I toiled every Saturday morning of my high school years rendering up to 600 pounds of pork fat. Hot, sweaty, greasy work under the strict eye of Bill Myers. I took pride in my work but Bill always came to the back room and would give a couple of turns to the old wooden press and squeeze out the final drops of fatty gold. And chastise me for not having captured them myself. For a buck sixty five an hour.
I’ve been getting my pork these days from the Amherst Flash. Best I’ve ever had. I request all the fat intending to capture the goodness for unrivaled pastries and frying. Clean as a whistle if done with care.
I loaded the 35 pounds into a single pot and set it to a patient simmer. Stirring frequently throughout the first 2 hours. The large ugly chunks of fat breaking down into what looks exactly like oatmeal. Cooking, cooking, slowly increasing the temperature as the process continues.
Heat then the required ingredient for purity. You can utilize all the low temp patience in the world but only when you get things fired up does the real change occur.
What was unpalatable up front transforming into something sublime.
While I was cooking up the fat the State Farm 10 Mile and No Frills 10 Mile were being contested Saturday. Nebraska Run Guru Elite shook out like this, first at No Frills:
Craig Donnelly un-retired to come out and run the 2nd fastest time in the history of the race. His time of 56:28 only :06 off of the all time record set by Josh Blue in 2010. Craig reports having lost :20 due to being confronted by a large dog, thankfully the owner dismounted his tractor and called off the hound. Kray Zeller and Mike Wasson were 3rd & 4th overall. My dear, sweet, loving Linda was the overall age graded female so a good day down in La Platte. And at State Farm: Kyle Clouston scored a 4:00 personal best finishing 7th overall and Kathryn Merrill was third overall for the women.
As expected I received a firestorm of emails yesterday. As usual about 50/50, some calling me a rat and a villain others decrying me as champion of justice. And some egghead philosophical crap that had no relevancy at all.
I ended up with 9 quarts of clarified beauty.
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