Lard is loved by many, so this product is in high demand. However, his offer is huge. For this reason, not every person can choose high-quality lard, which is used by enterprising sellers, passing off an often stale product as fresh.
To buy really fresh and good lard on the market or in the store, you need to know a few secrets. Thanks to them, a dish made from this product will be very tasty and you will want to cook it again.
Documentation
Looking closely at this or that piece of bacon, you should ask the seller about the documents confirming that the product meets the standards of the sanitary epidemiological station. It will also be useful to make sure that there is a seal on a piece of bacon or carcass. As a rule, there should be no problems with this in stores, since upon receipt of the goods, the availability of the relevant documents is checked. However, not everyone can provide it on the market, so it is better to refuse to buy such fat, since it may turn out that the animal was sick.
Smell
If you are going to buy lard, you should smell it. It is important that it is not smelly. Fresh lard has a delicate, milky smell. You should know that it is better to purchase fat from a pig, and not from a wild boar. A pronounced specific smell is characteristic of the male meat, it is not easy to remove it. It is also harsher and not suitable for every dish.
Sometimes by smell, not everyone will be able to determine whose lard is. In this case, you should separate the edge of the skin from the piece with your finger or knife. If she walks away without effort, then this is a pig, you can safely take it. Boar fat can also be determined by cutting off a small piece from it and bringing it to the fire. As a rule, it will smell of urea, which will not be possible to interrupt.
Color
It is also important to pay attention to the color of the fat. It should be white, ideally slightly pink. You should not buy a product with a yellowish tinge, as this indicates that it is stale. On store shelves, you can see gray lard, you should immediately discard it, since it is a stale product. There is also reddish bacon, which suggests that the animal was not young. As a result, the product will not taste good, so another piece should be looked at.
Thickness
If you want to buy really tasty bacon, you need to pay attention to the thickness of the piece. The optimal size is considered to be 3 cm. You should also take a closer look at the lard skin. It should be free of bristles, cleanly scraped, slightly yellowish in color. If it is brown, then the pig was tarred with straw. However, the aroma of such fat is simply amazing, but sellers often resort to such a trick to hide the not very good taste. This is usually the result of poor wild boar feed.
