Reader’s Question: Can I render beef fat the same way pork lard is rendered? If so, how do I store it once its rendered?
Phelan’s Answer: Cook the beef slowly in a medium heat oven. Do not add any flavoring to the beef. Allow it to cool a bit, then pour up to 1 cup of the tallow into a plastic zip-lock bag, push out as much air as possible. Lay flat (baking sheet will help) in the freezer. Then just break it off as needed.
Monica’s Answer: Pretty much all fat can be rendered. Though each can have a slightly different color and taste. Here’s how I do mine. Cook slowly in oven, with low to medium heat, until fat is melted and solids have sunk to bottom. Not all pieces will melt completely– you can squoosh them with a spoon to disperse more of their oil though (be careful of splatter) Complete melting takes a few hours at about 250 to 300 depending on pan size. Then either 1) let cool and pull off cleanest fat then remelt to poor into storage containers or 2) ladle only clear fat off top…being careful not to get solids or “dirty” fat from bottom of pan. For storage I prefer canning jars, over plastic anything, which I put into freezer or fridge. You can line the jars up in a small rubbermaide container, snap lid on, and put in bottom of freezer if you worry about breaking. I have never had any break in my chest freezer though and basically just lay them in there. I dig around to find one when I need it. When your fat cools it should be very close to white or completely white in color when using beef, pork, sheep, or goat.
Nita’s Answer: I do both tallow and lard the same. In the oven at a low temperature like Monica. I always cut any visible meat chunks off before rendering, and it is helpful to score the fat in a grid to help it release the melted fat easier. As it melts, I pour the liquid fat off, through a screen into my containers, which are placed on a thick layer of newpapers. I do keep the leaf fat (from around the kidneys) separate for use in cooking. Tallow for soap is poured into plastic containers I use for my soapmaking, and when it is solidified I unmold it and store it in a plastic bag in my freezer. For lard I use for cooking, I pour it into wide mouth canning jars, and if the lard is for soap, I pour it into recycled cans. Everything is labeled with date, intended use, and if it was rancid or not, and stored in the freezer. The lard in canning jars just gets transferred to the fridge when I am ready to use it. Pork fat is softer than beef fat so it can scorch, render lard at a lower temperature. So just judge the process as you go, if it is browning your oven is too warm. I never have had good results with the stovetop/water method. Photo shows tallow on bottom for soap making and lard in the canning jar.
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Not Dabbling In Normal 
Hi Nita,
What do you use rancid fat for?
Great timing! We are going to butcher the bull in a few weeks, and I would like to use the tallow for soap making. Which parts of beef fat do you use for cooking, and how do you use it, baking? frying? And which part is the “tallow”?
Thanks for adressing such practical skills. Funny that two generations ago, this would have been common knowledge.
Is there anything that can be done with rendered poultry, specifically chicken, fat? I seem to be able to end with with a bit of it from buying whole chickens…
Thanks!
EJ, First I try not to let the fat get rancid, but if it does, it would only be useful for soap or candle making. To remove rancidity the fat needs to be boiled with vinegar and water. The standard recipe is 1 part vinegar and 5 parts water. The pot is then cooled and the fat removed, and washed of impurities if needed. This is also helpful to know if you are saving cooking fat for soapmaking. (very frugal)
Freija, the best fat for cooking is the leaf fat that protects the kidneys. On beef this is known as the suet, on pigs as leaf lard. Technically all the fat could be used in cooking, as most butchers now just call all tallow suet. I only use it in mince meat, but I’m sure you could use it in many more recipes. But it is not really interchangeable with lard. Once in awhile I cook with the fat from the marrow bones, and it lends a beefy flavor. I also have an old shortening tin, and the shortening ingredients are cotton seed oil and beef fat. So experiment, and see if you like it. If you don’t have time to render it right away, freeze it if possible, because it will go bad. Once it is rendered though it would keep indefinitely. I keep my rendered fat in the freezer, but it is not necessary. The most energy efficient way would be to render all the fat, freeze your cooking fat, and make soap right away. Soap ages gracefully, fat will not. Modern day senses are a little too sensitive to “offensive” smells, but it would be a good fat for candles. Who knows, what the economy will bring? Maybe a smelly old beef tallow candle for light will be better than nothing…
Tallow is a loose term for beef, sheep or goat fat. All these fats are very hard and have the same properties for soapmaking, with the exception of the sheep fat having lanolin. All are great for soap, and I have made soap with all three. Beef and pork fat is what I always have plenty of and a combination of the two makes a very nice soap.
My problem of late has been finding lye. I had to purchase my last lye at soapmaking supply house. It is no longer available in the stores here. (Oregon)
Carla, rendered chicken fat is called schmaltz and is excellent for cooking. Use it in place of butter for the roux in chicken gravy, or to saute braising greens in. Or you could mix it with a harder fat like tallow to make soap with.
Matron, do you not make your own lye? I can’t buy it locally, so had to get over that fear of death and make my own.
Late question: do you have problems with your butcher saving the fat for you? it may have been my husband’s fault (as he may not have told them to save it), but with the lambs and the pig we have had butchered, I seem to be missing “parts”. This year I plan to have Sr bring a list with the animals so they know exactly what I want (for example, I did not get loins with the pig). One of us needs to do a post on “cuts”.
Great answers, Ladies! I am still learning in this dept, myself!
Phelan, I have tried to make my own lye with inconsistent results. We burn softwoods, as we hardly have any deciduous trees. Sometimes it has taken as many as three leachings to make strong enough lye for soap. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that we are using dead or dying trees for our firewood, so there is not much pitch present in the wood.
If we ever get a jag of hardwood, I would definitely save the ashes separately and try again. Especially with the scarcity of lye, shipping issues, etc. Luckily there is a local wholesale soap supplier of oils and caustics that will do will call. The cool thing about this place was that they sell bulk organic cooking oils, so finally a source for 5 gallons of olive oil! The lye I recently purchased ended up being cheaper than what the Red Devil used to cost.
Gina, we have a good butcher now, who understands that I want the fat from my animals only, but we have had terrible problems in the past, because some assume it is all the same. If I want lard with antibiotics, I will just buy it at the store and not go to the trouble of rendering it.
On missing cuts, we have had different butchers tell us that if you don’t ask, they won’t give it to you. You practically have to be a meat cutter yourself to know what is there and what is missing. The hardest thing to get around here is the hanging tender in the beef. They always try to get that, and if you don’t ask, if goes home with them! Grrrr…
MOH, I save fat from the grassfed beef I buy and freeze it to mix with my dog’s food. The vet recipes I use require 1 or 2 T of fat in each of the small batches of food I make – rather than use canola (their recommendation, but I’m not comfortable w/ it ) I’ve been using coconut oil and/or beef fat – sometimes rendered, sometimes diced and frozen raw.
any thoughts? am I on the right track? I suppose the fat I’m using is probably tallow… but it seems like its the stuff a dog would eat if he actually caught his own dinner. (assuming the absurd, that a bichon could ‘catch’ a cow, LOL).
Hayden, it sounds like you’re on the right track, Jake never seems to have any problem digesting the food you make. And you would know it if he did. He probably has enough stomach acid for everything to work properly. I agree on the canola, I don’t think it is good for anything to eat. Our dogs are bigger and they might get that much fat in one day, if they get too much they won’t eat again until they are actually hungry.
What a funny picture, that of Jake hunting down his prey and hamstringing it for his supper, maybe bison perhaps? Bichon and Bison sound similar 😉
Hi….my butcher is rendering beef fat for lard and he offered me what I see someone here refers to as “dirty” fat as a supplement to my dogs diet. He says it is the part thats left over that really has no use but is good to mix with dog food for a nice coat and help with itchy skin.He says it should be used in small amounts.He gave it to me in a box frozen.It is the color of dirt and looks kind of like cooked and frozen hamburger.Is it okay to use it with my dogs food?What is it exactly?How much should I give my dogs per day or meal? I have a st. bernard (120lbs),11 lb poodle and 16 lb boston terrier(9 mo. old)Thank you for any info I can get!
Catherine, the color sounds odd to me, it should be white or yellowish. I feed my dogs some fat, but it is good and not rancid or dirty. I would just worry about how long it sat around, and how it got dirty. Dogs will bury raw meat and dig it up when it is “ripe” and eat it, but soil and a dirty butcher shop aren’t the same kind of dirt. I can’t say on this one, because I only use fat from my own animals.
Another concern would be possible antibiotic or insecticide residues in the fat. The breed of dog I have is very allergic to Ivermectin (a well known wormer), so I only use my own meat products.
Some of the terms can be confusing too. Lard is actually pig fat, and tallow is the fat from beef or sheep.
I hope this helps some…