You may or may not know that I consider myself a southern girl. I was born in Florida, moved to Alabama, then to Virginia. I now live in Arizona. I have never lived further north than Virgina.
Anyway, the point is as a southern girl you would think that I love to cook; I do, I love to cook. You would also think that I would know how to cook certain things like apple pie, collard greens, fried okra, fried chicken, etc. Again, I know how to make all of these things (I hate
pie though). So what is the big deal right?
Well I have never ever tried to render my animal fat! I know, I can't believe it either! I have been throwing my fat away for years and it has never even crossed my mind to render it and re-purpose it. That is until today. Shame on me!
Today while breaking down the ham into ham steaks, lunch meat, and cubes for soups and such I had an abnormally large pile of fat and didn't want to toss it. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks......I could render it and use it in place of shortening, butter, and oil. I am not sure why it has taken me so long to think of this. So I am in the middle of the rendering process.
I am not sure I am doing everything correctly and probably didn't clean the fat well enough but this is a learning process for me. Another staggering fact is I have never had cracklings. I know yet another southern-girl fail. So this will be my first time having them as well.
I know all you fellow southerners out the are about to fall out of your chairs about now but sadly it gets worse. This is also the first time I have ever saved my ham bone. To be perfectly honest I am not sure what I will do with it because I usually make thicker, milk based soups. Any ideas?
I would love input on rendering fat and what to do with the bone! I am trying to save money through not tossing as much and think going back to my southern roots might help in that respect!
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