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fat to render from half cow - Annie?

13 years ago

I plan to ask for the fat to be coarsely ground. Is there anything else I need to know?

Will the fat be any harder to thoroughly rinse if it's ground? I've only rendered tiny pieces of fat, so little experience here. I just know how wonderful it is for browning beef. I'm not sure what else I'll use it for, but maybe some friends will want to try a jar.

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Comments (6)

annie1992
13 years ago
I haven't rendered suet for a long time, although we did it when I was a kid. Grandma didn't waste anything. Now the only thing I ask for the fat/suet for is to feed to the birds like woodpeckers and nuthatches. I just don't care for tallow or suet and so I don't render it myself.

Anyway, it's much like rendering lard. If you add water, you have to heat it longer to drive the liquid off, and I think that it lengthens the process. Dry rendering is faster, but must be watched more carefully, so it depends on your time and your methods.

Good luck. Beef fat is actually pretty good for frying things, the smoke point is relatively high.
annie1992
13 years ago
Edited to remove duplicate post.

This post was edited by annie1992 on Fri, Jun 21, 13 at 0:33
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liz_h
Original Author
13 years ago
I've used bits of fat from stock, or even cooked meat in the past. I love it for browning beef for stew, etc. It really ups the beef flavor. I'm not sure the rendered fat will have the same effect, but I want to find out. With any luck, it will be a lot cooler outside when I finally get around to it. I'm assuming the chunk of fat will fit in the freezer...
annie1992
13 years ago
Liz, it depends on how fat the animal was, LOL. Dad asked for the suet for the birds on one of our cattle before we switched to grass fed. He ended up plugging in a small freezer we weren't using, just to store the big plastic bags full of fat he got from that steer.

Animals today aren't as fat as they used to be, so you probably won't have a freezer full. You could always have the processor chop it up for you and just do a crockpot full at a time, then you wouldn't have to watch it so diligently.

Annie
liz_h
Original Author
13 years ago
LOL! Maybe I should limit the amount I ask for. This is a two year old grass fed cow, so it shouldn't be that much. I think a crockpot full is plenty to deal with at a time. My activity is pretty limited, so DH gets roped into helping with stock-making, etc. He doesn't mind, and I try to keep it that way. ;) That means keeping the projects fairly small. We once spent an entire weekend making stock and cooking things for the freezer. Neither one of us wanted to cook for a week after that!

I've been reading blog posts about tallow rendering. One woman used it on her face when she was out of her usual moisturizer. The next morning her skin looked fabulous - much better than usual. It turns out that the anti-oxidant profile is perfect for human skin. This was tallow from muscle fat, not the harder leaf fat. I'm not sure I'll try this!

I've only done dry rendering, with a small piece of fat. The recommendations I've read are for wet rendering, i.e. with a small amount of water added to begin with.
annie1992
13 years ago
Liz, I'm not sure I want to smear cow fat on my face. (grin) Well, unless it's a byproduct of eating beef and I get messy!

Grandma did both, but tended to like the wet rendering process because she didn't have to watch it so carefully to avoid sticking or scorching. Of course, she didn't have a crockpot or a roaster, just the stove.

Annie

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