Fried pork lard

This is a distasteful entry. One that will push me back miles from my aspiring vegetarianism goals.

Fen and I were at A&S' for dinner last night. The menu was bak chor mee ("bcm"). No one was craving for the dish, it was just dinner.

Since we are new settlers, naturally we would compare the taste of A's bcm with what we're familiar back in SG. Fen and I thought "something" was missing. We couldnt figure out, and I just casually mentioned pork lard. Because all hawker stalls pride themselves with this little evil blob.

S got excited because he is a lard lover. He decided then that must be the missing ingredient. I then recounted childhood memories of how I saw Granny prepare fried pork lard once. Of coz, back then I didnt know what she was cooking, except that cubes of white solids turning brown and produced oil. Granny was so happy making it, excited and all. She loves pork lard, she loves cholesterol in general.

Since I was deemed the most free among us, with no job and idling at home, it became a challenge for me to attempt making fried pork lard to make bcm 2.0. Armed with fuzzy Granny memories, and 5 websites sharing fried pork lard recipes, I mustered the courage to drive out to the Asian supermarket, and shamelessly buy pork fat. With my research that indicated the output is far lesser than input, I decided to buy 1kg of pork fat. They came in slabs.

This is a third of what I bought.. For comparison, that's a 16cm chef knife.

The dicing part was hard work. Really laborious, partly because I had a blunt IKEA knife. Bah. WMF on its way in the shipment! Also because the slab was so slimy and oily! Argh.

1kg of diced pork fat. Pink marshmallows? =/

By this time I was quite grossed out with the smell. House smells like Tasman. By the way, I can no longer walk into Tasman, the butchery aura of despair and death has presented a no entry sign to me.

I was also having sore wrist from the slaying. It was a mountainous 1kg pile of 1-2cm diced fats. Took about 40minutes for a novice.

Time to juice the lard. And so began my steps that followed the websites' instructions.. Until I found the lies hidden in the recipes not discussed.

Dunk them in a deep pot

On medium heat. But the pot is sitting on the biggest burner of my cooktop. 

For the record, I did add pink salt. Like... half a tablespoon? More realistically, 6 twists of the salt grinder.

So I know how it should look like when fully done, hawker centers have taught me well (visually).

In just a few minutes..

It could be a bit amusing to watch something so dry turn into a pool of liquid. Mesmerising, if I may.

Wait, what's with the foam?

Turned the fire down to its lowest. Maybe foam will go away.

Shit. What is this. I so did not put soap detergent. Where r my cute little fatty cubes?

Fishing ensued.

 

O there you are. You sneaky little oink.

The foam was not going away and I cant see the cooking process. Perhaps my fire was too big, perhaps my pot was not right.

I decided to switch off the heat and fish out all them cubes. And then think about what to do next.

This is not right. Still got juice in them.

I took out a saucepan, and went for smaller batches.

Them cubes are not escaping my eyes this time!

More manageable this round. Less foaming, more even coating. And I figured each cube needs to touch pan, like, for more direct heat and searing. If you know what I mean.

Looking more right.

Even after this first batch was done, I still picked out the ones that still had juice in them. Not all cubes are evenly juiced. Hahaha, QC -_-

See the difference?

Also, notice from above pic how colourless the pork oil is? It's not yellow. My research found the pictures of oil all pretty yellow. I suspect overheated oil. I disapprove.

Moving on to second batch.. By this time, I realised this fried pork lard is not easy to make! For a novice, at least. For a first timer, a person who doesnt work in hawker. For a no-lard lover. For a perfectionist. You get the point.

So much work.. My back was aching and my legs were tired from standing. Cooking doesnt come with chairs.

1kg slabs of pork fat, a mountainous plate of pork fat cubes, juiced and contained, all in this same plate. It shrank, but still that's a lot of fried pork lard!

END PRODUCT

Let's not forget the juice. The pork oil I mean. Remember I said it's colourless? It also has a very low melting point. Like coconut oil. Also, both oils are saturated fats, creamier. And where I'm at, it's steadily 16℃ this week. So the pork oil solidified in just under 2 hours, to this smooth moisturiser.

1kg slabs of pork fat produces 1litre of pork oil. Interesting. Face moisturiser, anyone?

I did let A&S sample the fried lard. Apparently, it should be crispier. So, I should have let it cook longer. When I tasted it, it burst oil in my mouth on biting, which I thought was the right doneness. But I'm no lard eater, so it was hard to assess on my judgement. Basically, it's disgusting to me. I'm trying to like it, but no.

I'm however, gonna try using the oil. But Fen and I dont stir fry often. We use toasters and ovens and eat raw. I'm guessing everything would eventually go to A&S =/

I'm prolly never making fried pork lard again. It was a humbling experience, fun while it lasted (for 2hrs).