Lard is such an interesting product that they salt it in all sorts of ways, as they say, anyone can do anything. It is salted in onion skins, in brine, cold, hot. It is boiled and it turns out boiled and salted, and the lard is also dry salted.
Separately, I would like to dwell on dry salting of lard.
For salting lard using the dry method, coarse pickling salt (No. 1 or No. 2) is suitable. It is this kind of salt that will cope well with the moisture that needs to be “pulled out” from the lard. Never use iodized or extra salt.
The most classic way of dry salting is to simply sprinkle the lard with salt. But it's too simple. Lard comes into good contact with almost any spices. Therefore, why not add some color and flavor to our snack.
And if you are completely new to cooking and don’t understand spices, then go to the market, there is such an abundance of these herbs that your head will spin. Ask the seller and he will give you exactly those that are ideal for lard.
When choosing lard, there are also some nuances. Without understanding lard, you can purchase, for example, a piece of lard that will not be possible to eat. Of course, such a piece can be salted and eaten, but it will not bring you pleasure; you will chew it like chewing gum. At a time when the right lard will melt in your mouth.
The skin of proper lard should be soft and easy to tear off. Smooth and even in appearance, and elastic to the touch. Of course, a layer of lard is welcome. Something like this for me:
But such a section of fat will just be like rubber. Try not to buy such pieces for pickling. You see, they seem to be loose.
Let's look at the most common option for dry salting lard...
Dry salting lard at home - recipe with garlic and pepper
As I already said, use non-iodized salt. Dry salting implies the presence of a lot of salt, so you won’t get away with just one packet. Take two or even three, it won’t be too much.
So, what else do we need for pickling?
1. A good piece of lard
2. Seasonings for pickling
5. Ground black pepper.
The first thing you do when you come home from the market with a piece of lard is to wash it. But there is no point in simply washing it; you need to scrape it with a knife under running water. You need to wash it so that the skin is without a single spot. You will see how much dirt remains on the knife. And imagine, all this dirt would get into your body. So don't be lazy and wash thoroughly.
Then cut the lard into portions, which you will use for salting. I advise you to cut into small pieces so that the piece can be eaten in one or two sittings.
Pour all the salt into a basin or any deep pan, I have 2 kg. and all the spices. Mix.
Now this spicy salt can be used in the preparation of certain dishes, such as broths. So you can make a small reserve.
The curing mixture is ready.
It is best to use glass or enamel containers for pickling. At worst, a food-grade plastic container will do.
Pour our salt into it to hide the bottom, about 1 cm thick.
Next, rub our pieces of lard with grated or garlic pressed through a garlic press on all sides. You can add extra garlic to the lard. Therefore, I cannot say with certainty how much garlic is needed for the recipe. But I can tell you for sure that you won’t spoil the lard with garlic!
Sprinkle salt (mixture) on top of the garlic and place in the prepared container. We do the same with all other lard. Pour the remaining salt onto all our pieces so that it completely covers the lard.
And now everyone has the same question...
Dry salting of lard with garlic and salt in a jar - a classic recipe
Having salted lard at least once with your own hands, you are unlikely to want to buy this product in the store. Because homemade lard turns out to be very soft and has an unusually delicate taste.
We will salt it in 3 jars, according to my grandmother’s recipe. After all, no one canceled the classics.
Ingredients:
- 2.5 kg - lard
- 350-400 g - coarse salt
- 200 g - garlic
- 4 things. - bay leaves
- 2 tsp. - ground black pepper
- thyme - optional
Cooking sequence:
- Cut the lard into pieces so that they fit into the neck of the jar.
- Mix all the spices, chopped garlic and salt in a separate plate.
- Roll each piece of lard well in a mixture of spices and garlic. Then we put it in the jar.
Don’t be afraid to over-salt, the lard will take its toll as needed.
- We do this with all the pieces until the container is completely filled.
- Cover the filled jar (not close it!) with a nylon lid. And leave for 2 days at room temperature. During this time, a little liquid brine will appear at the bottom, as it should be.
- Then place the jar in the refrigerator for another 2 days. 4 days have passed, the lard is completely ready for use.
- To prevent it from spoiling, some can be put into a bag and placed in the freezer.
Dry salted lard with garlic and pepper
So, the other day a relative gave me some excellent lard. Now you definitely need to salt it right away. You can use any spices for this. Although salt, garlic and ground black pepper are standard. But you can also add any others. If you don’t know which ones exactly, then you can also ask and purchase them at the market.
Ingredients:
- Salo;
- Salt – 1 kg;
- Bay leaf – 5 pcs.;
- Black peppercorns – 1 tbsp. l.;
- Red pepper - to taste;
- Garlic – 3 heads;
- Seasonings - to taste.
Preparation:
1. First of all, wash the lard. Be sure to scrape the skin with a knife. There is a lot of dirt on it, which would certainly get into our body. Dry it with paper towels and cut it into small pieces. Exactly the kind that you can eat in 1 – 2 times.
2. Peel the garlic. It can be passed through a press or grated. By the way, I did just that. But some people like it chopped with a knife. It all depends on your preferences.
Use the amount of garlic according to your taste. But the more it is, the tastier it is!
3. Pour salt and seasonings into some container. It is better to take black pepper in grains. When you grind it, it gives off an incredible aroma. This can be done using a mortar or special mills. But if you don’t have all this, just wrap it in a napkin and walk over it with a rolling pin. We also chop the bay leaf.
4. Mix this dry mixture with garlic. This will make it easier for us to use it.
5. Immediately prepare a container in which everything will be salted. Sprinkle some garlic mixture on the bottom. Then we coat each piece with it and put it in a container. Spread the rest over the lard. Cover with a lid and leave at room temperature for four days.
After this time, we take it out and clean it of salt. Place in the freezer for storage. Of course, be sure to try it and save a few bites to eat right away!
Dry salted lard with garlic and ground black pepper in a jar
If you have never salted lard before, then this recipe was created especially for you. Any novice housewife can handle it, and even more so the owner! You can put shmat both in jars and in food containers - whoever has what is at hand. And it only salts for two days on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.
What you will need:
- Lard – 700 g.
- Salt – 8 tablespoons.
- 4 bay leaves.
- Head of garlic.
- Ground black pepper - a pinch.
The shmat itself can be salted whole, or it can be cut into smaller pieces and salted in this form. Everything here is the way you like it best. And the cooking process itself is incredibly simple.
How to cook
Pour half of the total amount of salt into a deep bowl or pan. Crumble the bay leaves here. Add a pinch (or more) of ground black pepper. Mix everything well.
Divide the lard into large pieces, but you don’t have to do this.
Peel the garlic. Rub it over each piece on all sides.
Then roll each piece well in a mixture of salt and spices on all sides.
Pour the remaining salt into the bottom of the container or jar. Place the salted pieces into this container.
Pour the mixture we have with spices on top. Distribute over the entire surface. Close the lid. Place in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf. Exposure time is a full 2 days.
After this time, take out the lard, clean it of salt and spices that turned out to be unnecessary. put in a bag or wrap each piece in paper and store in the refrigerator. The appetizer prepared according to this recipe has a bright taste, is very soft and aromatic.
How to salt tasty lard using the dry method at home
I also want to share with you a simple method. It doesn't require any extra spices. Everything is just the essentials that can be found in any kitchen. Of course, you can add any spices, but even without them it turns out very well.
Ingredients:
- Salo;
- Garlic – 2 heads;
- Salt – 1 kg;
- Ground black pepper – 1 tbsp. l.;
- Bay leaf – 4 pcs.
Preparation:
1. First prepare the mixture for salting. To do this, pour salt into a deep bowl. Add pepper and chopped bay leaf to it. Mix everything well.
2. Wash the lard and dry it with paper towels, because we don’t need excess moisture. Then you can cut it into smaller pieces. Or salt the whole thing. That's exactly what I did. I just made a few cuts right down to the skin.
3. We clean the garlic and pass it through a press directly onto our product. We try to distribute the vegetable over the entire piece, or rather, smear it with it. We also place it in all cuts.
4. Now rub with the dry mixture. We do not spare it and generously distribute it throughout the lard.
5. Take the container in which we will salt. We also sprinkle the bottom with salt and pepper and put our lard on top. Sprinkle the rest of the mixture on top. Close the lid and leave for a day at room temperature. Then put it in the refrigerator for another week. After time, the salt can be washed off, dried and cut into smaller pieces to make it easier to store in the freezer.
How to dry salt lard at home quickly and tasty
This is one of our family's favorite recipes - salting lard in a bag. It turns out very soft and incredibly tasty. Women will happily put a piece on a sandwich, and men will enjoy vodka with it.
The appetizer is prepared very quickly - literally in 2 days you can taste the fruits of your labors. And you won’t have to wash the dishes, since we will cook the lard in a regular plastic bag.
Ingredients:
- 1 kg - fresh lard
- 1 head - garlic
- 5 pieces. - bay leaf
- 1.5 tbsp. l. - ground black pepper
- 2.5 tbsp. l. - table or rock salt
Step-by-step preparation:
- Cut the lard into equal pieces - about 5 cm squares. If you bought a piece of pork with skin, then do not cut it all the way through.
- Let's prepare the bulk - pour salt and pepper on a plate. There we will also put garlic cloves pressed through a press and broken bay leaves. Mix them thoroughly. To salt lard, you must use the coarsest salt—No. 1 and No. 2.
- Using the resulting mixture, thoroughly rub the pieces of lard over all surfaces.
- We wrap all this beauty in cellophane film or place it in a plastic bag and put it in the refrigerator for 2 days.
This option produces very tasty and aromatic homemade salsa. I recommend!
How long (days) does it take to salt dry salted lard?
This is probably a question many housewives ask. After all, we want to be sure that the lard is ready and we will eat it salted and not raw. But, by the way, this product can be eaten raw. Just be sure to buy it from a place where everything is checked by a veterinarian.
No one can say exactly how long it will take. But at least 3 days. In general, this depends on several factors:
- thickness of lard. The thinner the selected piece, the faster it will cook;
- size of pieces. Also cutting it affects the time. Small pieces are salted faster;
- layers of meat.
In three days you will receive a lightly salted product. Although five days will be more than enough! If you took lard with layers of meat, then you need to focus on its color. After three days, take out a piece and cut it. The meat should not be red. It changes color during cooking. If you are not sure if it is ready, then leave it for another day or two.
Which lard to choose for dry salting?
For dry salting, take thick lard, as they say “4 fingers long,” that is, 5 centimeters thick. A thin one is not suitable, as it will take in much more salt than needed and may turn out too salty and not as tasty as you would like.
At your discretion, you can salt a piece with layers of meat or a clean piece without a slot (as in my recipe with photo). But there is one important point here. Both types will be salted wonderfully, but lard without streaks can be stored in the refrigerator for much longer, up to 1 month. But if the piece contains layers of meat, then after salting it will have to be eaten much faster, in about 5-7 days. Or you can increase the shelf life if you put the already salted lard in the freezer - there the strategic reserve can be safely stored “until required”, up to 1 year.
Video recipe on how to salt lard with garlic
I bring to your attention a video that I found on the Internet. In it, the author tells in detail and shows how to choose lard on the market. Also what spices can be used for salting. A very detailed video in which you will learn how to cook lard very tasty. Personally, that's what I do now. Maybe you too. Share your experience with us in the comments.
Do you smell that salty lard smell? It's in the air for me. I even worked up an appetite! I hope you do too. Be sure to try making this delicious dish and invite your guests to try it. They will appreciate it. And I say goodbye to you, see you soon!
Humanity has been consuming lard since ancient times. The first mentions of this product date back to the eighth century BC in Armenian writings. There is written evidence of the salting of lard and meat in Ancient Rome. The nutritious product was used in the diet of warriors on long campaigns of conquest, slaves, ordinary citizens and patricians.
At all times and every people had their own recipes for preparing this product. Let's figure out how many days the lard is salted to get a dish that tastes perfect.
Salting lard: basic recipes
The answer to a simple question: “how long is lard salted?” cannot be unambiguous. The method of salting plays a key role in the process of preparing the product. A quick and reliable salting method is to cook lard in brine.
For the method of salting the product in brine, soft white raw materials without meat streaks are selected. Lard is cut into pieces weighing approximately 50-80 grams. Then roll in coarse salt and leave in a glass or non-oxidizing container for 10-12 hours to release the juice.
If there is not enough liquid, add brine. When adding salt, a floating piece of raw potato serves as a guide to its readiness. Water for brine can be taken boiled or raw, of proven quality. The product in the brine should stand in a cold place for three days.
The finished product is stuffed with garlic, sprinkled with black or red ground pepper (depending on preference), fine salt, and wrapped in parchment paper. The product should be placed in a cool place. Before serving, such a product should be cut into very thin slices and sprinkled with basil. It turns out very tasty.
How to pickle lard at home, tasty and quick
Everything is simple here. If the previous quest is completed correctly, you will not need any tricks. Procedure:
- Run the piece under the tap in warm water to remove debris.
- Place on a flat surface.
- Use a large sharp knife to make longitudinal cuts. Back off 3-4 cm. Reach the skin, but do not cut it.
- Take 1 or 2 kg of coarse salt. Carefully pour it into the cuts, treat the sides, top and bottom. There is no need to rub anything special! The crystals will stick to the wet surface on their own.
Place a layer of NaCl on the bottom of the plastic bag. Put lard on it. Sprinkle salt on top too. Wrap tightly so that the entire surface is covered with a thick layer of crystals. Keep it in a warm place for a day, then put it in the refrigerator. I keep it in the vegetable compartment.
You should not put the semi-finished product in the freezer. In the cold, the process of penetration of NaCl into the thickness slows down. And there is no point in keeping a ready-made snack in the cold. In a salted state, it will not deteriorate without this.
It is important to understand here: we add salt not for taste, but so that the lard is safe for health. Don’t believe that you can eat it in a day, three days or a week. I won’t give exact dates. It all depends on the temperature, the thickness of the fat layer, the age and even the diet of the animal.
In order not to guess “on the coffee grounds,” cut a piece after some time and carefully taste the inside with your tongue. Salty - ready, no - wait.
I usually keep it for three weeks. The farmer from whom I take pork once said that this would be correct, and according to GOST you need to wait 21 days. I didn’t find the standard, but I took my word for it. Moreover, this coincides with my observations.
Here it would be useful to remember the school physics course. Salting occurs due to diffusion. We have two solids. The molecules of one of them must penetrate between the molecules of the other. Do you think three to five days will be enough for this? And in the cold, where the speed of molecules slows down? I think not. But a month is more like the truth.
Before telling you how to properly salt lard, let me give you a little theory.
Lard is a solid layer of animal fat, which is deposited during the period of increased nutrition, it consists of a mixture of glyceric fatty acids (palmitin, olein, stearin), it is found in many animals, but only pork is suitable for consumption in salted form. Particularly prized is a piece of lard with meat streaks - it is called underbelly or, in the salted version, brisket.
The best thing for pickling is homemade lard, from your own farmstead or from farmers reputable in their field. But if it’s impossible for you to get such bacon, let’s go to the market to get it.
- First of all, take a closer look at the seller: a clean trader has an orderly counter, and he works with gloves. Of course, he will not provide you with a license for the product, but he will show you a certificate from the veterinary service at the first request. And he is obliged to fulfill this requirement: this is the law! We will buy lard from such a seller, bypassing those who sell from a car and do not have any documents for the goods.
- Choose pieces that are white or slightly pinkish in color - this is what fresh lard looks like. The thinner the skin, the better. There should be no spots or bristles on it - just an even golden color. The streaks of meat are a big plus. But! Be careful! The more meat, the higher the risk of “catching” parasites! Worms live not in lard, but in meat. When salting, lard is not subjected to heat treatment, and if it initially contained parasite larvae, you can easily transfer them into your body! This is why you need a certificate from a veterinarian when purchasing bacon.
- There should be no smell of rot or rottenness coming from the lard. Be sure to smell before purchasing. And if it smells like urine, they are trying to sell you a product from an unlaid boar; it is impossible to eat. Carry out an express test: offer to cut off a small slice of lard for you and hold it over the fire of a match - if there is no pungent smell, everything is fine!
So we picked out a good piece and brought it home. What's next? And then we choose the salting method: dry or in brine.
Depending on how you are going to pickle the salsa, the preparation time for the product can take from 2 days to a week. Also, the speed of cooking depends on the size of the pieces - small ones are salted faster than large ones - and on the place where the salted bacon is kept - in the cold, the salting period increases.
If you are afraid to over-salt lard using the dry salting method, it is in vain. This unique product will absorb as much salt as you need. But under-salting in this case is much more dangerous. Such lard spoils faster and can cause infection, for example, with helminths. Therefore, lovers of lightly salted bacon, be on your guard!
On average, a kilogram of fresh product requires about 4-5 tablespoons of salt.
When salting in brine, you need to use the following calculation: 100 grams of salt for every 1000 grams of product.
In addition to salt, you will need the usual spices: pepper, bay leaf, garlic, cumin.
So, let's take some convenient deep container. I took a baking dish. For you, this could be a wooden box, a glass plate, a large cutting board, or even, in extreme cases, a cardboard box. Pour a little salt into the bottom of the vessel.
Place gauze on top without folding it into layers.
You can cut a piece of gauze into 2 identical pieces, or you can, as I did, put one part on the bottom and leave the other free.
Rub the lard thoroughly with spices on all sides.
Cut the garlic into thin slices and place on top. We hide some pieces inside the lard, making small cuts in it.
Place the bacon and meat prepared for salting in a mold on cheesecloth.
Close with the second cut.
And we fill this whole composition with salt.
We don’t feel sorry for it, the salt should lie in a good layer on the lard.
How long does it take to salt lard using the dry method?
We leave the vessel for a day at room temperature, then put it in the refrigerator and salt the lard for 2 weeks. Then we take it out of the salt “coat” and freeze it for another two days, i.e. put the pieces into portion bags and put them in the freezer.
That's all. Delicious, homemade, appetizing lard is ready. How many times have I salted it this way, it has never turned out to be too salty. If you like lard so that you can feel the salt in it, then sprinkle it not on the gauze, but on the pieces themselves. Although we will still take as much salt as it needs. Bon appetit!
Ksyusha told how to make delicious salted lard without brine, recipe and photo by the author.
Beneficial features
Currently, from many people, numerous nutritionists, you can hear statements that do not correspond to the truth about lard as a harmful product that causes atherosclerosis and other serious diseases. Is it really?
Various diseases and weight gain occur not from the product itself, but from the amount of food consumed. The maximum daily intake is 50−60 grams.
Lard contains fatty acids (unsaturated) . The composition includes the following acids:
- docosahexane;
- oleic;
- eicosapentaenoic acid;
- palmitic;
- arachidonic;
- linoleic
Acids contribute to the formation of vitamin F, which is necessary for the human body. It is involved in the process of lipid metabolism and eliminates harmful cholesterol.
The product, when used correctly, has a positive effect on the body:
- Removal of radionuclides.
- Improving sexual function in men.
- Nutrition and strengthening of the heart muscle.
- Dissolution of cholesterol plaques in blood vessels.
- Removing harmful cholesterol from the body.
- Prevention of cancer.
- Normalization of hormone production.
- Improving brain nutrition.
- Quick recovery of strength during physical and mental overload.
- Beneficial effect on the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract.