Today I rendered 1 pound out of the 10 pounds of beef suet that I got from Linda when our 1/2 cow share was butchered. I wanted to start with a small amount, in case I messed it up. The fat was frozen when I got it, so I defrosted it in the fridge for two days prior to working with it.
You would think (or at least I did) that the fat would be soft and squishy, and difficult to work with. It was completely the opposite! It was actually quite solid, and easy to cut apart. I can see why people use tallow to make candles and soap with, it has a very waxy feel to it.
This was a really clean piece, with not a lot of waste to trim off. You do want to make sure all muscle and any bloody tissue are cut off, they will affect the taste in your final product. There is also a paper thin membrane that runs between chunks of fat, I tried to get all of it pulled off and separated from the fat I was going to render.
There are a few different methods of rendering tallow or lard. You can do it in the oven, stove top, or crock pot. I chose the crock pot this time because it seemed to be the most fail proof method. All the chopped up suet went into the crock pot, and I set it on low:
It rendered MUCH more slowly than I thought it would. Here it is at 30 minutes, you can see a slight melting around the edges:
60 minutes:
1.5 hours:
2 hours:
4 hours:
5 hours:
At this point, I went ahead and considered it done. I think that it probably could have gone a little longer but since I have done this before I wasn't really sure. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, and I realized later that maybe I should have left the lid on the crock pot. None of the instructions I read online mentioned this, so I just left it off. Next time I will leave it on and see if its a faster process!
A bunch of sites recommended pouring the rendered tallow through either a paper towel or a coffee filter. I wouldn't recommend either of these! Both clogged up right away (the tallow starts to harden as soon as its removed from heat) and made a big mess resulting in a bit of waste. It is important to get all the fat bits out though, as they can lead to spoilage if you don't remove them. I ended up using a fine mesh strainer covered in with a few layers of cheese cloth. The tallow poured through cleanly, and didn't make much of a mess:
I think I would have had two full half pints if we hadn't had such a hard time figuring out the best way to strain it. These are the bits of fat that were leftover:
I know it looks cream colored, but the tallow actually changed to a clean white color when it cooled. My camera and kitchen lighting just don't work well together!
Because the tallow was so hot when I poured it, placing a lid and ring on the jars sealed them up tight. From what I have read, they will be shelf stable like this for quite a while, but to be safe most people either put them in the fridge, or in the freezer for extended storage. I am excited to get the rest of the suet rendered down, and to use the same technique on the lard I will be starting to get next month. Then the real fun begins, finding yummy ways to use it up!
You would think (or at least I did) that the fat would be soft and squishy, and difficult to work with. It was completely the opposite! It was actually quite solid, and easy to cut apart. I can see why people use tallow to make candles and soap with, it has a very waxy feel to it.
This was a really clean piece, with not a lot of waste to trim off. You do want to make sure all muscle and any bloody tissue are cut off, they will affect the taste in your final product. There is also a paper thin membrane that runs between chunks of fat, I tried to get all of it pulled off and separated from the fat I was going to render.
There are a few different methods of rendering tallow or lard. You can do it in the oven, stove top, or crock pot. I chose the crock pot this time because it seemed to be the most fail proof method. All the chopped up suet went into the crock pot, and I set it on low:
It rendered MUCH more slowly than I thought it would. Here it is at 30 minutes, you can see a slight melting around the edges:
60 minutes:
1.5 hours:
2 hours:
4 hours:
5 hours:
At this point, I went ahead and considered it done. I think that it probably could have gone a little longer but since I have done this before I wasn't really sure. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, and I realized later that maybe I should have left the lid on the crock pot. None of the instructions I read online mentioned this, so I just left it off. Next time I will leave it on and see if its a faster process!
A bunch of sites recommended pouring the rendered tallow through either a paper towel or a coffee filter. I wouldn't recommend either of these! Both clogged up right away (the tallow starts to harden as soon as its removed from heat) and made a big mess resulting in a bit of waste. It is important to get all the fat bits out though, as they can lead to spoilage if you don't remove them. I ended up using a fine mesh strainer covered in with a few layers of cheese cloth. The tallow poured through cleanly, and didn't make much of a mess:
I think I would have had two full half pints if we hadn't had such a hard time figuring out the best way to strain it. These are the bits of fat that were leftover:
I know it looks cream colored, but the tallow actually changed to a clean white color when it cooled. My camera and kitchen lighting just don't work well together!
Because the tallow was so hot when I poured it, placing a lid and ring on the jars sealed them up tight. From what I have read, they will be shelf stable like this for quite a while, but to be safe most people either put them in the fridge, or in the freezer for extended storage. I am excited to get the rest of the suet rendered down, and to use the same technique on the lard I will be starting to get next month. Then the real fun begins, finding yummy ways to use it up!