Saturday, August 17, 2013

Rendering Animal Fat (Lard, Tallow)

RENDERED ANIMAL FAT
lard or tallow

Place lard or tallow (suet) in a pot.  Melt on medium heat.  Cook on medium heat 1-3 hours or until small pieces of meat are extremely brown beyond being edible.  Pour hot oil into jars.  Wipe jar mouth immediately and place canning lid on jar (if any fat residue remains between the glass and the canning lid it will not seal).  The jars of fat will self-seal if placed on the counter.  I place a towel on the counter and the jars on the towel.  Following the same protocol as regular canning there shouldn't be any cool are directed at the jars. Any jars that don't seal can be put in the refrigerator for an indefinate amount of time until used.  After a jar has been opened for use it should be returned to the refrigerator until it's consumed.

Brown Rice Porridge (Cream of "Wheat")

BROWN RICE PORRIDGE
1 heaping cup brown rice flour (I make my own brown rice flour with organic short grain brown rice run through a grain mill)
4 cups water or chicken stock
3/4 teaspoon real salt
Optional:
coconut oil (or animal fat, ghee, butter, etc.)
sweetener of choice (our favorites are raw honey, dehydrated cane juice, or applesauce)
cinnamon
powdered ginger (aids in digestion, but a pinch goes a long way)

Heat water or stock to boiling.  Slowly whisk in brown rice flour (the slower the flour is added the more silky smooth your cereal will be, the faster it's added, the lumpier your cereal will be).  Add salt.  Cook for 10-15 minutes on medium heat or until cereal is thick.  Add optional fats (too much fats can make the cereal runny), sweetener of choice (too much honey or applesauce can also make the cereal runny), cinnamon, and ginger.  Enjoy!


Chicken and Beef Stock

STOCK
2 whole chickens with gizzards, etc., thawed, rinsed OR
6 lbs. beef knuckle and marrow bones
1 jumbo onion, peeled and cut into eighths
2-4 carrots, washed, peeled and ends trimmed
2-4 celery ribs, washed and ends trimmed (if they're fresh and clean you can include ends)
10 cloves garlic, peeled and ends trimmed
water

Dump all ingredients into 20 quart stainless steel stock pot.  Fill to the top with water.  Bring to a boil.

(SKIP FOLLOWING IF MAKING BEEF STOCK)
Boil chicken until meat is tender (approximately one hour).  Remove from stock pot and remove meat from bones.  Divide meat into 14 sandwich bags.  Place sandwich bags filled with chicken meat into a gallon size freezer bag.  Return bones, skin, innards and everything not in sandwich bags to the stock pot.

(FOR CHICKEN AND BEEF STOCK BOTH)
Cook at a slow boil for 24-72 hours.  Remove bones and gristle only.  To increase nutrition, break open marrow bones and add marrow back to stock pot.  Blend skin, fat, and vegetables (remove celery before blending if in GAPS Introduction Diet Stage 1).  Add blended skin, fat, and vegetables to stock pot and stir.  Fill quart size freezer bags with stock. Lay filled freezer bags flat on a cookie sheet to freeze.  When frozen they'll stack better.

To thaw:  Place frozen quart ziploc bag of stock in a bowl.  Cover bag with HOT water until bag can be easily removed.  Place partially frozen stock into pot and pour any already thawed stock in also.  Squeeze stock fat from the ziploc back into the pot. Turn on low heat until stock is thawed.
OR:
Place frozen stock in bag in a container in the refrigerator over night.