Seriously, what would one do with beef tallow, especially with all the hype and holler about it being so unhealthy for you…
…and yet, the pendulum seems to be swinging in the other direction as heart disease and cancer cases keep rising even when one is on a lean meat diet.
For the pioneers when butcher time came around in the winter they would make enough candles from the beef tallow to last them a whole year. (My kids have done that already, for fun!)
Another thing that the tallow was prized for was soap making. That is something I still enjoy doing to this day, although I use a variety of fats.
The last one I want to mention is the most controversial and that is it being used for human consumption.
Check out my blog here on animal fats and your health. It may rest your mind!
Tallow is a very stable fat and can be used for frying.
Why Cook (or render) the Fat?
Before we go into the process of cooking the fat let me explain why you need to cook the fat before it’s ready to use.
The reason we cook the fat before it can be used for frying is we need to get all the moisture out of the fat. If we don’t do that your fat will spoil and quite simply put, you can’t fry a thing with it.
So let’s go cook some fat!
Cooking the Fat
You need 3-5 lbs beef fat for this process.
1. Skip this step if the fat is already in small pieces.) In order to decrease the fat’s melting time, you must increase its surface area by cutting or grinding it into the smallest pieces possible. The easiest way to do this is to have your local butcher grind the fat for you.
If this service isn’t available to you, use a sharp knife to cut the fat into small pieces.
2.(This step can also be done in a slow cooker.)Place the ground or freshly cut fat into a pot large enough to accommodate some expansion of the fat as it heats and bubbles. The fat should fill no more than half of the pot. Add 2-4 inches of water to the bottom of the pan. Also add 2-4 tablespoons of salt to help separate the impurities from the mixture.
3. Set the mixture over moderately high heat. Stir the mixture gently as it heats up. The object is to get as much of the fat to liquefy as possible. Allow the mixture to come to a slow boil, watching it constantly, as it may ignite if it boils over. Mash the small pieces of fat with your spoon to release any trapped liquid fat and speed up the melting process, which will take at least thirty minutes for each 2-3 lbs. of fat and longer for larger amounts and bigger pieces.
4. When most of the fat has dissolved, remove the pot from the stove and allow the mixture to cool slightly. Then pour or ladle the mixture through a sieve (I like to use a cheesecloth or old t shirt) into your primary mold.
5. What you have left in your cloth is the cracklings! Oh, these are so good but, be careful! They are also very rich and can cause bellyache if you eat too many! Some folks like to add them to corn bread for flavor. You can also mix them with peanut butter and set them out for the birds. If you see large chunks of white fat mixed in with the cracklings, either return them to the pot with more water and salt, and repeat to render the remaining fat, or save them and add to your next batch of tallow.
6. Place the filled mold into the refrigerator overnight; you need not place the lid on the mold. As the mixture cools, the tallow will rise to the surface and solidify.
7.Remove the mold from the refrigerator and turn it upside down into the sink. Press the bottom of the mold to remove the block of tallow, allowing any liquid to drain away. (If most of the water boiled away during the melting stage, very little will remain in the mold.) If there is a gelatin-like mass on the bottom of the block, simply scrape it off and discard it.
8. You should now have a hard, firm, white or off white block of tallow. Refrigerate or freeze the tallow until you are ready to use it.