Homemade smoked lard

Well, what could be tastier than a home-cooked meat dish. Especially when it comes to home-smoked lard! The process of cooking pork itself, do not hide, laborious and requires a lot of your strength and attention. But it's worth it, especially if you have a brazier in the kitchen at hand, and in the country stands and has a dust grill. Smoked lard turns out very tasty, tender and spicy!

Ingredients

• Salt - 5-7 tablespoons
• Sugar - 2 tablespoons
• Bay leaf - 3 pieces
• Black pepper peas - 1 tablespoon
• Large garlic - 5 cloves
• Lard with layers of meat - 2 kilograms

Directions

1. To give our dish a spicy garlic sharpness, let's prepare garlic to begin with. To do this, use a knife to peel the ingredient and, lightly rinsing it under running water, spread on a cutting board. Using the same sharp equipment, finely chop the garlic cloves. Transfer the chopped component to a free plate.
2. Spread bay leaf and black pepper peas in a blender bowl and grind the ingredients in Turbo mode for 1 minute.
3. Then pour the chopped spices into a bowl and pour salt and sugar there, using a tablespoon. Mix everything well with handy tools until smooth. After - add chopped garlic to the mixture and mix well again.
4. First of all, wash the lard well under running warm water, and then - wipe it dry with paper towels. Spread the main ingredient on a cutting board and cut off the uneven edges with a knife so that the lard acquires a beautiful appearance.
5. And now it is more convenient to place lard skin down on the work surface. With clean hands, sprinkle the component with half a mixture of spices and salt evenly over the entire surface of the meat and then rub everything thoroughly. After - turn the lard skin up and repeat the same procedure. Attention: do not forget to sprinkle spices on the sides of the lard.
6. After that, place the processed meat in a special dense large bag with a zipper. But close the package only after we squeeze all the air out of the tank. Place a packet of lard in spices in the refrigerator to infuse for 7 days. Important: in one or two days it will be necessary to take out a package and, having opened it, to pour out the formed liquid. Since salt removes a very large amount of liquid from the fat, do not be surprised if there is a lot of water at the bottom, and the fat will be near the surface of the package. Just gently open the zipper and, holding the meat, drain the liquid. After - again squeeze out all the air and close the package tightly again. This procedure is done throughout the week every 1-2 days.
7. At the end of the allotted time, remove the pork from the package and wash under running water, removing all spices and remaining salt crystals. For 7 days the main ingredient is quite impregnated with the aroma of black pepper, garlic and bay leaf and therefore, washing away the remnants of spices, we do not spoil the taste of the dish.
8. After that, wipe the component dry with paper towels and spread on a grid with a sheet of skin up. Again, put the lard in the refrigerator for 1 night to drain all the excess liquid.
9. And now begins the most important moment of cooking homemade lard! So, get the lard out of the fridge and leave it aside to reach for another 1 hour, but at room temperature. Meanwhile, turn on the oven and preheat to a temperature of 95 ° C. Now we take a roaster and we cover its bottom without a food lattice with a dense foil "crosswise"
10. Then spread on the bottom of the tank wood chips, evenly leveling them over the entire area of ​​the roaster. To prepare a juicy and tasty lard, it is best to take a cherry or apple tree, as they give the dish an unforgettable aroma.
11. After that we put in a roaster of a lattice the convex party upwards that our meat in the course of preparation did not burn up. And now we spread fat on a lattice in the center with a skin upwards. lifting them up. After that, connect, twisting several times, the edges of the foil, which is located on both sides of the narrow sides of the roaster, with the edges of the foil, which we recently twisted. That is, we should get a real house with a roof of foil, but without a pipe from which smoke comes out. In our case, the smoke will still seep out of the foil, and in a few minutes we will see for ourselves.
12. Now put the roaster with the dish on medium heat with two burners. After the smoke starts to come out of the top seam of the foil, keep the dish in this position for another 5 minutes
13. At the end of the allotted time, rearrange the roaster in the oven and continue to smoke lard for 4 to 6 hours. During this period, the meat will reach a temperature of 65 ° C.
14. At the end of the allotted time for smoking lard, get the roaster with the dish, using kitchen tweezers, and rearrange it on the stove. Carefully open the top seam of the foil and leave the lard in such a position that it can gradually cool to room temperature. After that, fully open the seams of the foil and with clean hands transfer the main ingredient to the cutting board. Carefully cut the skin with a knife, as we no longer need it. Namely, wrap the lard in cling film and put in the refrigerator for another night.
15. You can also fry pieces of smoked lard in a frying pan and cook real crispy bacon with scrambled eggs.
17. Bon appetit!