How to render beef tallow or lard

Animal fat has gotten such a bad rap.Now with our growing knowledge of nutrition and health, we are starting to realize that this form of fat is some of the healthiest and most natural you can consume.

Most unnaturally extracted oils of today such as vegetable or canola oil are mainly Polyunsaturated or trans fat which can be dangerous for our heart. With a massive rise in heart disease and obsesity in America, one can only realize that oils that are quickly and cheaply made by a multi-billion dollar industry, may not be designed with our health in mind. I could go on for days about how this Industry destroyed the good name of healthy animal fats but this is a post about how to render animal fat so lets get to it.

What fat should I get and How should I get it?

There are many different animal fats out there and different uses for each, i’m only going into the two that are more commonly used: Beef and Pork

Beef fat, or beef suet is rendered into an oil called beef tallow. Tallow is a flavorful oil with a very high smoking point, around 400°F to 420°F. It is most commonly used to deep fry foods. Remember when McDonalds’ fries used to be ridiculously delicious, they used to use Beef Tallow to fry it.

Pig fat is actually called lard in its pre-rendered and post-rendered form. Almost used as a butter substitute, lard is commonly used in pastry baking but can also be used just as any other oil would be used. Lard’s smoking point is slightly lower at around 375°.

Either of these fats can be acquired at your local grocery store or butcher. Grass fed Animal fats may be harder to come by since the meats and trimmings are used for grounded meats and what not. I stopped by Super-A market toward the end of a work day to pick up a couple Ribeyes the other day and asked the butcher if he had any beef fat. He pulled a big bin of fat trimmings and threw in about 2 lbs of fat in the bag with my ribeyes and it was that easy. Some places, such as Whole Foods will ask that you call in ahead of time to have them keep some fat aside just for you. Since there is still a stigma against animal fats in the common nutrition world, fats are extremely cheap if not free so have at it.

Rendering the fat: Wet vs. Dry Rendering

Being a beginner at this, I scoured the internet looking for information on rendering fat and most places talk generally about the actual heating process but most do not differentiate between wet or dry rendering methods and they end up combining the two methods somehow and wasting time. Here are some of the differences

Wet Render:

• Cleaner, more pure, oil.
• Could potential render more fat than the dry method.
• More time consuming
• Have to let oil sit in the fridge overnight to separate water from fat

Dry Render:

• Somewhat easier to do
• faster production
• no need to separate water
• easier to burn fat
• not as pure, and potential to burn could alter taste.

The two methods are accomplishing the same things, however they are done a little differently. The Wet method is usually done in a crock pot or an enclosed stove top pot. Water is added to the fat in the beginning so that the fat cooks at a regulated temperature, at the boiling point of water. If the container you are using to to wet render is not enclosed, the water will evaporate and escape, inevitably turning it into a dry render once all the water has boiled off. The dry method, which is what I used to render this particular tallow, usually starts with a little bit of water to prevent burning of the fat in the early stages of cooking. By the time the water has evaporated from the simmer, there is enough tallow to keep the fat from burning.

Rendering the Fat

I began the process with the intentions of a wet render without realizing the obvious problem of evaporation. After refilling the pot with cups of hot water, I ended up just letting it dry render once all the water had boiled off.

Here's pretty much all you need:

The first thing to do is trim away all of the excess beef that may still be attached to the fat. It does not have to be completely clean but having some meat will effect the taste of the tallow. After you've trimmed away all the meat, you wanna chop the fat pieces into tiny pieces, preferably with a food processor. The smaller the pieces, the more surface area will be heated and the faster the fat will melt. Once you chop everything down, throw it into the pan

Now again, Since I was noob and didn't research enough, I poured just enough water to cover the meat. Using either method, you're goin to be cooking at a very low temperature, just enough to simmer the water, or slow cook the fat.

Using the dry method, the rendering usually takes between 2 to 3 hours depending on how much fat you are using. Mine took about 3 hours for 2 lbs (mind you it started slow because of the water). Slow cookers for water rendering could take up to 6 to 8 hours on high and much longer on low. If you are dry rendering, you're going to want to stir the fat periodically to make sure they do not burn against the bottom of the pan. Starting a dry render with water is perfectly fine since by the time the water has boiled off, there is enough oil generated to keep the fat from sticking to the bottom easiliy. You will begin to notice a distinct smell in the house which I would call somewhat pleasant. If the smell becomes very strong and almost to the rancid side you may be burning the fat; stir up the fat and lower the heat.

After a couple hours you will start to see the fat brown up and turn into cracklins. This is using the dry method, I'm sure it happens with the wet method but I have not seen it yet. Once you feel like that fat has shrunk enough to where it has given all it can give, you can strain it out. Straining is the same for both wet and dry methods. You can use a standard strainer such as the one pictured or you can even use cheese cloth or a coffee strainer with it to get it even more clean.

Those cracklins are damn delicious btw. If you're using the the dry method, you are pretty much done. Just let the oil cool before you put it in the fridge and you should end up with nice, clean, white product. If you used the wet method, let it cool, put it in the fridge and you'll have a same product; just floating on a bed of water. Just remove it from the water, chop it up and store it! And there you have it folks, you've created a very healthy oil product that will make your stuff taste AMAZIINNGGGG. May I suggest sweet potato french fries, fried in Tallow? Paleo chicken nuggets? The possibilities are endless. Enjoy!