80% Lard Soaps..OK, I Get it Now.

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Just to throw a spanner is the works - schmalz is a generic term for semi solid cooking fats. Like schweinerschmalz (spelling is wrong, but I'm too tired) is lard, butterschmalz is a kind of processed butter for cooking with. In fact, schmalz is translated often as lard or shortening

 

[TeaLeavesandTweed]

Fat from poultry such as duck, geese, and chickens is called “schmaltz” and is soft, almost liquid, at room temperature.

Unrelated to soap, but duck fat is liquid at warm-ish room temperature and can be used to make salad dressing. Really awesome salad dressing.

Related to soap, I have an 80% lard, 20% CO soap that will have been curing 4 weeks a week from tomorrow. Should I give it a test or another 2 weeks before diving in?

 

[navigator9]

I find this definition which makes me happy in a vocabulary nerd way:

Fat from goats, sheep, llamas, alpacas, deer, moose, elk, caribou and other ungulates is hard and when rendered is called tallow.
Fat from pigs, bear, and rabbit is soft fat, and when rendered is called lard.
Fat from poultry such as duck, geese, and chickens is called “schmaltz” and is soft, almost liquid, at room temperature.

I cannot wait until DH makes BBQ chicken so I can annoy him with talking about his schmaltz sputtering on the grill.

snappy, your talk of schmaltz reminds me of a trip to Florida some years ago to visit my aunties, who grew up poor, and never threw anything away, including schmaltz, which they saved, along with bacon fat, to fry things. So of course, not knowing this, I took the little tub of "I can't believe it's not butter", assuming that's what it actually was, and slathered some on my morning toast, and took a bite before one of the aunties could say, "Oh no, that's not the one for toast!" lol It also reminds me of a Jewish boyfriend's grandmother who used to make me chopped liver with schmaltz. I can still taste it's silky wonderfulness!

 

[Seawolfe]

I see no harm in trying it out tomorrow - I cant believe you haven't been testing it all along! But it might well be even better in a couple more weeks or so. I typically start using my soaps at 4 weeks just because they are MY soaps and I CAN! Well, except for the castiles.

Related to soap, I have an 80% lard, 20% CO soap that will have been curing 4 weeks a week from tomorrow. Should I give it a test or another 2 weeks before diving in?

 

[not_ally]

I find this definition which makes me happy in a vocabulary nerd way:

Fat from goats, sheep, llamas, alpacas, deer, moose, elk, caribou and other ungulates is hard and when rendered is called tallow.
Fat from pigs, bear, and rabbit is soft fat, and when rendered is called lard.
Fat from poultry such as duck, geese, and chickens is called “schmaltz” and is soft, almost liquid, at room temperature.

I cannot wait until DH makes BBQ chicken so I can annoy him with talking about his schmaltz sputtering on the grill.

That is interesting, Snappy.

Nav, no way to have good chopped liver w/o schmaltz. That stuff is awesome.

Tea Leaves, for some reason I've seen a couple other references to cooking w/duck fat lately (as a flavor additive, not as the main oil). Somewhere I got the impression it is very expensive and kind of hard to find. Where do you get yours?

 

[silverette]

Which recipe, specifically?



I am looking for the 80% lard soap recipe that everyone seems to like.
Thanks

 

[jade-15]

Which recipe, specifically?



I am looking for the 80% lard soap recipe that everyone seems to like.
Thanks

It's the very first post.... 80% lard, 20% coconut oil.

 

[TeaLeavesandTweed]

I see no harm in trying it out tomorrow - I cant believe you haven't been testing it all along! But it might well be even better in a couple more weeks or so. I typically start using my soaps at 4 weeks just because they are MY soaps and I CAN! Well, except for the castiles.

I mean, I licked them a couple times. That's like testing, right?

I kid. I saw the lather looked promising when I cleaned out my bowl a few days after making it, but figured I'd be patient and use up a bar a friend gave me while they cured. But I'll definitely try them out next weekend.

Tea Leaves, for some reason I've seen a couple other references to cooking w/duck fat lately (as a flavor additive, not as the main oil). Somewhere I got the impression it is very expensive and kind of hard to find. Where do you get yours?

I bought a 2-lb. tub of it from US Wellness Meats once when I wanted to buy some jerky and needed to make the minimum order, but my first experience was with fat rendered from a duck I cooked for Christmas dinner one year. It was a small-medium duck and gave me 2 cups of fat. Nice flavor. It was the trendy thing to do fries in a couple years ago. There's also a site called Fatworks that sells duck fat.

 

[DeeAnna]

I am looking for the 80% lard soap recipe that everyone seems to like.
Thanks

Like I said in my previous post, no one has posted a detailed soap making recipe in this thread, just proportions of fats.

If one soaper suggests the basic proportions of fats to make a soap that she/he really likes, most of us are able to design our own soap recipe from just that information.

Are you having trouble with this design process?

 

[IrishLass]

My understanding is tallow comes from herbivore ungulates (hooved animals that eat only plants) and lard is from omnivorous ungulates (hooved animals that eat plant and animal foods -- pigs). I haven't seen rendered rabbit and bear fat also called lard, but maybe that's a more common usage in culinary circles?

That's always been my understanding, too- that lard is specifically/uniquely pig/hog fat, which makes sense because the word comes from the Latin word 'lardum', meaning 'bacon'. Mmmmmmm, lardum!

I have one more week of cure to go on my own experimental high % lard soap with 66% lard. I can hardly wait, although I think my impatience might get the best of me today and I'll end up trying out the small bar that I formed by squishing my bevel scraps into a guest-size indy mold. I'll let y'all know what I think of it.


IrishLass

 

[Dharlee]

So do you guys just buy lard from the grocery store? I have never made lard soap and have heard from others that it's amazing. I have some tallow on order but I found lard from walmart in a big bucket and wondered if that's ok to use?

Thanks! BTW going to introduce myself now!

 

[afbrat]

So do you guys just buy lard from the grocery store? I have never made lard soap and have heard from others that it's amazing. I have some tallow on order but I found lard from walmart in a big bucket and wondered if that's ok to use?



Thanks! BTW going to introduce myself now!

That's the lard I use

 

[TeresaT]

I only know "schmaltz" as being as being sappy or ridiculously romantic. Never knew schmaltz was chicken fat. Eewwww. I remember the old ladies saying about their husbands, "He might be a schmaltz, but he's MY schmaltz." You mean all that time tgey were calling him chicken fat and not hopeless romantic?

 

[debikers]

I made my first batch of lard soap the other day. What
A mess. I forgot
To add fragrance and I did put
Jasmine tea in my lye water. The color looks like baby poop and it's soft and wet feeling after 48 hours. Is this normal ( the soft
And wet part)? Also, I didn't cover it
With anything after
I got
Done. No towels or
Plastic wrap. Now it's lighter colored on top and dark brown on the center where I cut it.
I know it's a total flop, but it's my first
Batch of
Lard soap. Apparently my mind wasn't
In it. I shall have to try again only just
Do a basic recipe with no extras. I need to know how it handles before I use it and decide
Whether or
Not I like it. just
Wanted to share

 

[IrishBeautyUS]

I made my first batch of soap using bacon fat not too long ago. I only had about 3.5 oz so I had to add additional oils. I did a superfatting level of 3%, but I think next time I will go 2% because it gets a wee bit slimy when you wash your hands with it. Plus side is that it is super moisturizing. :razz: What superfatting levels have you used when making soap with bacon grease/lard?

 

[rparrny]

Unrelated to soap, but duck fat is liquid at warm-ish room temperature and can be used to make salad dressing. Really awesome salad dressing.

Yup, I was trained in french cooking and duck fat is the best for giving foods a really silky texture. Once I started cooking kosher it was a lifesaver for me when I could no longer cook my meat in butter. I wonder if duck fat would lend the same silkiness to soap? Has anyone tried it?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Okay, today I poured a wee batch of 80% lard, 15% co and 5% castor. Let's see what all the fuss is about.......

 

[Susie]

I buy the lard from Walmart in the 4 lb tub. Works fine. BTW-you can mix soap in those tubs, so think twice before discarding.

I am making soap for several of the ladies I work with that all have eczema. No specific allergies, just eczema. If they like the soap, I will do a soapmaking lesson with/for them. I am saving all those lard tubs and such for them to use. I also gave them the link for this site.

 

[PortlandSoaper]

I was going to make an 800 g batch today of 50% OO, 25% Lard, and 25% CO... but then I read this thread and decided to try the 80% Lard, 20% CO. So far, I am totally impressed! I used 35% water. I wrapped it in blankets and was gone this evening. When I got home it was really hot, but I couldn't tell if it completely gelled. It is a really nice white color and it is firming up nicely! It looks like it will be ready to cut in the morning. It has a wonderful texture already. I am so glad I tried this combo. It isn't something I would have guessed to try on a whim. I will definitely be adding this recipe to my usuals. The lard is so inexpensive. It has just been as of recent that I started adding lard to my soaping oil choices. I really like it!

I combined four different fragrances and it smells delicious. No lard smell and it is still warm. I used almost equal parts of these to scent it: watermelon FO, sweet orange EO, pink grapefruit EO, and Green tea & Honey FO.
I also disolves 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of table salt in my hot lye water.
I have a dedicated 8 cup blender that I use for mixing 800 g batches in. I love making these small batches in the blender! It traces quickly and makes really smooth and even batter.

 

[Susie]

Don't be surprised if the EO scent sort of fades under the lardy scent while curing. A quick hand wash or two will bring it right back. High lard soaps seem to be the worst for the EO hiding during the cure.