The stuff in the grocery store, stored on the shelf, in a green and
white container, has lots of preservatives in it and is not,
according to my lard loving friends, very good lard.
You can find lots of good information on rendering lard on-line, but
you'll need to find a butcher who will save the fat you need for you.
My butcher doesn't have it and won't get it for me, so I need to look
around some more. A big issue is how many grocery stores don't
actually do any butchering in-store.
There are two ways to render the lard, a wet and a dry process. The
wet process tends to produce a white lard that is mild and very nice
for all manner of baking, the dry approach lets the lard get much
hotter so it cooks more, producing a darker lard that has rich
flavors that would tend to overwhelm many baked goods.
Whatever you do, have fun with it!
Mike
*Bake With Mike <http://www.bakewithmike.com>*
Mike Avery
Email to:mavery at mail dot otherwhen dot com
A Randomly Selected Bread Saying Of The Day:
Whose bread I eat;
his song I sing.
- German proverb