objects (measuring cups, scales, spoons);
• performed with a minimum set of ingredients.

After the time specified in the recipes has expired, the lard is removed from the container. Use a knife to scrape off any unabsorbed salt. You can wipe it with a damp cloth to remove any remaining salt mixture, or rinse it under running water.

Another day the pieces become weathered. After the preparatory measures have been completed, you can hang the pieces in your home smokehouse for cold smoking.

The second no less common method of salting is wet. First you need to prepare a marinade of salt and spices. This technology requires maintaining proportions. The brine is cooked at the rate of 100 g of coarse salt per 1 liter of ordinary water.

Preparing the brine is simple:

1. Water is placed on the stove and brought to a boil.
2. As soon as the first small bubbles begin to appear, cloves of garlic, pepper, and bay leaves are added to the liquid. If you like, you can add coriander or cumin seeds, dill. If seasonings are taken in arbitrary quantities (to taste), then a strictly defined amount of salt is poured in - 100 g/l.
3. The heat is reduced, the marinade should simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Remove the pan from the stove and cool the brine.
5. Immerse pieces of lard in the cooled marinade. Leave to salt for 10 days, although some recommend 12 days. To prevent the lard from rising in the water, a cutting board is placed on top, on which pressure is placed.
6. Remove the product and hang it in the open air to dry for 3-5 hours.

After this procedure, the lard is ready for cold smoking. There is a faster salting method using hot marinade. It is prepared a little differently.

How should you choose lard for smoking?

Pieces measuring 35 cm in thickness are suitable for smoking. The “flaps” should be cut into 7cm pieces. The bacon must be washed before cooking.

Apple tree chips are ideal for making aromatic smoked bacon. When salting, you can add bay leaf, garlic and spices. How is the product useful? Nutritionists recommend consuming smoked lard if you want to fill the body with nutrients and vitamins A, E, D. These vitamins are involved in the structure of the body’s cell membranes. The product is especially beneficial for the liver: phospholipids found in smoked lard help restore the functions of the organ. Salo is useful for the normal functioning of blood vessels. This product has been proven to have a beneficial effect on skin condition.

Alternative to home smoking

The cold smoking method at home is the most labor-intensive. But today it is possible to smoke lard faster and easier. This is done using “Royal Smoke” rapid smoking installations. Equipment of this type is designed specifically for small and medium-sized businesses. The devices are also suitable for private homes. The units look neat, in the form of cabinets, and stand firmly on legs. The metal body makes them fireproof. Purchasing such a unit will significantly save time and will more than justify the money invested. You can even start a business from scratch using such installations.

In them, the cooking process is reduced to a couple of hours, so you don’t have to wait several days for a tasty and aromatic dish. Smoking cabinets are devices operating from a standard electrical network. The installations are easy to care for and maintain. This is an excellent investment for entrepreneurs with a restaurant business. With smoked products they will be able to attract more visitors. In addition, cooked dishes are stored for a long time.

How to choose

Of course, you need to choose the freshest product. There should be no foreign odors, unusual coloring or other signs of deterioration in quality.

Pieces of lard for smoking should be 3 to 5 centimeters thick, and have thin layers of meat. Sometimes you can find advice “three fingers thick.” This is how the thickness of lard pieces has actually been measured since ancient times, but everyone’s fingers are different! In centimeters it is somewhat more convenient. ????

They also advise choosing fat from the peritoneum or from the sides - here it is softer than on other parts of the carcass. Although, of course, you may have your own preferences.

How to cook

Before smoking, lard must be marinated, then you will get a product with a wonderful aroma and taste. It is customary to distinguish between two methods of preparation: dry salting and marinating in spices. Of course, everyone has their own recipe for smoking lard; only the most commonly used and simple ones are given here.

Dry pickling

Cut the pieces of lard into strips five to six centimeters wide. Choose a length such that it is convenient to put the pieces in a container for pickling. The thickness has already been mentioned above - from two to three centimeters. Slices of this size will be salted in two or three days.

If you don’t cut the lard into such chunks, but take a whole, thick piece, then salting may take a week or two.

First you need to soak the lard for 3-4 hours in cold water. While it is soaking, prepare a mixture of salt, ground black or red pepper and spices to taste. Remove the lard from the water and dry.

Rub the pieces with garlic and the prepared mixture. Place in a pan or bowl and press down on top with some weight.

After two or three days, the lard will be sufficiently saturated with spices, it can be taken out, rinsed with water to remove excess salt, dried and started smoking.

Pickling

This is the second method of preparation. The lard is kept in a marinade - a liquid solution of spices.

The marinade is prepared from the following components (recipe for one liter of water):

• coarse salt - 150 gr.
• fresh garlic, whole or chopped - 4-6 cloves,
• bay leaf - 2-3 pieces,
• black peppercorns,
• dry mustard to taste.

Add salt to boiled warm water.

It is easy to check the salt concentration by dipping a raw chicken egg into the brine - it should float.

Add the rest of the spices, stir and let cool to room temperature. Pierce the lard slices in several places with a knife, place them in the pan, skin side down, and pour this solution over them. It should completely cover all the lard. Cover with a plate or wire rack and place a weight on top for oppression. Place the pan in a cool place and leave for three to four days.

After the lard is cooked, it needs to be wiped and slightly dried. You can proceed to smoking.

Hot smoking

With the hot method, the temperature inside the smokehouse should average 60 or 70 degrees. At high temperatures, aromatic smoke quickly penetrates into the structure of the food.

The duration of this method of smoking lard is from one to two hours.

However, the temperature should not be allowed to rise higher, otherwise the lard will simply be fried and not smoked.

In a real smokehouse

Home-smoked lard is more trusted by people than store-bought lard. It is believed that the quality of such a product is higher.

A smokehouse made from an old barrel at your dacha makes it possible to smoke lard or any other product according to all the rules. The recipe for smoked lard in such a device is very simple.

Prepared pieces of lard are hung on hooks or laid out on grates inside the smokehouse. Several handfuls of sawdust or wood chips are thrown to the bottom, and a fire is built under the smokehouse.

The sawdust begins to smolder, emitting smoke.

Lard is smoked in the same way in home smokehouses, that is, in devices for city apartments. Sawdust is poured inside, the lard is laid out on grates, the device is closed and placed on the gas stove. Don't forget to pour water into the water seal and attach a smoke exhaust pipe to the kitchen ventilation.

The hot method is good for its speed of preparation - after an hour and a half, the finished smoked meats can already be taken out. It is still better to cool hot smoked lard before using it, as it tastes better. The disadvantage of this method is that such products do not last long and must be consumed (or sold) within one month.

In a slow cooker or cauldron

At home, you can smoke lard in containers that are not suitable for this purpose. But you need to remember one thing: when hot smoking lard releases fat, which will drip to the bottom, burn, spoil the taste of smoked meat, and sometimes it can ignite on a hot surface. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a tray for collecting fat; it is installed above the sawdust.

You can do it this way. Place a couple of handfuls of sawdust on the bottom of a multicooker or cauldron. Place some kind of vessel on these sawdust - a sized bowl, or a bowl made of foil. Place a grill on top. In multicookers it is usually included in the kit, but for a cauldron you will have to choose one. Here in this photo there is already a plate on the sawdust for collecting fat, and on top there is a grate for food:

Place the prepared pieces of lard on the grill, skin side down. Close the lid, and it is advisable to seal it minimally so that smoke does not escape.

Place the cauldron on the stove and light the gas. After fifteen minutes, the gas can be turned off, and the cauldron without opening it

take it to the balcony to cool down. During this time, the smoking process will continue.

The multicooker needs to be turned on in stewing mode for 35-40 minutes. After turning it off, do not open it immediately, but wait until it cools down - during the cooling process, the smoke will continue to be absorbed into the lard.

• After two or three attempts, you will understand what temperature and what duration of the process you need to choose to get a product that suits you personally.
• Here is a detailed video on how to smoke lard in a cauldron on a gas stove:

In the oven of a gas stove

Yes, you can smoke lard that way. Just make sure that the hood in your kitchen is working properly. Simply because you are unlikely to be able to seal the oven from smoke escaping, like a cauldron or a slow cooker.

Take a baking sheet and place a handful of wood chips on it. Place a sheet of foil on top; it will serve to collect dripping fat. Preheat the oven to 80-90 degrees.

Place the slices of prepared lard on the grill, skin side down. Place an oven rack over a baking sheet. The process will last from 30 to 40 minutes. An oven, by the way, is more convenient than a cauldron in that you can observe the process through the window.