Rendering Lard and Tallow

I have been rendering lard and tallow for a bit now. For me, both are worth the effort and time. Neither one is particularly difficult to do, but they do require time. (and time is based on the amount you are rendering).

I use my Lard for pie crust, biscuits, popovers, home fries and such things. I have had many tell me that they use their lard for deep frying as well, yup you guessed it, I will be trying that too.
The Tallow I use for deep frying, so far. I will be trying my hand at Mincemeat pie this year, and I am not talking about the stuff from the store. I have done research on the old fashion traditional way of making it. The steps for rendering for lard and tallow are the same for the most part.

I will start will lard: Thaw the lard overnight in your refrigerator. It should still slightly frozen. Using a very sharp knife, cut into about 1" cubes (or the best you can) the smaller the faster it will render.

Place in a large stock pot. For every pound of fat, add 1/8 cup water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Take the time to stir often so that the lard doesn't burn on the bottom of pan.

As the lard cooks down, the liquid will become a light golden color. You can use a slotted spoon to remove the pieces of crisp lard. Drain on a paper towel, and enjoy your cracklings. I use mine to make dog treats. I guesstimated that for each pound of lard, I yield about 1 pint rendered fat. Strain the liquid through a cheesecloth lined sieve, into jars. You will see that the lard turns to a white color as it cools. It will also remain soft (softer the tallow), so you have no worries about what type of jar you store the lard in. Store in refrigerator, for indefinitely.

Now the tallow, I leave the suet frozen, but place on the counter, oh about an hour before I will start to chop it. If you have a meat grinder, you could easily use that to grind into small pieces. My tallow I do in a turkey deep fryer, there is scent of suet that is not pleasant for me. Chop as you did the lard, add in the water and simmer away. Now I do not want to scare you away from rendering suet.(oh I think I scared Shulamis...my bad) Some people, say they don't notice the scent, some do. You don't need a turkey deep fryer, you can render suet down in a slow cooker, or stove top and even in the oven. The process is the same for each, time changes for each. If you choose the oven option, the best temp is 325 degrees F. The suet will not run the risk of burning like lard, it is much more forgiving there.

The liquid will also become golden in color. When the pieces have given all the can, strain through a cheesecloth lined sieve, into a heat-proof bowl. The tallow becomes harder as it cools, so I find it easier to cool in a large bowl, then cut into chunks and store in a bag.

Occasionally tallow may need to "cleaned" after it has hardened. Fortunately (or unfortunately) mine did not need it. (of course I would liked to have shown a picture of what it would like) Once the tallow has cooled, I refrigerate it over night. The next day, you will invert the bowl over (I do this over a large cutting board) and there may be some water and sediment. The tallow will eventually slide out, and then you can, using a sharp knife, scrap off any sediment.

It will split very easily into pieces, using a sharp pointed knife to cut. Store in bags in refrigerator or freeze. When you deep fry, it will smell like a lovely beef roast cooking in your house. After each use, strain through a cheese cloth, to remove impurities, tallow can last a lifetime. (repeat the last step of rendering).

Lard and Tallow have beaten up pretty badly for many many years now. And this, after research, is very disturbing to me. Would you be surprised to learn that most of the "bad" info around these fats, were never based on studies, and if a study was done it did not give all the information accurately or  the study wasn't done properly. Both fats are extremely stable, 400 degree smoke point, tallow if properly cleaned after each use, never goes rancid. Lard will not go rancid if properly stored. So not really a money maker there, which may explain why veg oil companies campaigned to give it a bad name. Food for thought...

Now if the use of animal fat has decreased on average 40% over the last 80 years, and if they, as it has been stated, were a major contributor to CHD (coronary heart disease), why have CHD increased in deaths, by 40-60%? Pre 1920 CHD was so rare that when the electrocardiograph was invented, they literally had to look high and low for people to use this machine on, which detects blockage in the heart. Yes CHD was a rarity, until over processed foods, margarine, veg. oils were introduced.

One study that had subjects go on a low fat, low cholesteral diet and quite smoking and the other half did not, actually showed that the cholesteral levels were only marginally effected. But the group that was on the "good"diet actually had a increased death rate of other conditions (stroke and cancer). One study also showed that the over health of the "high" fat diet was far better then the "low" fat diet. Prehaps due to good qualities of animal fat?? Common sense tells me yes. Can it be bad if you over indulge? Yes but so can spinach...too many greens can raise you potassium level. So I say this everything can be good and everything can be bad, but common sense tells me I benefit from natural vs chemical.

Animal fat (saturated fat) is important and helps carry vitamins A, D, E and K through the system. It also converts carotene to Vitamin A and aids in mineral absorption. Animal fat also contains CLA (conjugated Linoleric Acid) which has been proven effective in fighting all three stages of cancer(initiation, promotion and metasis). Most anti-cancer agents only block one. It is important for skeletal growth, animal fat helps incorporate calcium into bones properly. As it also helps the body retain Omega 3, it is vital to the immune system. This is why it is worth it to me to render both suet and leaf lard.

The first time I used tallow to make chips, I was amazed by how little fat was left behind on the paper towel. When I used other oil, there would be lots left behind, and I noticed that things like doughnuts became soggy. It was a pleasure when I used the tallow and they did not!

I do hope if you render either lard or tallow, you drop a comment and let me know what you think :)