Ancestral Kitchen

Fat is one of the cornerstones of ancestral eating. But getting hold of good saturated fat is not easy and can be eye-wateringly expensive. Making it at home, as Andrea and I do, you can cut your costs incredibly and also feel sure of the provenance and processing.
This episode will talk you through everything you need to know about rendering fat. We'll explain the different types of fats, their names, their properties and how you can use them. We'll then demystify the ways you can render fat in your kitchen, no matter what equipment you have, giving you step-by-step instructions. We'll clarify how you'll know your fat is done, what to do with the leftovers, how to clean up, the many different ways you can store your fat and how to know if it's gone bad.
This episode is peppered with real questions from real ancestral cooks about fat rendering – thank you to every supporter who sent in their query.
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Get more news from Alison & Andrea by signing up to their newsletter here.
For a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains sign up for Alison's newsletter here!
Get our three podcast cookbooks:
Meals at the Ancestral Hearth
Spelt Sourdough Every Day
The Pastured Pork Cookbook
Get all three of our cookbooks!
Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics
Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course
Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.
Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies.
Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for our favourite cookbooks: US link here and UK link here.
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Our podcast is supported by a community of ancestral cooks around the world!
Come join our community! You can choose to simply sponsor the podcast, or select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live Zoom calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content, and a Discord discussion grou
Find out more here!
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5* reviews on Apple Podcasts, mean the world to us! Here's how to leave one:
Open the Apple Podcast app
Find Ancestral Kitchen Podcast in your library
Scroll down to 'ratings and reviews'
Click on 'write a review', give us 5*s and then tell us why you love listening

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Resources:
Tallow price online link
Lard price online link
How to render lard in a slow cooker
7 ways to use lard (including a lard crackling spread recipe)
Pane con Ciccioli recipe
Do you have memories, documents, recipes or stories of those who cooked ancestrally? Visit our website here for how to share.
Thank you for listening - we'd love to connect more:
The podcast has a website here!
Stay in touch with Alison via her newsletter at Ancestral Kitchen
The podcast is on You Tube here
The podcast is mixed and the music created by Alison's husband, Rob. Find him here: Robert Michael Kay

When Alison and I were starting this podcast, she asked who was on my dream list of people to talk to. I said Tara Couture of Slowdown Farmstead and today that is what happened. In an incredibly long and appropriately slow morning we sat down together to talk for the first time and it was like visiting with an old friend I had waited a very long time to see again. Tara once shared her life on Instagram and I followed her avidly there, listening to her wisdom both practical and philosophical on butchery and growing and shifting, and how in the midst of life we are in death. Taking words from the screen to the printed page, Tara recently wrote a book, Radiance of the Ordinary. Since I had dropped off social media and Tara soon would herself, I was no longer reading her words, so when my copy arrived in the mail it felt like unwrapping a long-awaited, much anticipated letter from a beloved mentor.
In this episode we discussed many things including what does it look like to be living life at a human pace, as a human, in an ever-increasingly inhumane world? Is it even possible or practical to be a human in a world that expects you to be, and treats you as, a machine? Tara and I went through a lot of tea and boza over this long conversation so I invite you to settle in and join in with us, and let's be human together.
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One Earth Health make the grass-fed organ supplements we use and trust. Get 15% off your first order here and 5% off all subsequent orders here.
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Get more news from Alison & Andrea by signing up to their newsletter here.
For a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains sign up for Alison's newsletter here!
Get our three podcast cookbooks:
Meals at the Ancestral Hearth
Spelt Sourdough Every Day
The Pastured Pork Cookbook
Get all three of our cookbooks!
Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics
Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course
Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.
Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies.
Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for our favourite cookbooks: US link here and UK link here.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Our podcast is supported by a community of ancestral cooks around the world!
Come join our community! You can choose to simply sponsor the podcast, or select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live Zoom calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content, and a Discord discussion grou
Find out more here!
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The personal views and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect our own personal views or opinions. We recognize that our guests are whole persons and this may include views we or our audience actively disagree with; our guests are invited to the show because we feel they have something valuable to share with us all, and we do not ask them to censor their personal views on air. Our sharing of their work is not necessarily an endorsement of their personal views.
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5* reviews on Apple Podcasts, mean the world to us! Here's how to leave one:
Open the Apple Podcast app
Find Ancestral Kitchen Podcast in your library
Scroll down to 'ratings and reviews'
Click on 'write a review', give us 5*s and then tell us why you love listening

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Resources:
Slowdown Farmstead | Tara | Substack
Radiance of the Ordinary by Tara Couture
Against the Machine by Paul Kingsnorth
Do you have memories, documents, recipes or stories of those who cooked ancestrally? Visit our website here for how to share.
Thank you for listening - we'd love to connect more:
The podcast has a website here!
Stay in touch with Alison via her newsletter at Ancestral Kitchen
The podcast is on You Tube here
The podcast is mixed and the music created by Alison's husband, Rob. Find him here: Robert Michael Kay

Humans have been eating porridge (of which the American oatmeal is just one example) for, as you’ll hear, at least 32,000 years (that places it comfortably in the ‘paleo diet’ era!) Listen in to hear us cover just some of the history of this word and the comforting dish associated with it, as well as taking a tour of the many, many ways it is made throughout the world. Then we’ll focus in on oats - sharing surprising ways in which oat porridge has been served and eaten in the United Kingdom. We'll also explain the different types of oats used, the best ways to cook porridge and the myriad ways you can serve it.
If you love a bowl of steaming, creamy oatmeal, get ready to wrap your hands around this enlightening, inspiring episode.
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One Earth Health make the grass-fed organ supplements we use and trust. Get 15% off your first order here and 5% off all subsequent orders here.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Get more news from Alison & Andrea by signing up to their newsletter here.
For a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains sign up for Alison's newsletter here!
Get our three podcast cookbooks:
Meals at the Ancestral Hearth
Spelt Sourdough Every Day
The Pastured Pork Cookbook
Get all three of our cookbooks!
Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics
Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course
Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.
Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies.
Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for our favourite cookbooks: US link here and UK link here.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Our podcast is supported by a community of ancestral cooks around the world!
Come join our community! You can choose to simply sponsor the podcast, or select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live Zoom calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content, and a Discord discussion grou
Find out more here!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
5* reviews on Apple Podcasts, mean the world to us! Here's how to leave one:
Open the Apple Podcast app
Find Ancestral Kitchen Podcast in your library
Scroll down to 'ratings and reviews'
Click on 'write a review', give us 5*s and then tell us why you love listening

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Resources:
Millet Polenta
Different Types of Oats and How to Use Each the Traditional Way
Heritage Oat Collection
What is Sowans?
Ollebrod recipe
How to Roll Your Own Oats (and 3 Good Reasons to do It!)
Gerty Milk article
Episode 70: Fermenting Oats
Do you have memories, documents, recipes or stories of those who cooked ancestrally? Visit our website here for how to share.
Thank you for listening - we'd love to connect more:
The podcast has a website here!
Stay in touch with Alison via her newsletter at Ancestral Kitchen
The podcast is on You Tube here
The podcast is mixed and the music created by Alison's husband, Rob. Find him here: Robert Michael Kay

Everybody always wants to know - is a nourishing diet an elitist, privileged ideal, inaccessible to people without a huge budget, and only for the super wealthy? In this episode we are going to share five complete meals. Each meal serves a family of five, and each complete meal can be made for about $5USD (£3.71GBP).
Balancing these inexpensive meals against the more expensive meals that can turn up in an ancestral menu is one way you can bring the overall annual food budget down. You can make all five of these menus, combined, for less than it would cost to take your family of five out one time for the cheapest option at McDonald’s - and that’s not even accounting for the life-giving, health-sustaining benefits of your nourishing meals.
Each of these menus has an option for gluten-free and dairy-free, if they aren’t already, and they can also be made ahead, prepped ahead, or even frozen or canned for absolutely speedy preparation. We’ve shared a few books rich in ideas at the end of the episode, and supporters can find our notes for this rather note-heavy episode in a download available at ancestralkitchenpodcast.com.
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One Earth Health make the grass-fed organ supplements we use and trust. Get 15% off your first order here and 5% off all subsequent orders here.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Get more news from Alison & Andrea by signing up to their newsletter here.
For a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains sign up for Alison's newsletter here!
Get our three podcast cookbooks:
Meals at the Ancestral Hearth
Spelt Sourdough Every Day
The Pastured Pork Cookbook
Get all three of our cookbooks!
Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics
Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course
Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.
Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies.
Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for our favourite cookbooks: US link here and UK link here.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Our podcast is supported by a community of ancestral cooks around the world!
Come join our community! You can choose to simply sponsor the podcast, or select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live Zoom calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content, and a Discord discussion grou
Find out more here!
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What We Cover:
What we ate
Review from Heather
The cost of food today
Nine ancestral principles for cutting down a food budget
Happy Meal costs! The expense of eating out and Alison's shock at the cost
The ideas behind the food: Seasonality, Availability, Fasting or Feasting, Preference and Abundance
Meals 1 - 5 and cost for each, and each component
Alison's chicken carcass aside - should we do an entire episode on this!?
A few inexpensive treats and beverages
Books chock-full of ideas
Discord discussion on what we can be growing and raising vs buying and bartering
INCLUDED Aftershow: The kombucha experiment and extra savings!

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5* reviews on Apple Podcasts, mean the world to us! Here's how to leave one:
Open the Apple Podcast app
Find Ancestral Kitchen Podcast in your library
Scroll down to 'ratings and reviews'
Click on 'write a review', give us 5*s and then tell us why you love listening

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Resources:
Alison's Gluten-Free Millet Sourdough Starter
Episode 103 – 10 Nourishing Traditions Dishes – Cheaper Than Supermarkets!
Meals at the Ancestral Hearth Cookbook
Episode 116 – Leftovers and Scraps in a Frugal Ancestral Kitchen
Naturally-Fermented Staffordshire Oatcakes Recipes
Cheesy Pinto Bean Recipe
Simple Apple Crisp

Extra Recipes
Pressure-Canned Beans
One-Pot Pinto Beans and Rice
Pinto Bean Soup with Greens
Cream of Corn Soup
Andrea's Kombucha Recipe

Books
Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese

Sausages, bacon, crackling – good pork can be heavenly food. But both of us know that, sometimes, in the ancestral food world, pork is viewed as the poorer cousin to grass-fed beef or pastured chicken. That needn't be the case and this episode will put real pork where it deserves to be - at the centre of our plates. We'll give you some fascinating history bites, we'll talk about how the Industrial Revolution changed mainstream pigs, and we will lay out how buying real, pastured, pork is a positive, health-giving and delicious choice for you and those you love. Expect to be inspired by hearing us talk about the many ways we cook the products of the pig, from the nose to the tail.
This episode is accompanied by a fabulous pork cookbook which we've gifted, as a thank you, to all our current supporters. So if you're a supporter do go check your email. The book, with over 25 pork recipes is also available to buy from the podcast's shop, you purchasing a copy will be directly supporting Andrea and I to continue this work. Find it here:
Pastured Pork Cookbook
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One Earth Health make the grass-fed organ supplements we use and trust. Get 15% off your first order here and 5% off all subsequent orders here.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Get more news from Alison & Andrea by signing up to their newsletter here.
For a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains sign up for Alison's newsletter here!
Get our three podcast cookbooks:
Meals at the Ancestral Hearth
Spelt Sourdough Every Day
The Pastured Pork Cookbook
Get all three of our cookbooks!
Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics
Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course
Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.
Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies.
Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for our favourite cookbooks: US link here and UK link here.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Our podcast is supported by a community of ancestral cooks around the world!
Come join our community! You can choose to simply sponsor the podcast, or select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live Zoom calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content, and a Discord discussion grou
Find out more here!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
5* reviews on Apple Podcasts, mean the world to us! Here's how to leave one:
Open the Apple Podcast app
Find Ancestral Kitchen Podcast in your library
Scroll down to 'ratings and reviews'
Click on 'write a review', give us 5*s and then tell us why you love listening

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Resources:
www.robertmichaelkay.com
The new oat recipe download
How to Render Lard in a Slow Cooker
Pane con Ciccioli (lard crackling bread)
7 Ways to Use Lard (& a Lard Crackling Spread Recipe)
How to Make Lardo (Italian Cured Pig Fat) at Home
Slovakian Lard Crackling Biscuits from Naomi at almostbananas.net
Eating to Extinction
Episode 29 - True Historical Italian Food
Episode 33 - The Fats We Love, The Fats We Leave
Episode 38 - Fat Rendering, Traditional Food Gems & Eggs, Eggs, Eggs!
Episode 49 - Traditional Slovakian Food
Episode 23 - Traditional Slovakian Pig Butchery
The roast pork crackling recipe Alison loves

Do you have memories, documents, recipes or stories of those who cooked ancestrally? Visit our website here for how to share.
Thank you for listening - we'd love to connect more:
The podcast has a website here!
Stay in touch with Alison via her newsletter at Ancestral Kitchen
The podcast is on You Tube here
The podcast is mixed and the music created by Alison's husband, Rob. Find him here: Robert Michael Kay