Have you ever heard of rendering beef tallow to use in replacing conventional oils in cooking? If not, now is a great time to learn and incorporate this method when preparing your meals.
In this post, I am going to share the process of rendering beef tallow in a crock pot, what is it and why it’s a great source of nutrition.
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What is Beef Tallow?
If you are new to beef tallow, let me explain what it is. Beef tallow is beef fat that is rendered, or broken down, into a liquid and then solidified into a useable oil.
The way I think of it is kind of like coconut oil. I use a lot of coconut oil in baking, and sauteing. When the coconut oil is at room temperature or cooler, it is in a solidified state, but when it is warmer it turns to liquid. The same goes for tallow.
However, in order to get tallow, you have to take the fat from the beef and break it down, strain it, and then you can store it.
Why Use Beef Tallow?
Beef tallow has so many benefits but the best benefit is that it is 100% natural. It is literally part of the the cow and what goes into your meat, goes into the fat. Usually, you are the one that is rendering the fat so you know exactly what goes into it, the process it took, there’s no added chemicals to break it down. Just heat and time.
Tallow is rich in antioxidants, vitamins such as A, D, E, and K, and it helps to reduce inflammation. Can you say the same for some other oils such as canola?
Not only is tallow a better alternative to conventional oils, but you can also use it to make soaps, lotions, and candles.
How to Render the Fat…
The process to getting the beef fat from fat to tallow is honestly super easy, but does take some time.
All you need is
- Beef suet – we asked out butcher to save some for us when we sent our cows in for processing. But you can also go to your local butcher and buy some.
- A crock pot – this is similar to the one I have
- Mason Jars
- Strainer – I use a single cup coffee filter – use whatever you have
Here’s what to do:
I had three packages of beef suet that we go when we took our cows in for processing, don’t worry about how many pounds just fill your crock pot up.
When I did this, I put the fat in whole as it came from the butcher, some people though said it helps to cut the fat up into smaller pieces as it helps to break it down faster. Either way works, its up to you what you want to do.
I then turned the crock pot onto low and covered with the lid and waited. After a couple hours I went back to find the fat already breaking down and looking smaller in the pot. I took a spoon and broke up what I could and then covered it back up.
After about 5 hours the fat really started to break down and I could see liquid in the pot.
The total time from start to the time I strained the fat was about 10 hours or so.
Was the pot was mostly full of liquid, I took my strainer, funnel, and mason jar and ladled the hot liquid into the mason jars. Once full, while still hot, I placed the lids and rings on and set them on the counter to cool overnight. The next morning the jars had self sealed.
Storage
After sharing this journey on Instagram, I learned so much from others who were experienced with this process.
Once the jars were self sealed overnight, I chose to store the jars in the same cupboard I store my coconut and olive oils. However, I learned that you can store the tallow in Tupperware containers and store it in the freezer to keep the fat fresh for longer.
How you store your tallow is up to you, I know that I will use mine up quickly so I chose the cupboard.
Isn’t amazing that we can take all parts of an animal and use it to our benefit? God created such amazing gifts so that we would never go without. To use all parts of the animal – the meat to sustain us, the fat to cook with or make soaps and lotions, the bones to create broths to nourish us. Honestly, how can you not see the beauty in our makers hands?
If you chose to use this method of rendering beef fat to turn into tallow, please share and tag me on Instagram. I would love to see how it turned out for you and what you chose to use it for.
Until next time,
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