Quick and easy tallow - render beef fat

[Fiorella]

There is no need to buy beef tallow (or pork lard). Your butcher is probably throwing out all the fat scraps. You can get them for free or almost no cost.

When you get home, divide the fat into small plastic bags, and store in your freezer. Here’s a beautiful free piece of fat I got from my butcher:

Cut up into little cubes, and throw into cold pan

Crank up the heat, and the cubes will melt down to make tallow

When the cubes look like they are starting to get too brown, and possible burn, scoop them out with a slotted spoon. Process is complete, you just made tallow in less than 10 minutes.

[leenie]

Thanks for the tutorial!

[Fiorella]

You are most welcome.

It’s a pity that perfectly good fat gets thrown out at the butchers. Hope this helps curb the waste and save ketonians money.

[richard]

Those crispy little things … we call keto croutons.

[Fiorella]

@richard…I munched on those crispy little beauties

[earthmotherhealer]

So… what do you use the fat for? I’m saving mine just not sure what to do with it… other than frying that is.

[Fiorella]

Frying burgers and steaks
Sauté vegetables
Slow roasting meats in oven
Use for keto casseroles
Faux mashed potato creamed cauliflower
Mounting sauces
Making liver pate
Omelettes, scrambled eggs, fried eggs
Hollandaise replacement for ghee
Stir-fry meat and veg dishes
Make keto muffins and breads (substitute recipe that calls for melted butter or coconut oil)

…list is endless…in most cases, a recipe that calls for oil, ghee, melted butter or coconut oil, you can use rendered fat oil

[mwall]

SO blessed with my butcher! Nice snaps!

[L0vestotrav3l]

Why didn’t I think of this!! Thanks so much!!

[L0vestotrav3l]

Drooling!!!

[Sheri_Knauer]

I got my beef fat today!

[Mglasbrener]

Anyone do this in an instapot?

[240lbfatloss]

One thing to remember, freeze your fat as soon as possible, it turns brown/grey fairly quickly and is not as tasty. I spread mine out on a cookie sheet, then bag it up once it’s frozen.

[Mglasbrener]

Ok. Whole Food has failed so far. WF trims meat in the morning. WF forgot one day and didn’t called me the next. So I stopped by another local quality grocery chain (a few well run higher end stores). I asked the butcher. He was helpful beyond measure.

He said: “Yeah, how much?”
Me: “Uh, I’m trying to render and fill a 1 gallon counter top immersion fryer so… 8-10 lbs?”
Him: “No problem. However much you want. We also have pork fat, chicken fat and duck fat”.

He then show me where they sell packaged duck fat, which he LOVES. It was a bit expensive… They also sell beef bones etc… What a happy stop!

Even if you tend to shop at discount grocers. There’s absolutely no reason not to stop in at a higher end grocer and get free fat their butcher are throwing away!

I’ll try to render in my instapot and take a few pics. This is all new to me so if anyone wants to chime in with guidance it would be welcomed. Absent that I’ll to online research and experiment away. After all the materials are free!

[CandyLindTX]

@Fiorella or someone else, how do you store tallow? Should I keep it refrigerated or will it keep on the counter once it’s rendered? I got some beef fat this morning to render. So I should freeze it to make it easier to cube up, or can I just cut it up and toss it in a pan?

[mwall]

A nice homemade gift package of cheese and meat chips is a great gift for a butcher’s consideration. It’s amazing what a little cellophane and cool bow will do.

[mwall]

From a simple google search I found: Store it in an air-tight container to avoid oxidization it can be at room temperature for up to a year or longer. You can store it in the fridge as it will last even longer there. OR you can pour your tallow fat into ice cube trays and put the frozen cubes into a freezer bag to freeze.

[CandyLindTX]

Thanks! I had such a small amount that first time, I already used it up. This will be useful in future …