Lard / Shortening / Fat / Suet ? I'm new !
toomuchglass
11 years ago
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bob414
11 years agotoomuchglass
11 years agoRelated Discussions
suet recipe with crisco instead of lard?
Comments (32)Hi, Thank you Lisa for recommending sialis.org. They have a LOT of great suet recipes. This is what they say about lard vs. vegetable shortening: "(Beef or Sheep) Suet vs. (Pig) Lard vs. Vegetable Shortening (Crisco, etc.): All work in suet recipes, as long as you adjust the dry ingredients (e.g., flour) to keep the texture crumbly. Vegetable shortening has a longer shelf life. Suet in its raw form should be avoided. Beef suet may turn rancid when temperatures exceed 70 degrees. When melted and clarified, beef suet is called "tallow." Tallow is less likely to go rancid over time; however it is not easily digested by birds because it is high in saturated fats. Some birders are concerned about the health impact of using vegetable shortening. * A nutritionist at the San Diego Zoo indicated that there is no health risk associated specifically with vegetable oil. * Dr. Sean Pampreen, an avian vet in Marlborough, CT, indicated he did not think that vegetable shortening used as a binder in suet (which is only a supplemental food for wild birds) would cause digestive problems, especially since sunflower, millet and peanut are about 45-56% oil. * Bill Whittaker of Four Nature's Keepers says saturated fats (such as in suet) are more difficult/require more energy for birds to digest than unsaturated fats (such as in vegetable shortening). They also found in field tests that after a familiarization period, birds prefer vegetable shortening. * Dr. Kirk Klasing, Professor of Avian Nutrition at UC Davis, said that very high amounts of fatty acids are difficult to emulsify by the bile, lowering digestibility. Adding a source of unsaturated fats, such as vegetable oil or lard, improves digestibility (e.g., 80% tallow, 20% vegetable oil or lard is a good combination - you can adjust the proportions to give the melting point desired). Peanut butter also works to increase digestibility of tallow because it is high in unsaturated fats. He was not aware of any evidence for a laxative effect of vegetable oil. Like tallow, vegetable shortening is solid at room temperatures. However, the hydrogenation used to make shortening results in lots of trans fatty acids. Though we don't know for sure, it is likely that the trans fatty acids are less healthy than "natural" cis fatty acids (unhydrogenated oils). In chickens, high levels of trans fatty acids deplete antioxidants in the tissues. It would be best to avoid high levels of vegetable shortening. * Crisco does make a zero-trans-fat shortening (in a green container.) * Another alternative is soybean shortening without additives, at as low a melting temperature (less saturation) as you can use to make an acceptable food. In terms of protein content, suet has about 0.4 grams of protein/oz. in it; lard and vegetable shortening have none. Both suet and vegetable shortening have about the same amount of calories and fat content. Beef suet has more saturated fat which may be harder to digest. JL Peterson found bluebirds preferred recipes made with suet. A friend reported bluebirds in her area preferred Crisco-based suets. Crisco does offer a zero-trans fat product. If you're concerned about using either of these ingredients, you can replace them with extra peanut butter until the mixture reaches the desired consistency." So, I will definitely be using vegetable shortening, I'm going to see if they have an organic version at the health food store. It just doesn't feel right to me to help out some animals by feeding them other animals. I'm also going to use raw peanuts and seeds instead of commercial peanut butter, like the birds would naturally eat. Cooking food kills all the enzymes which are so necessary for cells to be able to use the nutrients in the food. Here's the page where I got this info: http://www.sialis.org/suet.htm#crisco Best wishes, fellow bird lovers! April Here is a link that might be useful: Sialis info on crisco/vegetarian suet...See MoreSuet feeders, recipe/ratios, warding off chicken hawks
Comments (16)I make my suet mixture using suet or lard. I melt the fat in a glass bowl in the microwave until liquid. Then I add crunchy peanut butter, which melts in the hot fat. Then I add the dried ingredients - corn meal, flour, oats (usually ground in blender), ground eggshells, crushed nuts, a little jam or jelly, etc. The mixture is about 1/2 fat, 1/2 dried ingredients - maybe a little more dried. I aim for a mixture that is the texture of Play-doh - it clumps together easily for the suet log, but also crumbles into pieces that I spread in a tray feeder. I made the suet log over 3 years ago out of an old red Pine log and glued lots of perches and branches. It did not have much bark on it - which is fine, except that over time the log has darkened quite a bit, perhaps because of the oils in the suet mixture. Also, most of the perches and branches have broken and fallen off. This birds don't seem to care. If you put perches on the log, this will enable many more birds to eat more easily. However, this isn't necessarily a good thing because with mine, it enables the Starlings and Blue Jays to hog the suet log, and it encourages House Sparrows. My suet log is pole-mounted with a squirrel/raccoon baffle, so nothing gets onto the log but the birds. Here's what the suet mixture looks like - Some Bluebirds on the suet log a couple years ago. They don't eat that much on the suet log any more, because I usually spread crumbles in a tray for them....See MoreSUET made easy
Comments (3)i was born on a farm way out in the county 72 years ago We did all of our own butchering and canning and gardening ect. In the fall when we butchered a cow or pig or venison or even a sheep we trimmed all the excess fat from the meat. we put it all in a large metal pot over a fire in the yard and melted it down and it was called rendering. we ladled off all the liquid and poured it into the 5 gallon lined tin cans that syrup or coffee or other bulk foods came in. we would put fresh butcherd chickens or steaks or other fresh meat in the liquid and in no time it would harden around the meats. With no electricity or refrigeration the busckets would keep for months down in the root celler. We used the lard or suet for frying food or seasoning veggies or in pie crusts or pastrys. The hard pieces or stuff that did not melt good we fed to the ducks or chickens or geese or even the pigs and the dogs loved cornbread made with lard. The fats from all the different animals was called suet or lard and varied which was used for what or as needed. the suet was not always melted but was ground up to use also. the flakiest pie crusts and pasterys were from pork lard. the beef suet used a lot in meat pies. and the sheep and venison suet used to season stews and soup and all were mixed with elk or venison that was ground for hamburger because it was not so dry then. Bacon grease was always saved to season foods cooked on the stove especilly snap beans or green beans or dry beans....See MoreSuet Escapade II
Comments (7)It's really simple. Purchase white kidney or loin beef fat from a butcher. It's inexpensive. Now for the larger woodpeckers you can stop right here. They'll eat the raw chunked fat. To render suet, and make cakes to attract a wide variety of birds, ask the butcher to grind the fat. Put it in a big pot; you don't want to fill the pot any more than half full of the fat, less would be better. Heat it over medium-low heat until all the fat melts. It took a couple hours, or more, for me to do the six pounds of fat. Watch it closely; the fat can flash into flames if it gets too hot. As the fat melts, there will be bits of "cracklings" floating in it. Strain the fat to remove all the solid bits. Let the suet solidify, and then do the process over again. The rendered suet will keep for up to a year in the freezer. I mix the finished product half and half with peanut butter. Then add any combination of hulled sunflower seeds, whole wheat flour, oats, chopped corn or chicken scratch, peanuts, raisins, whatever you have on hand that birds like to eat. Pour it into molds or a baking dish until it hardens, cut into blocks that fit your feeder, and serve. You can search the web and find hundreds of "recipes" for ideas of things to mix into the suet....See MoreDante1709
11 years agojadeite
11 years agodomino123
11 years agoterrene
11 years agoI make a mixture for the birds too - been making it straight on for the past 6 years. I don't know which is best but I've experimented with using a variety of fats including raw Suet, rendered Suet, bacon fat, Snowcap rendered lard, and Crisco. Mix with crunchy natural peanut butter, flour, corn meal, nuts, etc. They all work well and the birds have loved ALL of the mixtures! They go nuts when I bring it out.
This will be the 7th winter that I have fed Bluebirds continuously through the winter. Laast winter I had the most - 12 Bluebirds visting at the peak of winter. Almost all feeder birds LOVE it, except for the Finches. They like the BOSS in the tray feeder (black oil sunflower seed).
prairiegal45
8 years ago
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