Tallow

[bregent]

I usually save the fat trimmings from my briskets which can be several lbs or more from each large packer. I use some of the fat in sausage but usually have a lot left over that I freeze. I decided to make some tallow with what I had frozen.

I started with 8 lbs of fat and ran it through the medium plate on the meat grinder. Put 10 cups at a time into our instant pot set to saute at normal heat. The fat took only a few minutes to completely melt but I let it cook a bit more to drive off any moisture. Strained through a fine filter into a pryex measuring cup and repeated with the remaining fat. Once all the fat was rendered I cleaned out the pot, poured the liquid fat back in and let it heat a bit more. While still hot, I poured it directly into canning jars and screwed the lids on. Yield was about 88 oz. From what I understand, this should be very room temperature stable.

It been great for making fried chicken, french fries, and even searing steaks. Pretty high smoke point as well.

 

[Rings Я Us]

I don't use fat for anything.. but if I did that looks like the best way to save some.

 

[PerazziMx14]

Please delete

 

[daveomak]

Do you know why McD's french fries rate #1... They use a mix of animal and veg. fat in their deep fryer..
It's called A/V fat...

 

[Tallbald]

I did not know tallow was made like that! Is it the same tallow that candles were crafted from in previous centuries? Don.

 

[bregent]

Do you know why McD's french fries rate #1... They use a mix of animal and veg. fat in their deep fryer..
It's called A/V fat...

That was back in the good ole days Dave. They haven't used any animal fat in their fryers for close to 30 years now. After they switched to vegetable oil, they added beef flavor to the potatoes. I think they still do.

 

[daveomak]

Sorry for the long response... BUT... the story is interesting, to me anyway...

The info I had was from a friend that was in management in "Big Boys" or "In and out" or ??? darned if I can remember.. Said when they changed, they got sooooo many complaints and fry sales dropped off so bad, they went back to AV... NOW, that could have been a long time ago and they may have switched back to pure veggie oil.. I have no idea what McD's is doing... I don't eat there... I got food poisoning twice from eating there.. 10 years apart... I got sick, refused to eat there.. 10 years later I thought i could try it again... got sick... The end of a tortured relationship...
Well I had to look up McD's...
McDonald’s had been using beef tallow to make their fries from the pre Ray Kroc days. It was the amazing luscious crispiness of the McDonald brother’s fries that initially got Kroc’s attention in the first place. That’s how good they were. But in 1990 all of that changed.
This is where things get interesting: Gladwell’s telling of the oil wars story. McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, et al changed their oils to corn, soy, or cottonseed oils. This, in turn, created a whole mess of other problems because those oils are trans-fats heavy — which is by far worse than saturated fats. Gladwell notes that the big fast food chains devised vegetable oil blends that eliminated trans-fats, but created an extremely unstable oil for cooking with, especially when compared to the stability of animal fats.
Fast forward to present day. The crusade Sokolof waged against saturated fat has been thoroughly debunked as pseudoscience with a dash of propaganda from the sugar industry. The most damning section of Gladwell’s podcast is the moment when he blind taste tests the usual vegetable oil McDonald’s fries against the same fries cooked up in beef tallow.
Gladwell brings in a set of millennials for this particular test. His logic is that people under the age of 27 will never have had the pleasure of tasting McDonald’s beef tallow fries. The blind tasting is unanimous in favor of the beef tallow fries. Because beef fat fried potatoes are glorious.

Bring them back McDonald’s! But if Micky-Ds doesn’t bring them back, you can always order some prime beef tallow on Amazon and fry up your own, delectable batch yourself.

 

[daveomak]

Tallow is an excellent source of niacin, vitamins B6, B12, K2, selenium, iron, phosphorus, potassium and riboflavin. Grassfed beef tallow contains high ratio of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which is a cancer-resistant agent. Contrary to the popular conception, tallow is good for health as tallow fat is similar to the fat/muscles in the heart. Recent studies have shown that human beings need at least 50% of saturated fats like tallow and lard to keep the heart pumping hard and healthy. Tallow from pasture-raised cows also contains a small amount of Vitamin D, similar to lard.

Source: Beeftallow.com

http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2012/02/how-to-render-beef-tallow.html
https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/video-rendering-beef-tallow/

 

[crazzycajun]

Good read Dave thanks for sharing

 

[dward51]

Pemmican!!!!! Shred some very dry (as in brittle dry) whole muscle beef or deer jerky and add some other things like dried fruits and tallow. Google it....

And great post on making tallow!

 

[bob-whie]

Do you know why McD's french fries rate #1... They use a mix of animal and veg. fat in their deep fryer..
It's called A/V fat...

McDonald's fries today have an acceptable taste when hot, however, they do not taste in any way near the original fries.
Succumbing to anti-cloresterol zealots pressure concerning the type of saturated fat (animal) McDonald's in 1990 switched from a tallow/cottonseed mixture to a 100% vegetable oil.
In 2008 they switched again due to the "trans fat" zealots.
Today's fries are cooked in a low trans fat vegetable oil, fries when eaten in average quantity gives nearly everyone I know a slight nauseous feeling.

The best tallow is rendered from suet, the hard fat around the animal’s kidneys.

 

[sandyut]

I made some Tallow from my last couple brisket trims. looks and tastes great. But it wasnt clear after filtering the bits our with cheese cloth. it was kinda cloudy. Does that matter? did I do something wrong? it cooled to a white solids and melts clear in a pan.

Definitely no tossing out the fat anymore. I really like using the whole product i buy, tallow, soup stock, etc.

 

[bregent]

Yes, it should be clear when hot, but cloudy when cool. Check the pics at the start of this thread - does your look similar?

 

[sandyut]

post filtering it started to get hazy. it looked clear before that.

 

[jonrd463]

Huh... I'd always heard that McD's switched from tallow to please the herbivore minority out there. They complained that the fries were not "truly" vegetarian or vegan or whatever they call their religion.