Render your own beef fat, or tallow, is easy, and gives you great tasting fat for cooking. Since it does take some time, you may as well gather up some before rendering it. There are different ways of rendering fat, I dry render it, using the oven. If you wet render it, you typically place it in water, and bring it to a boil, and let it boil until the water is gone, and the fat is left. But dry rendering is easy, so that’s what we’ll do.
Beef fat, or lard is located in several places on the cow. The best fat is around the kidneys, where there are large chunks. Otherwise you can get it from a roast or wherever you find thick white chunks. If you can’t get enough in one go, save some in the freezer until you have enough.
So is all fat good for rendering? Not really, what you’re looking for is the saturated fat. You can tell the difference by poking at it with a finger. If it is hard (not wiggly or loose), then you have found saturated fat. See this page for details.
Ingredients
- beef fat
Instructions
- Now that you have several pieces of fat, trim them so there is little to no meat attached to it. The cleaner, the better, as it will otherwise affect flavor. Chop them in cubes, place in a pan in the oven, and set the oven to 100-120° C/ 210° – 250° F, not higher. You want it high enough for the fat to melt, but avoid it burning, as it will ruin the taste.
- So how long does it take? I usually render fat at 250° F for 3 hours. You can tell it’s done when the cubes of fat start to brown a little on the surface.
- When it’s done you strain the fat through a strainer, with some paper in it. Coffee filters are usually too dense, so use a regular paper towel. Place the fat in the fridge, and use later for cooking!
I love rendering beef fat and using it for cooking, especially stir fried beef and also the BEST French fries!!
Although it adds a beefy overtone, it’s still milder flavored than bacon fat.
The tallow is pure white and looks lovely but took my closer to seven hours than three hours.
How long does it keep in the fridge? And can you freeze it? If so, how long does it keep in the freezer? Thanks
It keeps in the fridge for a year, and up to two years in the freezer.
Cheers, Henrik