What to Do with Beef Fat

While not as fatty as pig, several cuts of beef have noticeable fat caps that are big and on the outside of the meat. These thick trims are especially common on portions of roast such as brisket. Many people consider this waste to be “dealt with” while preparing a meal, either by cutting it off in advance or making sure the drippings and type of animal fat fall off after the cooking process and are thrown away.

Is Beef Fat Good to Eat?

Regarding beef fat, you realize it doesn’t taste nice and is bad for you. The first thing is correct: I don’t typically gulp down large chunks of beef fat and consume them whole. Even purely in terms of texture, it is…disgusting.

The second is controversial since, throughout time, research has changed quickly and often. The short version is that although saturated fats are harmful to you, they’re not as terrible for you as some of the alternatives, and they have quite a few health benefits when consumed in moderation. For instance, beef fat is rich in many critical vitamins and minerals.

This means there is at least a nutritional justification for leaving the fat on.

What about the taste one, though?

What use does beef fat serve now that we know it doesn’t “taste good”?

The response is a component, not a path. While largely simply pig and beef, unless you’re eager to learn how to render and prepare duck fat, most fat leftovers from various roasts and other fatty meats are also highly flexible culinary ingredients.

How to Make Beef Tallow?

Learn how to render beef fat to create tallow in this article. You may use beef tallow, a very nutritious fat, in various dishes as a cooking fat. Every kitchen that prepares traditional cuisine needs to have it on hand, particularly yours!

What is Tallow?

Rendered Beef fat in grease, but not any beef fat. From Suet, beef tallow is produced. Technically, you may also refer to the solid fat converted from the Suet of other ruminant animals as tallow. Tallow, however, most often refers to Suet derived from meat, particularly cow.

The following essential vitamins and minerals may be found in tallow, a nutritive fat:

• Vitamins A, B1, D, E, and K
• Selenium; and Choline; Minerals

How to Use Tallow

Tallow has a smoke point of 420°F, making it a fantastic fat for high-temperature cooking. Among the finest applications for tallow are:

• Deep-frying foods like chicken nuggets and french fries
• frying veggies, particularly greens
• roasting veggies with a coating before
• using it in the preparation of nutrient-rich pemmican

Additionally, tallow is a great alternative for the following ingredients:

• something savory (Use instead of vegetable oils or butter)
• low heat-producing cooking (Use instead of vegetable oils)
• various savory baked pastries such as biscuits (Use instead of lard)

What is Suet?

What is beef Suet if tallow is produced from it? The fat that surrounds a cow’s internal organs is called Suet. The fat surrounding a cow’s kidneys produces the best Suet, which may be rendered to create the healthiest tallow. And remember that the greatest Suet comes from animals allowed to graze on grass.

Try your neighborhood farmer’s market if you’re looking for Suet since not all grocery stores carry it, especially those in the back. In a later section of this blog article, I discuss where I get my Suet. (You may also purchase pre-made tallow if you’re not ready to create it yourself.)

Can You Render Beef Fat that is not Suet?

Suet must thus be rendered if actual tallow is to be produced. But what if you are unable to locate Suet? In such a situation, selecting trimmings from cow muscle meat as another form of beef fat is an option. Additionally, using a non-suet substitute may produce a cooking-rendered fat comparable to tallow.

Although many people may term the cooking fat made from a non-suet substitute “tallow,” it isn’t tallowed in the classic sense. However, this imitation tallow is still nourishing and effective when cooked at high temperatures.

You may ask a local grocery store butcher to sell you the fat trimmings that he has taken out of different types of beef, such as roast if you’re looking for a fat source of non-suet beef fat. When you cut the beef you buy at your local farmer’s market or from a local rancher, you may also gather the fat.

Prepare to Render Suet to Make Tallow

The fat must first be chopped into cubes approximately an inch in size, whether you are rendering suet or beef trimmings. If a meat grinder is available, you may ask your butcher to grind the fats instead of making the cubes yourself.

When trimming your fat, especially beef trimmings, take off as much flesh as possible.

Three Ways to Render Suet into Tallow

One of three kitchen equipment may be used to transform suet or cow fat scraps into tallow:

• Stovetop
• slow cooker
• oven

I demonstrate how to render Suet in the oven in this lesson video. Additionally, I describe how to render Suet on the stovetop or in a slow cooker in my printable recipe.

Regardless of your equipment, the technique for making tallow is the same. Here are the fundamental procedures I demonstrate for rendering Suet in your oven:

• Suet (or beef fat trimmings) should be placed in a heavy-duty saucepan. (My preferred Dutch oven is made of cast iron enamel.)
• In an oven that has been preheated to 225°F, place the large pot on the center rack.

The ideal temperature is essential for turning Suet into tallow. Do not hurriedly complete this. Depending on how much you have, rendering the Suet will take a while. It took five to six hours to render five pounds of Suet in the oven.

Do I Need to Add Water to Make Tallow?

You could come across instructions to add water to your pot or slow cooker to keep the Suet from burning when you browse through old cookbooks or search the Internet for ideas on how to create tallow using Suet. This cannot possibly be essential.

When rendering, if you have to add water to keep your Suet from burning, it indicates that your temperature is too high! On your stovetop or slow cooker, adjust the temperature to 225°F or the lowest setting. You won’t need to add water to your rendering suet if you maintain your appliance at the proper temperature.

How to Strain Tallow

Congratulations. You’ve finished the rendering process of your beef fat or suet trimmings! When you take the tallow out of the oven, it seems like a golden liquid fat.

Staining the mixture is important since your Dutch oven still has debris and liquid tallow in it. Impurities and little bits of crispy kidney meat (or muscle meat) that have settled to the bottom are included in this residue. Cracklings are a common name for these crunchy fragments.

Simply transfer the contents from the Dutch oven into a heatproof basin through a fine-mesh sieve. The result will be lovely and nourishing beef tallow in your dish. Liquid Gold!

The fine mesh strainer will catch the cracklings. Some individuals may consume these beef cracklings or use them as a tasty treat for their dog, although they are not as common as pigskin cracklings.

What is the Shelf Life of Tallow?

Tallow lasts a very long time. It may be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for at least a year. But many chefs also think that it may have a long shelf life of your tallow beyond a year in the following ways:

Extended Pantry: Your home-rendered tallow may last much longer than a year in your dark, cold extended pantry if you sift out all the cracklings and other impurities and use an airtight container to keep it.

Freezer: The shelf life of your tallow may be almost endless if you can keep it chilled or frozen.

Tallow Can Become Rancid?

Tallow doesn’t rapidly go bad on its own. The likelihood is higher, however, that it will gradually oxidize and lose part of its nutritious value.

Your nose can detect fats, as it can any fat. Your tallow is most likely fresh if it has a lovely meaty aroma. It could be best to get rid of anything if it has an odd or disagreeable odor.

Real Tallow VS Mock Tallow Shelf Life

Remember that real tallow made from Suet has the longest shelf life and will be rather hard at room temperature.

The faux tallow made from beef fat scraps will be a little softer at room temperature. Consequently, it will have a texture comparable to butter and a somewhat shorter shelf life than actual tallow. To increase its shelf life, you may refrigerate and freeze food according to the same rules.

Can We Use Beef Tallow in Woodwork Conditioner?

One of my earliest recollections is of seeing my mother apply Vaseline to our wood furniture as it started to dry out. To maintain the wood and enhance the grain and gloss, furniture polishes are oil-based. For a wood conditioner/polish, combine a few drops of lemon oil or coconut oil with a couple of ounces of tallow.

Can We Use Tallow to Make Soap?

Make sure to use authentic tallow rendered from Suet if you like crafting and wish to make handmade candles or soap as our ancestors did.

Tallow is ideal for creating candles or soap because of its firm hardness at room temperature.

Can we Use Beef Tallow in Beauty Products?

Yes, women, we are putting beef fat on our faces, I like to remark. But joking aside, you can make your beauty creams at home with beef tallow, as I’ll show you in the recipes below.

You want to be sure that you utilize genuine tallow as a component in DIY beauty finished products, just as when creating candles and soap.

Can We Use Beef Tallow in Animal Feed?

Tallow should be melted and used as your own fat in your homemade animal feed. Use it in the bird seed blocks, dog food, or cat food. Particularly during the winter, your animals require some fat in their diet. Your dog will like a little amount of it added to the chicken, rice, and peas on his or her plate. Just be certain it’s a dollop.

Source

• FarmHouseOnBonne.com