If you’re purchasing your beef in bulk, you can request your butcher give you your fat. Use it in cooking and beauty products. It’s a versatile ingredient and a great way to replace your other cooking fats!
Rendered beef fat is the most used cooking fat in my kitchen. I keep the fat in a glass jar on my countertop and use it for deep frying potatoes and eggs, and even seasoning my cast iron.
At room temperature, rendered animal fat is a solid. But don’t be fooled – animal fat is liquid gold!
How to Render Beef Fat and Tips for Cooking with Tallow
If you buy your meat in bulk (beef, pork, and even sheep and chicken!) you need to ask your butcher for your fat. When you work directly with a farmer, you’re purchasing this anyway! Don’t let it get thrown away by a butcher.
When you pick up your animal from the butcher, your fat is ready to be processed. But what does that look like?
Processing fat is simply chopping it into smaller pieces so there’s less surface area to heat. The smaller your piece of fat, the more (in theory) fat you can render.
This is why you will see some people recommend grinding your fat. If you have a grinder, or a mixer powerful enough to support a grinder attachment, you’re drastically reducing the surface area of the fat, which gives you the highest potential yield.
Do you have questions about purchasing beef in bulk? I walk you through the whole process in this blog post!
There are two primary ways to go about rendering fat, though. Which do you choose?
The Rendering Process
There are two different ways to render your animal fats – dry rendering and wet rendering. While they are similar, you may choose one over the other based on how you plan on using your animal fat.
Simply put, dry rendering is heating your fat without water, while wet rendering is heating your fat with water. Let’s take a closer look at both methods below.
Dry rendering
Dry rendering animal fat is heating your animal fat with no water.
You place your chopped or ground animal fat directly into a stock pot over very low heat. Stir occasionally. And keep a lid on your pot.
Remember – we want as little surface area to work with as possible! Try to avoid adding chunks of fat to your stovetop pot or crockpot. We want as little surface area to heat as possible!
For the amount of fat I’m rendering (usually well over 10 cups) I let my fat melt over very low heat for at least 4 to 6 hours.
The fat will liquify and the uncooked fat trimmings will rise to the top. Any meat associated with the fat, usually called cracklings, will also rise to the top. Skim them off and save your cracklings! These make great additions to salad. We use them for “free” cat food.
Were you there when we found kittens in our chicken coop? Talk about a shock! See more about our everyday life on our urban homestead on Instagram.
You can also use a crockpot to render your fat. Do this during the day – you need to stir your fat occasionally!
When I’m confident I can no longer get any more fat to melt, I strain my fat through a fine mesh strainer. You can also pair cheesecloth with a fine mesh strainer for a cleaner product. I’ve seen some use coffee filters – those would do a great job, too.
I store my rendered fat in a glass mason jar at room temperature. You can also store your fat in the fridge, or even the freezer, to prolong its shelf life.
If you do choose to store your fat in the freezer, simply thaw your fat in the fridge before using it.
For a printable recipe card, scroll to the bottom of this blog post. You can also save this blog post to Pinterest to reference later. Be sure to follow me on Pinterest for more urban homesteading tips!
Wet rendering
Wet rendering animal fat is heating your animal fat with water.
Wet rendering animal fat is popular when creating beef tallow beauty products, because you can add salt to your tallow as it heats. The salt acts as a purifier and removes the beef smell from your fat.
That’s why it’s popular in beauty products. You get the luxurious feeling that comes from the beef fat as it melts and coats your skin, but you don’t smell like a cow farm.
You may also find some people prefer to render specific types of fat for their beauty products. The most popular being beef suet. This is a fat found around the kidneys and loins of a cow.
In the same way you would dry render your animal fat, combine your chopped animal fat and water in a stock pot or crockpot. For every 4 cups of chopped animal fat, I add about 1 to 2 cups of water.
If you’re purifying your fat, add a tablespoon of salt to every 3 cups or so of chopped fat.
Render for at least 4 to 6 hours, or until you’re confident there’s no more fat to liquify.
Strain your fat with a fine mesh strainer, cheesecloth, or coffee filter into a large, heat-proof bowl.
Cover with a tea towel and sit at room temperature for at least 12 hours, even 24 hours.
After 24 hours, remove your fat from the bowl. All of the fat should have risen to the top, leaving the water and salt at the bottom of your bowl (salt may be on the bottom of your fat – simply remove by gently scraping with a butter knife).
Pat your fat dry with a paper towel. Remove all water so your fat doesn’t spoil or mold.
Process according to your desired recipe.
In some cases, especially if you’re using your fat for beauty products, you may find that the beef smell wasn’t entirely removed from the fat. If that’s the case, you may have to go through another rendering process.
Simply add your fat back to your stove top pot or crockpot, add another cup of water, and another tablespoon of salt, and melt for another 4 to 6 hours.
Strain your fat again, and leave it in a covered bowl at room temperature for 24 hours. Remove your solidified fat and pat it completely dry. Process according to your desired recipe.
For a printable recipe card, scroll to the bottom of this blog post. You can also save this blog post to Pinterest to reference later. Be sure to follow me on Pinterest for more urban homesteading tips!
Pin this post for later!
Other tips for rendering fat
People usually avoid rendering fat at high temperatures because you risk burning the fat and any meat that may be in the fat. Burnt fat will be yellow, not pure white, and will also smell beefier than fat rendered at a low temperature.
Beef fat has a melting point between 130 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Pork fat melts at around 135 degrees Fahrenheit. There’s truly no reason to use high temperatures when rendering your fat.
Liquid fat stays liquid when heating. Fat will solidify when it reaches room temperature.
You may have seen pictures of rendered fat and thought, “Why do I need such a large pot?”
Fat trimmings from an animal are large, bulky, and sometimes awkwardly cut. Check out the picture below – this bag is much bigger than my head!
If you’re looking to save time in your rendering process, add your finely chopped fat trimmings to a large pot. As they render, you’ll realize the fat in your pot will drastically shrink. In my case, it’s at least half, if not more.
Save yourself time and invest in a large pot if you don’t already have one. They come in handy when you need to quickly boil a chicken’s feathers off, or render some animal fat!
Tips for Cooking with Animal Fats
Animal fats tend to have a low smoke point. Chicken fat, also known as schmaltz, has an incredibly low smoke point.
For that reason, it’s not uncommon to find people combining animal fats with something that has a high smoke point, like avocado oil.
Animal fats tend to store well, so long as they’re kept dry at a consistent temperature.
Animal fats are perfect substitutions for things like roasting vegetables, sautéing on your stovetop, scrambling eggs, or folding fat into baked goods like biscuits and pie crusts. Truly take the time to research how you can elevate your cooking by incorporating animal fats.
What are the benefits of animal fats?
Beef fat is loaded with vitamins. And it’s known to calm irritated skin.
Animal fats, particularly lard from pigs, also add aroma and flavor to foods! Because let’s be real – who doesn’t want their food to have notes of salty bacon?
Animal fat can easily be added to things like pie crusts (and have been added for generations) to give savory pies that much more flavor.
When you decide to cook with your animal fats, you’re also avoiding the extra cost of purchasing other fats, like butter. You’re paying for this when you purchase your meat in bulk. Work with your local butcher to make sure you’re able to bring home every part of your animal!
What else can I do with animal fat?
You can make beauty products, candles, and soaps, and replace other cooking fats by rendering your animal fat.
Tallow candles are revered for being nontoxic. It has “clean burning” properties because it’s one of the most natural ingredients you can find!
Tallow candle burn times may vary, because many are mixed with other ingredients, like beeswax.
Some cons to tallow candles may be their smell. Some say they tend to be smokey, too.
Luckily, you can also make soap with tallow. Again, by mixing tallow with other ingredients, you get a cleaner product because you’re using cleaner ingredients.
Pin this post for later!
What cooking fats does animal fat replace?
Animal fats are the perfect substitution for vegetable oils, olive oil, and vegetable shortening.
Are there different types of animal fat?
There are different types of animal fat.
Beef and Pork
Beef fat is tallow. Suet comes from cows and sheep. Suet and tallow may be interchangeable terms depending on who you’re talking to because suet is still fat.
However, suet specifically comes from around the organs and loins of cows and sheep.
Pork fat is lard. Leaf fat comes from around the pig’s kidneys and tends to taste just like bacon. Leaf fat is not to be confused with bacon fat, which is the byproduct of fat rendered from bacon.
You may be thinking, “Oh, I love bacon fat! How can I render that in bulk?”
In short, I don’t recommend it.
I don’t recommend chopping up all of your bacon, rendering the fat, and skimming off your bacon after it’s been cooking for 4 to 6 hours. What a waste of that precious, delicious meat!
To render bacon fat, I recommend you simply keep a glass jar on your counter or in your fridge for bacon fat. When you cook up bacon for breakfast, reserve your fat and let it cool for a moment. Strain it through a piece of cheesecloth into your designated glass jar.
You can use bacon fat in the same way you would any other animal fat you cook with. Our favorite is saving up our bacon fat until we have enough to fry up some potatoes! Yum!
Remember – one of our overall goals in homesteading is to use every part of every animal. That’s why we aren’t going to render down bacon fat. We would just be left with the fat!
Take your time with rendering this particular fat and enjoy your bacon and your fat. This final product just takes time to produce.
If you’re concerned about separating suet and leaf fat from the rest of the fat on your meat, ask your butcher shop about their policies concerning butchering.
In my kitchen, I use both beef and pork fat for searing meats or frying up something. If I’m roasting vegetables, I prefer to use avocado oil.
Sheep
Sheep fat is also a type of fat you can cook with. For this blog post, I focused on beef fat and pork fat because that’s what I’ve personally used.
Through research, you can find that others use sheep fat for searing meats and roasting vegetables, making candles, conditioning leather, and making soap.
Chicken
Our family doesn’t eat a lot of poultry, but we eat an incredible amount of chicken. Because I work with it so often, I usually reserve the fat that’s been rendered from the chicken I’m cooking.
This fat is known as schmaltz. Some say it got its name from its origin in Yiddish cultures.
In my kitchen, I use schmaltz as a base for things like gravies and cream soups. If I’m making mushroom gravy for pork chops or a cream of chicken soup for a pot pie, I always reach for rendered chicken fat that I’ve frozen and saved.
This is a great application for it because I’m looking to simply melt the chicken fat, add some flour, and move on with my recipe. I don’t need it to get any hotter!
Which animal fat do you use?
In sum, the best fat is what works for you and your family. That is going to change based on what animals your family is eating, what dietary needs you’re experiencing, and what season of life you’re in.
Perhaps one season you decide to use your tallow for soap and candles and you cook exclusively with pork and sheep fat. Perhaps you always render all of your animal fat and share it with friends and family.
Luckily, that’s the joy of homesteading and homemaking. You get to cater to your own needs!
Where do I store my rendered animal fat?
I recommend storing your rendered animal fat in an airtight container in the fridge.
When I happen to get an animal that produces too much tallow, I’ll store the additional fat in the freezer and thaw it in the fridge for at least 12 hours before use.
Rendered tallow, in my experience, has an incredible shelf life. I’ve never looked into canning it to extend its shelf life. Frankly, it doesn’t last that long in my house anyway!
If you’re concerned about the shelf life of your animal fat, ask yourself – how often am I purchasing an animal from my local butcher?
In our family, we purchase our meat in bulk once a year, But the meat, fat, and bones from those animals last us a year. So I know that whatever fat I’ve rendered, the fat will last me on all my cooking ventures for a year.
In fact, I had so much fat from the first cow I bought, I’m a year behind on rendering fat! When I go to purchase my meat for the year, I always find myself having to render my fat just to make room in my freezers.
What a great problem to have! I’ve been so fortunate to share my rendered fat with friends and family, and still have plenty to have to work through myself.
If you aren’t buying your meat in bulk, what are you doing?
I have become very passionate about working with local farmers to get my meat. I love the quality, I love supporting a mission, and I love gaining independence from a grocery store.
If those reasons resonate with you too, you should look into purchasing meat in bulk from a local farmer!
If you don’t know where to start, tour your local farmer’s market. If there are no meat suppliers present, find farming groups on social media in your area. Try searching “farmers near me” or “beef farmers near me” to get started.
If you want more information, like terms you should know, freezer space, and other tips, check out Beginner’s Tips for Buying Meat in Bulk.
Pin this post for later!
Dry Rendering Beef Tallow Recipe
Dry Rendering Animal Fat (Beef Tallow)
Save money and render your own animal fat! You can (and should!) work with a local butcher to get animal fat when you order your meat in bulk. Check out learnlifeblog.com for tips on how to do all of this!
Ingredients
- Beef Tallow or Pork Lard
Instructions
- Finely chop or grind your animal fat.
- Add your animal fat to a large stock pot.
- Over low heat, melt your animal fat. Render for at least 4 hours.
- Stir occasionally.
- After 4 to 6 hours, skim any unrendered fat or animal meat off the top of your rendered, liquid fat.
- Into a glass jar, strain your rendered fat through a fine mesh strainer, cheesecloth, or coffee filter. You can also layer a cheesecloth or coffee filter into a fine mesh strainer.
- Let your fat come to room temperature.
- Store at room temperature or in the fridge for several months.
- For even longer storage, store in the freezer. If you're storing in a glass container, be sure you're glass is suitable freezing temperatures. When you're ready to use your fat, thaw in the fridge for at least 12 hours prior to use.
Notes
If you're using a crock pot to dry render your fat, be sure to do this during the day. You need to stir your fat occasionally, to avoid scorching any fat that may get stuck to your crockpot.
I don't recommend rendering animal fat in a crockpot overnight.
Wet Rendering Beef Tallow Recipe
Wet Rendering Animal Fat (Beef Tallow)
Save money and render your own animal fat! You can (and should!) work with a local butcher to get animal fat when you order your meat in bulk. Check out learnlifeblog.com for tips on how to do all of this!
Ingredients
- Beef Tallow or Pork Lard
Instructions
- Finely chop or grind your animal fat.
- Add your animal fat to a crockpot.
- Set your crockpot to low and melt your animal fat. Render for at least 4 hours.
- Stir occasionally.
- After 4 to 6 hours, skim any unrendered fat or animal meat off the top of your rendered, liquid fat.
- Into a glass jar, strain your rendered fat through a fine mesh strainer, cheesecloth, or coffee filter. You can also layer a cheesecloth or coffee filter into a fine mesh strainer.
- Let your fat come to room temperature.
- Store at room temperature or in the fridge for several months.
- For even longer storage, store in the freezer. If you're storing in a glass container, be sure you're glass is suitable freezing temperatures. When you're ready to use your fat, thaw in the fridge for at least 12 hours prior to use.
Notes
I don't recommend rendering your fat overnight. You need to stir your animal fat occasionally to prevent it from burning. If for any reason the water in your crock pot evaporates, you won't know it! This is a task to do during the day.
Leave a Reply