Tallow, golden in color and solid at room temperature.
Tallow is rendered beef fat. Rendering means the fat has been melted on low heat for several hours and strained of impurities, leaving us a result that is mild in flavor and smell, chock full of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K and minerals, and long-lasting if well kept.
Equipment
St. John’s organic beef fat, chilled
Knife
Cutting board
Food processor or meat grinder (optional but very helpful)
stock pot
cheese cloth or flour sack towels
colander
storage vessel (mason jar, baking dish, food storage container, etc.)
Process
1. Trim off bits of muscle and tendon left on the fat. As you cut, you will notice a cellophane-like membrane all over the fat. Pull off what you can, but it’s impossible to get all of it off.
Fat after being trimmed of muscle bits.
2. Cut the fat into 1 inch or smaller chunks. Cutting it into chunks will make grinding it in the food processor or meat grinder much easier.
Trimmed fat cut into chunks.
3. Process the fat chunks in the food processor or meat grinder until it looks like ground meat. If you don’t have a meat grinder or food processor, mince the fat as small as you can with a sharp knife. By breaking the meat into small chunks, we create a lot of surface area for each piece of fat. The increased surface area allows for more opportunities for the impurities to render out of the fat. This will result in a tallow that is very mild in smell and taste.
Beef fat processed into small granules.
4. Place ground fat into a large stock pot or crock pot and turn heat to the lowest setting possible. Stir every hour or so and check that the fat is not burning or smoking. The fat will melt and impurities (small solid bits) will come out of the fat and rise to the top. You will know the fat is done rendering when the impurities rise to the top and look crunchy. The total time will vary based on how much fat you use. Expect it to take 5-10 hours. When I rendered 7 lbs of fat, it finished in 8 hours.
Ground fat beginning to melt in stock pot.
Impurities are rendering out of the melted fat, about 2 hours in.
5. Line a colander with two layers or cheese cloth or flour sack towels and drain over a large bowl. Gently squeeze the towel to get all of the liquid fat out. Careful, it may be hot!
6. Once it’s finished draining, pour fat into storage vessel of choice. I poured mine into a parchment paper-lined glass baking dish. I did this because I prefer to store my tallow in bars over mason jars. I find it difficult to scoop cold tallow out of a mason jar with a spoon, but slicing off of a cold tallow bar is easy and convenient. (I got this storage tip from Jill Winger at The Prairie Homestead, you’ll love her blog if you’ve gotten this far.)
7. Leave fat at room temperature to cool until solid. When solid, transfer to refrigerator or freezer. I cut mine into bars before refrigerating. Tallow will keep for several months in the fridge, and I’ve read accounts of tallow keeping in the freezer for years! Some people also store it at room temperature; expect it to last about a month on a cool, dark pantry shelf. I was surprised to see the end result be yellow since most commercial tallow renders white. There are a lot of variables that go into the end result color, such as the breed of cow, its diet, its age, and where the fat was on the animal. The rich golden color is an excellent indicator of the vitamin A preset in the fat. This nutrient comes from the grass that the cows ate, and would not be present in grain-fed beef.
Tallow solidifying into a beautiful golden yellow. I was surprised to see it turn yellow!
8. Enjoy! Tallow is excellent for frying (McDonald’s used to use it for french fries before switching to harmful vegetable oils), sauteeing, searing meat, and for use in homemade skin-care. My cast iron skillet loves tallow; it adds a great seasoning to keep it naturally non-stick.
Toddler approved!