Can you get big (whole) chunks of pork or beef fat from the butcher? What would you ask for? I buy ground pork and beef suet from butchers for my game meat, but I’m guessing its mostly just trimmings removed from cuts.
Sometimes I buy the “bits and ends” bacon and trim off the bigger pieces of fat. I’ll sear the fat on both sides to eat during fat fast. But it’s time consuming and I get relatively little fat off it. I’d like a 4oz hunk of fat or something along those lines if possible.
You can ask for pork belly, or pork trim.
It depends on where you are, and the demand there. Here, pork belly is between $1.50 to $2.00 a pound… (cheaper on base if it’s available) but in other places, especially where there is a bigger asian population, I’ve seen it as high as $5.00
Usually, pork trim is cheaper than pork belly, as pork belly is an actual culinary cut, and is also the cut used to make bacon.
I get pretty big hunks of beef fat from my butcher. He gives them to me for free. Just ask around for what you want.
My butcher already looks at me like I’m crazy with all the bones I request… I’m just wondering how to explain I want a hunk of fat without sounding a little crazy… But maybe that’s unavoidable 
I just weighed a few hunks of fat sitting in my fridge, they are all 4 to 6 oz. My butchers all think I’m utterly mad but I think they really like the crazy lady who’s obsessed with having all the fattiest cuts of everything, plus way more fat please! And, yup, I buy a lot of bones too…lol
And if they ask what I do with it, which they have, I just tell them the truth.
Ask for beef tallow at my supermarket, and they give you beef fat to render down. Put the fat into a slow cooker and let it slowly melt out. At some point, you can strain out the connective tissue and pour the fat into a container. As it cools it turns opaque white. Use it to cook with, just as you use butter and bacon grease. Lamb tallow is also nice.
The same thing applies to pork fat, but it’s harder to come by, because there’s a market for it in the form of lard. The most prized pork fat is the leaf lard from around the kidneys, but in my view, any pork fat is great.
Unlike bacon grease and butter, lard and tallow don’t have a very strong flavour. Instead, they enhance the flavour of the foods cooked in them. McDonald’s fries were tastiest, apparently, back in the days when they fried them in tallow, and the fries have never been the same since they were forced to stop using tallow. Cooks I know greatly prefer the flavour of pie crust made with lard, instead of Crisco.
But of course lard and tallow will kill us just from being in the same room . . . 
My favorite above tallow and lard, is duck fat. Amazing stuff.
Do you have to render it because it has connective tissue? Tallow for cooking sounds appealing, but I’m looking for a hunk of fat that I can eat whole.
Good to know. Thanks.
I eat my fat whole. I have found that rendered fats, including butter and oils do not satiate me as well as fat that is still locked in its protein cellular structure. The rendered stuff just hits my blood way too fast. Also, it can make both my husband and I feel ill if we have too much. Especially my husband who can get truly violently ill. I just feel queasy and bloated.
I really played around with figuring out how to prepare the fat though. If you cook it too long it starts to render out and really toughens up. But, honestly, I always chopped mine into small bites before cooking because when I started this I didn’t think I’d want to eat a big 4 oz piece of fat. A fast fry on a big hunk might very well be a good way to cook them. Lol… you are inspiring me.
So anyhow, my attempts at getting a sear that didn’t ruin the fat all failed and in the end I settled for just salting and gently warming the raw fat and having a bit with every bite of meat that I eat. It’s actually quite good that way. I also add a bit to each of my pork rinds. It makes a yummy, fatty crunchy lunch.
Warming the fat is easy. Two minutes in the microwave on power level 2 (maybe longer for a four oz hunk though) . Not on high (10)…this is vital. The default power will render the fat out in seconds. So many people think a microwave only has one default power, and it happens to be a terrible level for anything but boiling water.
I will try a fast fry of a big hunk of fat tonight and let you know how it goes!!
I forgot to report back on frying the hunk of fat. I still found it didn’t work. It just wants to render out too much when it hits the hot pan. It doesn’t get at all crispy or any nice sear flavours. Luckily I’ve grown to really like the buttery flavour and texture of the raw fat just gently warmed up a bit.
I’ve noticed the same thing with beef fat. The cracklings just don’t seem to crisp up the way pork cracklings do.
@kaclp I was talking about rendering the tallow out of the raw fat, in order to use the tallow for cooking with. Eating tallow is not particularly pleasant, because it’s just greasy beef fat, without much flavour. Great for cooking with, however! For eating, you want the fat cooked with the meat, as @Ilana_Rose writes.
Something to bear in mind, while I’m thinking about it, is that while a lot of people find that fat in the diet is more satisfying than protein, there are people who need a bit more protein and a bit less fat to satisfy their hunger. You may have to experiment a bit to find what works best for you. One of the things I really like about this way of eating is how it encourages us to listen to our bodies—so much of our modern culture tends to make us think that we know better than two million years of evolutionary adaptation.
OK @PaulL and @Ilana_Rose, to summarize:
I can get hunks of pork fat (pork belly or pork trimmings) that will sear nicely and I can eat whole, or I can get hunks of beef fat that will rend out if I cook at too high of heat. Do I have this right?
I have done some experimenting with this. It doesn’t matter if I eat high protein and mod fat or high fat and mod protein, as long as carbs are low I get satiated. However, I only lose weight if I eat high fat and mod protein and in general feel better eating this way. A little unfortunate, bc I would prefer it the other way around. But anyway this is why I’m looking for hunks of fat I can eat whole… Thanks for your help everyone.
I don’t eat pork fat except what comes with the pork meat that I buy from time to time. I eat beef fat every day. It doesn’t sear well. I just warm it gently and eat it essentially raw alongside my meat. It’s actually very good.
I’m exactly the same as you. High fat, moderate protein for both wellbeing and weight loss/maintenance. Also, I’m in way deeper ketosis which feels so much better to me in a number of ways.
I do believe its been proven beyond an epidemiological doubt by Harvard researchers, working in conjunction with the nurses, that the pathogens in animal fat are airborne and have a really long gestation. SO, even if you seem to be improving your health, you are really killing yourself unless you start eating statins by the handful and wash it down with an organic whole wheat oatmeal sandwich, dressed with brown rice fiber and sweetened with all-natural beet sugar. And if it sticks in your craw a little, drink organic juice, ideally cranberry (anti oxidant rich) to allow it to slide down your gullet.
/rant off