Pork Fat, Oils, and Shortenings

My preferred shortening is clean home-rendered lard. For frying it produces the most delicious and authentic flavor, and for baking it produces the flakiest pastry and the most delicately layered biscuits. Rendering lard is incredibly simple. Have your butcher save clean fresh pig fat for you; some butchers do not charge for fat. The butcher also may be willing to run it through the meat grinder for you to save you a step. Put a mere film of water in the bottom of a heavy pan—preferably cast iron—large enough to hold the fat you want to render. (I have a cast-iron roasting pan that is 20 inches long and 4 inches deep; I can render 15 pounds of lard at a time. If you do not own any cast-iron pans, and plan to buy some to outfit your Lowcountry kitchen, this is a perfect way to begin seasoning them.)