Making and preserving cracklin’s

How do you preserve cracklings after rendering the lard, besides freezing?

Phil
Live Oak, Florida

I render the lard and separate out the cracklings before they get too brown. Then I spoon them into pint or half-pint jars and fill the jars with lard, covering the cracklings. (The cracklings and lard are VERY hot!) You can process these jars, after being sure to wipe the rim of the jar very well and adding a hot, previously simmered lid, for 75 minutes in a pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure. To use, simply spoon out, heat, drain off the lard (keep it for cooking, of course) and use your cracklings. Grandma and Mom just covered their cracklin’s with hot lard, put on a hot lid after wiping the rim of the jar, and screwed down the ring. The jars sealed and the cracklings stayed good. But I don’t think this method would be accepted by experts today! — Jackie

Since we are in the time of only having certain cuts of meat, you cannot find a cracklin’ in any store. If I were to make my own, without growing my own pig, how would I go about doing so? I have been wanting cracklin’ cornbread like the old days.

Paula Setzer
Huntersville, North Carolina

You can usually find “discarded” pig fat at local smaller processors. (You can ask folks who sell farm-raised pork in your area.) If you’ll go there and explain that you want to render some lard for the cracklin’s, they will often give you a bunch or sell you the fat real cheap. If you can get them to grind it, so much the better as it reduces the labor of having to either grind it at home or chop the fat into small pieces for rendering.

I render my lard in a turkey roaster in the oven so I don’t have to stand over it all afternoon. Just put it in, leaving plenty of room so it doesn’t melt and run over. Render it at about 250-300° F and keep an eye on it as it gets pretty much done. Then dip off the clear, hot melted lard and strain it through a clean cloth into a bowl. Then you can dip the melted lard right out after straining, while it’s still very hot and put it into hot, clean jars, wipe off the rim very well and put a hot, new lid on it and screw down the ring firmly tight. Now you have nice lard to put in your pantry. The cracklin’s and some lard are still left in the roasting pan and you can dump more out of the straining cloth into the roaster. I usually finish my batch on the stovetop so I can stir it and make sure it doesn’t scorch. When most of the lard has been taken off, you can scoop your cracklin’s out into pint or half-pint jars, cover with hot, melted lard, wipe the rim of the jar very well and add a hot, previously simmered lid. Process for 75 minutes in a pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure. Done deal! We love cracklin’s in cornbread, hoe cakes, and in corn fritters! — Jackie

5 COMMENTS

  1. Me too, Paula – I would love a few pint jars of cracklin’s for my corn bread and corn fritters. Heaven. OK Jackie, there’s another idea for a source of income for you – add pints of cracklin’s to your seed business. Here’s my order!
    It’s off the subject, but cracklin’s reminds me of another food you can’t get any more – Campbell’s pepperpot soup has been discontinued for years in the US but is occasionally available in Canada, you lucky Canadians. The Canadian soup shows up on Amazon every so often, was listed as out of stock last time I looked. For anyone who wants to make pepperpot, Will Weaver donated heirloom genuine pepperpot pepper seeds to Seed Savers Exchange and they may be available in a year.

  2. Wow I am so glad I read this about cracklins – here up in Canada and apologies to my eastern/central Canadian readers as i am from the prairie Provinces – for me cracklins were from the skin – so I have been trying to make cracklin’s from pork skin – thank you Jackie, and fellow readers, for educating me that it’s the left overs from rendering the fat which if I had thought about is how you get chicken cracklins – it’s what is left over in the roast pan after roasting a chicken – thank you for educating me

  3. Nancy, I have rarely had cracklings but they are really good, as Jackie says, in cornbread, hoecakes, and corn fritters. I also like them in biscuits and pancakes. Mmmmm!

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