Polish lard spread with cracklings, onion and apple: rendered ninety minutes on the lowest flame
Pork back fat cut into small dice and rendered very slowly, until the cracklings are golden and the fat stays white and clean. Then onion, apple, garlic and marjoram — and everything goes back into the pot. The whole difference between homemade smalec and the shop kind lies in one thing: a flame so low that for the first half hour it looks as though nothing is happening.
Your own work in that: 45 min.
- Dicing 15 min
- Rendering 80 min
- Onion and apple 20 min
- Jars 10 min
Step by step
0 / 7 doneDice the fat small
If the fat is soft, chill it in the freezer for 30 minutes beforehand — firm, it cuts evenly; soft, it slides away from the knife. Cut into 1 cm dice, as evenly as you can, so it renders evenly.
Ingredients: 700 g pork back fat · 3 tbsp water
TipSmall dice is not fussiness: the more surface there is, the faster the fat flows out and the less time the inside of each piece spends in the heat. A 3 cm cube takes much longer and gives cracklings as hard as pebbles.
Centimetre dice, fat well chilledRender on the lowest heat
Put the dice in a heavy-based pot, add the 3 tablespoons of water and set it over the lowest heat. Render 60–90 minutes, stirring every quarter of an hour. For the first half hour almost nothing happens — then the fat begins to run and the pieces slowly shrink.
TipThe water at the start is insurance: it boils off at 100 °C and keeps the first pieces from sticking to a dry base before their own fat runs. It evaporates completely and leaves no trace.
Heavy base, lowest flame, stirred every quarter hourLift out the cracklings while golden
When the cracklings have shrunk by half and turned pale gold, scoop them into a bowl with a slotted spoon. The fat in the pot should be clear and almost colourless, not brown.
TipThis is the most important moment in the recipe. Over too high a heat, or left too long, the fat browns, and with the colour it takes on a bitter, scorched note that nothing will remove — and as it cools it sets grey instead of white. Lift the cracklings a shade paler than you want them: they keep cooking for a while in the hot fat.
Golden, not brown; the fat clearFry the onion and apple
Pour most of the fat off into a bowl, leaving 4 tablespoons in the pot. Add the finely diced onion and fry 10 minutes, until soft and golden. Add the peeled apple in 5 mm dice, fry 5 minutes, then the crushed garlic and the soaked, chopped mushrooms for 1 minute.
Ingredients: 2 pcs onions · 1 pcs apple · 3 cloves garlic · 10 g dried mushrooms · 1 tbsp dried marjoram · 2 tsp salt · 1 tsp black pepper
TipThe apple is not a whim: its acidity balances the richness so the spread doesn't feel heavy. A tart variety does that; a sweet dessert apple only adds sugar.
Onion until golden, then apple and garlicCombine and season
Pour the reserved fat back in, add the cracklings, the marjoram crushed between your palms, the salt and pepper. Stir and warm through 2 minutes without letting it fry. Taste a drop on a cold saucer: it should be clearly salty, because on bread the flavour is diluted.
Cracklings back in, marjoram from the palmsPour into jars
Leave the pot to stand 15 minutes, until the fat begins to cloud. Stir and pour into scalded 200 ml jars. When the lard starts to set at the edges, stir each jar once more — otherwise the cracklings sink and the top half is nothing but fat.
Clouding fat, stirred twiceChill and serve
Keep the closed jars in the fridge; with onion, apple and garlic in it, eat it within 4 weeks, and for longer freeze it (up to six months). Take one out half an hour before serving so it spreads. Thick on rye bread, coarse salt on top and a brined pickle beside.
Ingredients: 8 pcs rye bread · 4 pcs brined pickled cucumbers
Thick on bread, pickle beside
Before you start
With prunes and marjoram
6 prunes cut into strips added with the apple: a darker, faintly sweet lard, excellent on winter sandwiches.
Plain fat for frying
Pour off half the clear fat before the onion goes in and keep it separately. Plain lard with no additions is good for frying — it is the traditional fat for a breaded pork cutlet — takes more heat than butter and keeps for several months in the fridge.
The lard turned grey
Rendered too hot, or left too long after the cracklings came out. White lard is the result of a low flame, not of a good recipe — next time turn the burner down and allow half an hour more.