Men altså, det er et slid. Det er fedtet, det er anstrengende, og så alligevel. Jeg har en stor kødhakkemaskine - sådan én hedder en Fleischwolf (kød-ulv) på tysk, sjovt navn synes jeg. De er nummererede. Nummer 8 er den normale størrelse til en husholdning, den vi alle kender, nummer 5 er en lille én, og nummer 10 er en virkelig stor én. Jeg har en af hver størrelse, og jeg valgte nummer 10 til at hakke fedtet.
Det tog vel en times tid at hakke al fedtet, så skulle det op i en gryde og smeltes, og så skulle der gøres rent. Kødhakker, knive, bræt og skeer skulle vaskes op. Og så kom jeg - måske i anledning af alt det der slægtsforskning - til at tænke på mine forfædre. Jeg er altså totalt privilegeret. For godt nok er det hårdt at hakke noget mere end tre kilo fedt i en hakkemaskine, men det går altså både hurtigere og nemmere end at skulle skære det i bittesmå tern i hånden. Og jeg skulle hverken hente vand ved pumpen, hugge brænde til at varme vandet og smelte fedtet eller skrubbe al fedtet af med sand og håndkraft. Der er varmt vand i hanen, kogende vand i elkedlen, og gasblussene klarer smeltningen uden anden af min energi end den der går til at slæbe flasken ind i køkkenet.
Once every two years or so, I run out of lard to make soap. As soon as I see bottoms in the bag, I write an email to Kødsnedkeren, a good! butcher nearby, and about a week later I go by bike five kilometres there and five home again caryying three kilos of prime pork visceral fat ready to render.
But really, it's hard work. It's greasy, it's exhausting, but... . I have a big meat grinder, the kind called Fleischwolf (meat wolf) in German - a funny name, I think.
They are numbered. Number 8 is the normal household size, number 5 is a small one, and number 10 is a really big one. I have one of each, and I used the big number 10 to grind the fat.
It took me about an hour to grind all the fat, it went into a pot to melt and then it was time to clean. Grinder, knives, board and spoons had to be washed.
And then - perhaps because of all the genealogy research - I started thinking about my ancestors. I am totally privileged. Sure, it's hard to grind three kilos of fat by hand in a grinder, but it's faster and easier than cutting it into tiny cubes by hand. And I didn't have to fetch water from the pump, chop wood to heat the water and melt the fat, or scrub off all the fat with sand and manual labour. There's hot water in the tap, boiling water in the kettle, and the gas burners do the melting without any of my energy other than what it takes to drag the bottle into the kitchen.
Growing up we had a mincer like that. And you are soooo very right about us living in privileged times.
SvarSletWe had too, and I loved it when I was allowed to turn the handle ;) Funny isn't it.
SletMany of us have no idea how much work it took just to live day to day way back when.
SvarSletI sometimes try to live a day without modern comforts - it is tough! I'd love to make my chldren join me, but no, not going to happen. At least for now.
SletI remember the fat rendering, mum would chop it into cubes and set the biggest pan of the woodfire so it would render slowly all day. Pork for lard, beef for dripping and duck fat for roasting vegetables. We never made our own soap, just bought it from the supermarket. I think she sold much of the lard and dripping to friends and neighbours at Christmas times.
SvarSletChopping into squares is much more tedious work than using the grinder. But good lard & Co. are treasuers. I hope the neighbours paid her well.
SletWe had a mincer too and mum would feed through some chunks of stale bread to help clean the meats off the blades after making mince.
SvarSletI do so too, and the stale bread with the fat goes to the chicken ;) Nothing goes to waste.
Slet