Pig Oil?

I’m happy to report that I had no adverse physical reactions to straying from the program this past weekend. It was wonderful, and I have no regrets. And even as I delivered myself from the sort of ham-induced torpor I experienced when Ed and I went to market a month ago, Judge John Hodgman delivered us from having to eat at Little Caesar's in the K-Mart in Sidney in his most recent podcast. In his initial ruling Judge Hodgman ordered the consumption of both a banana and a slice of Sbarro pizza at the Kennebunkport southbound service plaza. Since Ed and I have no reason to go to Maine, Ed e-mailed in a request for a substitution. Judge Hodgman did us one better by simply removing horrible pizza from the list of things that must be eaten.

But that wasn't the only point he addressed. He and Jesse were also kind enough to mention our inability to find Cheez Waffies or Moxie and to request the aid of any listeners who feel like mailing us weird cola or obscure snackfoods. The only error is that our farm’s mailing address is actually in West Winfield, 13491, not Burlington Flats.

The other significant point of discussion they touch on is the possibility of using lard and bacon grease as salad dressing. While it’s true that there are traditional warm salads that involve these - I’m growing escarole with the hopes of enjoying them - I have also been wondering about the possibility of extracting liquid oil from lard. The analysis we had done showed high levels of monounsaturated fat, which is the main constituent of olive oil. I’ve read a bit about how a composite fat is fractionalized into more refined components, but all the detailed descriptions I’ve found assume purpose built industrial equipment.

So, as long as I’m shamelessly soliciting things from the readership, I’ll ask this - as unlikely as it is, do any of you have a practical idea of how to go about separating out the monounsaturated fat from the other fat portions of lard? You don't have to have actually done it, but if you have a sound enough understanding of fat fractionalization to describe some sort of setup I can rig with coolers, bowls, hot water, a good thermometer, etc. that has even an outside chance at working, I’ll give it my best shot. After all Judge Hodgman has done for us, I would love to be able to send him a bottle of pig oil.

-Garth

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