Pork, fresh, separable fat, cooked

This is the pure cooked fat trimmed from fresh pork, the rendered or crisped portion rather than a lean cut of meat. In the kitchen it functions like a flavoring and cooking fat: chopped and rendered down to make lard and cracklings, diced small to lard leaner roasts, or crisped and crumbled over greens, beans, and salads for savory crunch. Cooks also use it to grease pans and add richness to sausage and pate mixtures. Its texture ranges from soft and unctuous when gently rendered to crackling-crisp when browned hard, and the flavor is deeply porky and rich, which is why a little goes a long way in seasoning a dish.

It is, by definition, very rich: per 100 g it carries 626 calories and 66.1 g fat, with a small 7.06 g protein (14% of the Daily Value) and no sugar or carbohydrate, plus only 56 mg sodium. That concentration means it is used in small amounts to add flavor and body rather than eaten on its own. Buy fresh pork fat from a butcher, keep it well chilled or freeze it since fat can turn rancid, and render it soon after purchase for the cleanest taste. An ounce is about 85 g here. Render it low and slow for lard or crisp it hard for cracklings, use it by the spoonful to enrich other foods, and pair it with acidic or sharp ingredients that cut through its richness.