Continuing to fill the “Recipes” section, I decided to write an article on how to deliciously salt lard at home. In it I will give 5 step-by-step recipes for preparing the treat and consider the benefits and harms of salted lard.

To prepare delicious lard you need high-quality raw materials. In different countries, lard has a specific taste. This is due to the diet of animals. In Ukraine, pigs are fed grain, and Belarusians use potatoes for this purpose.

Soft lard is suitable for salting and it is easy to identify it when purchasing by piercing it with a knife or toothpick. In this case, the tool should not encounter strong resistance.

Useful tips

• Look at the stamp - a sign of quality. Don't buy the product without it.
• Good lard has a soft thin skin (the thicker it is, the tougher the dish), white in color with a pink tint, and the presence of a yellowish tint indicates that they are trying to sell you an old product.
• Lard easily absorbs the smell of nearby foods. If upon arrival home you find that it has been soaked, for example, in fish, soak it in water with the addition of garlic.
• I recommend using coarse salt for grating. It will add a salty taste and remove excess moisture.
• To speed up salting, cut the lard into pieces. If necessary, make a puncture or cut in each piece. Don't skimp on the salt. The raw material will absorb as much as it needs, and it is impossible to over-salt it. Salt in a dark place, otherwise it will turn yellow.

As practice shows, people salt lard in various ways. I will give popular options, and you, guided by your preferences and capabilities, will choose the best one.

Previously, children ate everything that was served on the table, because they didn’t have to sort through it. Over the years, everything has changed. And although my children do not eat lard, my husband and I often enjoy this product. It reminds us of childhood, when our mothers delighted us with salted lard, jacket potatoes and pickled cucumbers.

Salting lard in brine - a classic recipe

Ingredients:

• Lard – 1 kg.
• Garlic – 1 head.
• Laurel – 6 leaves.
• Black pepper – 6 peas.
• Allspice – 6 peas.
• Water – 1 l.

Preparation:

1. Soak the lard in cold water for several hours. While soaking, make the brine. Add salt, bay and pepper to the water. Boil the liquid and cool until warm.
2. Cut the soaked ingredient into strips 4 centimeters wide and place in a suitable container. A food container or glass jar is suitable for this purpose.
3. Cut the garlic cloves into slices and place between pieces of lard. Fill everything with brine, and put pressure on top so that it does not float. Leave the workpiece for 24 hours at room temperature and keep it in the refrigerator for another two days.
4. Remove the product from the brine, wait until it drains, put it in bags and put it in the freezer for four hours. During this time, it will set and will be easy to cut even with thin plates.

Video recipe

To make the finished delicacy more refined and tasty, add some vegetables or spices. Any store sells a special seasoning for pickling. If you can’t find one, add a little cumin, dry basil, paprika, coriander, mustard seeds or red pepper to the brine.

Salting lard with garlic is very tasty!

Lard is usually associated with Ukraine. But people of other nationalities do not deny themselves this pleasure. Sometimes you come home from work, want to eat, but the pots are empty. You open the refrigerator and see aromatic and tasty lard. It with bread and onions easily drives away even severe hunger and replaces a full lunch.

Ingredients:

• Lard – 1 kg.
• Coarse table salt – 6 tbsp. spoons
• Garlic – 1 head.
• Laurel – 6 leaves.
• Black pepper – 6 peas.
• Cumin – 1 tbsp. spoon.

Preparation:

1. Cumin, pepper and bay (can be in arbitrary proportions) and pass through a coffee grinder. If there is no such assistant, use the old-fashioned method. Place the ingredients in a cloth, twist and crush with a hammer. Just don't overdo it with pepper. Salt the resulting mixture.
2. Spread the mixture onto each piece of lard one by one. Don't skimp on the salt. Lard differs from meat in that it takes as much salt as needed, and the excess is left aside.
3. Leave the workpiece for a day in a cool place.
4. Use garlic. One head is enough. Peel the slices and chop them using a garlic chopper. Process all the pieces with the resulting garlic mass and place tightly in a sealable container.
5. Keep everything in the refrigerator for three days, and then put it in bags and put it in the freezer for storage.

Many people cook barbecue while relaxing in nature. Without this dish, a trip to the river or into the forest cannot be considered complete. But it is not always possible to buy meat. In this case, homemade lard with garlic comes to the rescue. If you roast it over coals, you get a delicacy with a wonderful taste and divine aroma.

How to salt lard in onion skins

The lard that I cook according to this recipe is reminiscent of smoked bacon. Cut into thin slices, the delicacy looks great on any holiday table and leaves plates as quickly as smoked meats or cold cuts.

When guests find out that this lard is prepared independently, they don’t believe it. To convince them, I’m sharing the secret recipe. For salting, I recommend using lard with a layer. Having bathed in onion peels, it will acquire a ruddy hue and a delicate aroma, and the taste characteristics will rise to the skies.

Ingredients:

• Lard with a layer – 1 kg.
• Salt – 200 g.
• Onion peel - 2 handfuls.
• Sugar – 2 tbsp. spoons.
• Laurel – 3 pcs.
• Allspice – 4 peas.
• Garlic – 3 cloves.
• Pepper mixture.
• Paprika.

Preparation:

1. Pour a liter of water into a spacious saucepan, add the washed onion peels, bay leaves, salt and sugar. Bring the resulting mixture to a boil, add pieces of lard into it and cover with a plate so that the product “drowns” in the liquid.
2. After boiling again, simmer for 20 minutes over low heat. Remove the pan from the stove, and when the liquid has cooled, place it in a cool place for 12 hours.
3. Remove the lard from the brine, wait for the liquid to drain and rub with a mixture of chopped garlic, paprika and a mixture of peppers. All that remains is to wrap it in film and put it in the freezer, do not keep it in room conditions.

Before serving, remove the lard from the freezer, wait 5 minutes and cut into thin slices using a sharp knife. The delicacy goes best with black bread and homemade mustard.

How to properly salt lard in a jar at home

Ingredients:

• Lard - the volume of a 3-liter jar.
• Salt – 300 grams.
• Black pepper – 2 tbsp. spoons.
• Laurel – 3 leaves.

Preparation:

1. First of all, sterilize a three-liter jar and prepare a tight plastic lid. Cut the lard into medium-sized pieces. I cut into pieces 10 by 7 cm.
2. Mix 300 grams of salt with black pepper. I advise you not to use store-bought pepper, but ground it just before salting; it has a more pronounced aroma.
3. Rub each piece thoroughly with the resulting mass. Then place tightly in a jar, filling the voids with seasoned salt. When the lard reaches the neck of the glass container, add a layer of salt on top and close the container tightly.
4. If you intend to use the product immediately, keep it in the refrigerator. In the case of long-term storage at home, it is better to roll up the jar, since under the influence of oxygen it will turn yellow and lose its taste.

Salted lard prepared in this way is combined with stewed vegetables, mashed potatoes and delicious borscht.

Traditional salting of lard in Ukrainian

There are many recipes for salting lard in Ukrainian, and it is difficult to say which one is the best, because it is the culinary symbol of Ukraine. I have one recipe in my culinary arsenal.

Ingredients:

• Lard – 1 kg.
• Salt – 200 grams.
• Garlic – 5 cloves.
• Carrots – 1 large.
• Ground pepper – 1 tbsp. spoon.
• Coriander – 1 tbsp. spoon.
• Paprika – 1 tbsp. spoon.

Preparation:

1. First of all, prepare the lard. Using a sharp knife, scrape the skin and remove debris from the surface. I don't recommend washing it. Then stuff each piece with garlic and carrots.
2. In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper, paprika and coriander. Pour the resulting mixture onto the bottom of the container in which you plan to salt. The main thing is that the container does not oxidize. Rub each piece with the same mixture.
3. Place the prepared lard in a bowl, skin side down, on a bed of spiced salt. Place a quarter of a bay leaf and a clove of garlic next to each piece.
4. Cover the container with a lid and leave for 2-3 hours at room temperature.
5. Place the container in the refrigerator for two to three days. The color of the veins, which should turn red-brown, will help you verify readiness.

For long-term storage at home, wrap Ukrainian-style lard in parchment paper or keep it in a container in which you have salted it. Remember, you shouldn’t delay eating the delicacy; after a month, the taste will change. Lard goes well with any dish, be it soup, borscht or pasta.

The benefits and harms of lard

It's no secret that the human body cannot function normally without fat. But their high calorie content often leads to obesity. To figure out whether salted lard is harmful or beneficial, we will consider these qualities separately.

Beneficial features

At all times, lard has been the most popular food product, as it satisfies hunger after hard work and warms the body in cold weather. Doctors have proven that the lack of fat in a person’s diet is detrimental to health.

Fats promote the production of hormones and ensure the retention of fat-soluble substances. Lard is a source of fatty acids, including arachidonic acid, a substance that has a positive effect on the functioning of organs and blood counts. The composition contains another important component - lecithin. Thanks to this substance, cell membranes become strong and elastic. This is important for the condition of blood vessels.

I suggest housewives prepare very tasty lard at home using a method called dry salting. We will do the pickling with the addition of various spices and garlic. Let us immediately note for those who do not like garlic that, if desired, it can simply be excluded from the recipe, which, in principle, will not affect the quality of the pickling.

How to salt lard using the dry method.

And so, we begin the preparation with the fact that we will need to prepare a dry pickling mixture. To do this, you simply need to mix all the ingredients listed below.

Salting mixture for 1 kg of fresh lard:

• table salt (coarse) – 4 tbsp. false;
• black pepper (ground) – 1 tbsp. false;
• red pepper (hot) – ½ teaspoon;
• garlic - 1 medium sized head;
• dried spices (bay leaf, marjoram, cardamom, cumin, etc.) - quantity at your discretion.

After the pickling mixture is ready, fresh lard must be cut into long and flat pieces, the optimal thickness of which is no more than 5-6 centimeters. With such thickness of layers, it is better salted.

If you like your lard to smell like garlic, then before salting you can make cuts in it and stuff the pieces with chopped garlic cloves. But keep in mind that if you add garlic to lard, this preparation cannot be stored for long. Lard can be stored much longer without any additives.

There is one small but important rule for laying lard when salting using the dry method - we place the sliced ​​layers in such a way that in the salting container the skin is in contact with the skin, and the lard is in contact with lard. With this installation, our workpiece is better salted.

Salting must be done in non-oxidizing containers. First, you need to pour a layer of pickling mixture onto the bottom of the dish for salting lard; you can also put a few peas of allspice and a couple of chopped bay leaves on the bottom.

Then, place the chopped lard, one piece at a time, into a container and generously sprinkle each piece of lard with the pickling mixture. Between the layers of lard, you can also put an additional layer of spices - bay leaf, allspice.

Ready salted lard should be stored wrapped in wax paper in the refrigerator.

Before serving our aromatic spicy lard, the pickling mixture should be washed off with water or simply scraped off with a knife, and the lard should be cut into appetizing slices.

For more information on how to dry salt lard with garlic and spices, see the video from the author alkofan1984.

Step 1: cut the lard.

For this recipe, use fresh, slightly chilled lard. Possibly with streaks of meat. First of all, the product must be washed in running water. Then, using a sharp knife, cut the lard into pieces approximately 10 cm wide and no more than 2.5 cm thick. The length of the pieces can be arbitrary, it all depends on the size of the container in which you are going to salt.

Step 2: grate the offal.

Generously rub salt, pepper and spices into the lard. Don't be afraid to oversalt - lard is an amazing product, it will take as much salt as it needs!

Step 3: put the lard in a bowl.

Be sure to take enamel dishes. In my case, it's a large saucepan. Pour about 0.5 cm of salt onto the bottom. Then lay the lard so that there is a distance of slightly less than 1 cm between the pieces. Cover the layer with salt so that the spaces are also filled with it. Then add more lard. Place a couple of bay leaves between the layers. As soon as all the product is laid, cover everything with salt. Take a plate of suitable diameter and cover our pan tightly with it. Place a weight on top; a three-liter jar of water will be enough. In this state, leave the lard for a day at room temperature. After the time has passed, the lard will need to be turned over, covered with a lid (now without a load) and put in the refrigerator for 5 days. During this time, the lard must be stirred periodically so that the salting is uniform.

Step 4: Serve dry salted lard.

When the time is up, remove the lard and rub it with a mixture of pepper and garlic. In this form the product is served to the table. Dry salted lard can be stored both in the freezer (this is for long-term storage) and in the refrigerator. Bon appetit!

It is difficult to over-salt lard; it absorbs as much salt as it needs. But, if this does happen, just dry it for 2 days, and then scrape off the salt with a knife.

For preparations of this kind, use lard from the sides and back of the pork carcass. It's perfect for this.

To make the lard softer and more tender, soak it in water for 10 hours before salting.

Garlic is added only to ready-made lard, since it cannot be frozen during the salting process, otherwise it will acquire an unpleasant odor.

Soak the lard in lukewarm water for 15 minutes, scrape the skin, wash well and dry. Cut into 4 parts.

Mix salt with seasoning for lard (ingredients: ground paprika, ground coriander, dry ground onion, turmeric, ginger, ground black and red peppers, ground nutmeg, salt).

Place the pieces of lard in a suitable container and pour the rest of the salty mixture here. Place bay leaves on top.

Cover the top of the dish tightly with cling film and leave the lard for pickling for 2 days at room temperature. Then rinse the lard from salt, dry it and add the garlic passed through a press. Rub each piece of lard with garlic and cover the dish again with film. Place the lard in a cool place (maybe in the refrigerator) for another day.

Incredibly tasty and aromatic dry-salted lard, cooked with the addition of garlic, cut into thin pieces and can be served with spicy mustard. If you haven't used all the lard, place it in parchment paper and store it in the freezer. Thaw before use.

A traditional Ukrainian dish, salted lard, has become a favorite in many countries. There are different ways to salt lard at home. Basic: dry salting when only salt and spices are used; salting in brine, which is divided into so-called wet salting - in a jar based on cold brine and hot salting - when boiled salted decoction of spices is used. Lard is salted both in whole pieces and in smaller pieces or even pre-chopped in a meat grinder. Each preparation option is delicious in its own way. All you have to do is choose the one that is right for you. With our website, even a novice housewife will be able to prepare homemade salted lard. The most detailed step-by-step recipes with photos will help you with this.

The best recipes with photos

The last notes

If you urgently need to prepare salted lard, then you will probably need this homemade, quick salting recipe. Using this method of salting you will get an appetizing and tasty lard with garlic. You can add any hot and spicy spices as much as you like and want. Using such a quick and affordable recipe, you will have a new delicious product on the table every time.