Tallow – Homemade

Tallow is the fat rendered from meat other than pork, most generally beef fat. Rendering is the process by which animal fat is melted and clarified, resulting in a pure fat source. You can ask your butcher or local rancher if they have grass-fed fat for sale that you can use for rendering tallow. If you’re planning to buy a grass-fed cow, ask the butcher to save the fat (and organs!) for you. You can also ask them to cube it for you, which makes the rendering process much easier and quicker. You can make an entire crock pot at once and freeze the final product in mason jars (freeze without the lid on, and put the lid on after frozen). For more information on where to buy local grass-fed meat and fat, see this post. For more information about how to render tallow, please visit this blog post.

Tallow – Homemade
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Tallow – Homemade

Servings 4

Total Time: 12 hours

Cook Time: 12-24 hours

Ingredients

  • 3 pound(s) beef fat also known as suet

Instructions

  1. Refrigerate beef fat as it is easier to trim when it is about the consistency of cold butter.
  2. Trim fat into chunks. You will need to remove bits of meat, blood or gristle until all you have is the fat.
  3. Put your fat through a food processor to get small pieces. The smaller pieces will speed up the rendering time.
  4. Put the fat in a crockpot on low. Stir occasionally as you don't want it to burn. This process make take 5-7 hours depending on how much fat you are rendering.
  5. The rendering process is complete when there is clear liquid at the bottom and the "impurities" are floating at the top.
  6. Strain the tallow through some cheesecloth and either straight into your sterilized jars or into baking pans lined with parchment. Allow the tallow to harden completely. Some people store the tallow in their pantrys. I prefer the refrigerator or better yet, I put some in the freezer where it can last up to a year if properly sealed.

Photo courtesy: www.thenourishednana.blogspot.com