Ingredients
Scale
- 3 pounds pork trimmed from the front leg or belly, cut into 1” cubes
- ¾ pound fatback, cut into 1” cubes
- 8 cloves garlic, crushed
- 6 sprigs of fresh rosemary or thyme, or half of both- why not?
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 Tablespoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch allspice
- ¾ cup white wine
- ½ cup water, or all white wine- why not?
Instructions
- While you can use trimmed pork shoulder and cubed fatback (3:1 ratio or so), at butcher time we will use trimmings that still have a good bit of fat attached or the trimmings from the belly which have a good amount of fat and would have otherwise gone to ground pork.
- Place all of the ingredients in a slow cooker and render down the fat on low heat for about 8 hours until the meat can easily be shredded. Stir occasionally.
- Skim out the cubes of meat.
- Remove the meat from the unrendered fat, discarding the fat. (And by discard I mean the chickens will happily eat it. Or dogs or cats.)
- Shred the meat and pack it into half-pint jars with 1” headspace.
- Ladle the liquid fat/wine/water mixture over the shredded pork until the pork is completely submerged. Use a knife to remove any air pockets. Wait for about 10 minutes for the liquid to settle and then add a bit more if the meat is no longer covered. (If there isn’t enough liquid, just cover the meat with rendered lard.)
- Cool completely before serving at room temperature.
- Store in a cool dark place or refrigerate for up to 6 months, but they’re not going to be around that long!