Homemade beef tallow
There is a lot of waste in the kitchen. Making your own beef tallow lets you use fat trimmings from any beef cut. Tallow is delicious, and you can use it in place of butter.Tallow is a pretty name for rendered fat. When you follow the rendering process, it removes impurities. Once done it’s solid when cold, and liquid when hot (great convenience for storing).Your homemade beef tallow has numerous uses. Basically, you can substitute it for anything calling for vegetable shortening. Barbecue aficionados swear by the stuff. PREP WORKThere are a few things you’ll want to assemble before trying this recipe. Specifically, a fine mesh strainer to drain the tallow through. Cheesecloth is also ideal for filtering. You also want a large stock pot (about 16-quart). As for storage, get wide-mouth mason jars with lids. Don’t go for the skinny ones. The wide mouth keeps things tidy, and a funnel sets into the top perfectly.
Ingredients
- 4 lbs of fatty beef scraps
Instructions
- Cut the scraps into 2” pieces
- Remove connective tissue
- Place the beef fat into your stock pot.
- Cover
- Keep your burner on low so the beef simmers. Caution: Avoid a rolling boil. Don’t get impatient. Maintain a low temperature.
- Every 20 minutes, give it a stir, scraping the bottom of the pan. You will see the meat pieces slowly shrinking.
- When all the fatty pieces are crispy, it’s time to strain them (1-3 hours)
- Start using the fine wire strainer. Discard the big bits and pieces
- Strain again using cheesecloth to remove smaller pieces.
- Pour into sterilized glass jars using a funnel, and place the lid on tightly.
- Store at room temperature for up to 1 year. Freeze it and the life span increases to 2-3 years.