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Beef Fat


steverino

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I'm in the process of trimming a whole loin - about 13 pounds.

I've been doing this for about 4 years, just throwing the fat away, usually about 3 lbs.

It just now occurs to me ('cause I'm a genius...)

Is there a good use for this beef fat? Or should I continue to just "chuck" the stuff?

Any input appreciated -

Thanks,

Steve

"Tell your friends all around the world, ain't no companion like a blue - eyed merle" Robert Plant

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squirrels like it

The great thing about barbeque is that when you get hungry 3 hours later....you can lick your fingers

Maxine

Avoid cutting yourself while slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop away.

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Make cracklins, then take the rendered fat and use that for stuff, such as sauteeing onions for chili or in dumplings.

For instance, I like caramelized onions with my steaks but like starting them before the steak goes into the pan. If I have fat around, I can use this for the onions rather than waiting until the steak is done pan frying/giving up it's fat.

You can also grind it and freeze it. When bottom round (or rump) goes on sale, have your butcher grind up a roast, bring it home and combine it with 20% thawed fat. It'll be better than any pre-ground beef you've ever bought.

You can grind it, then freeze it or you can render it, freeze it. Fat, unlike meat, freezes without impairment.

Grind it for sausage making.

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Can beef fat sub in for suet?

If so, RLB's got a recipe for suet pie crust, which I'm thinking would be excellent surrounding a beef tenderloin pot pie.

I love pot pies.

...wine can of their wits the wise beguile, make the sage frolic, and the serious smile. --Alexander Pope

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Thanks, everyone -

So...If I render it, then how long do you think it would be safe to keep in the fridge?

And, as far as grinding it, I could probably do that in the cuisinart, right? ( I don't have a grinder)

I gotta think potatoes would be amazing - Mc'd's used to use beef tallow for their fries, if I'm not mistaken...

Peace out,

Steve

Edited by steverino (log)

"Tell your friends all around the world, ain't no companion like a blue - eyed merle" Robert Plant

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Rendered fat in the fridge? Mmmmm...

A pure fat like clarified butter lasts for ages. But beef fat doesn't strike me as being that hardy. I'd lean towards the fat lasting slightly longer than cooked meat. In other words, maybe a week?

If you rendered it completely (no moisture) and strained out the solids, maybe that might buy you more time, but I kind of doubt it.

Frozen, it lasts for months.

Although some will tell you otherwise, a cuisinart doesn't grind meat all that well. It has a tendency to give you a very uneven grind, or worse, too fine of a grind.

But fat in a cuisinart? Maybe. It depends on what you're going to do with it. For something like sausage making... I'd think you need pretty uniform pieces of fat for that. But for adding to hamburger meat... sure, I think that would work. Although I'm very anti cuisinart for grinding meat, I think using it for fat wouldn't be the end of the world.

Viva, beef fat is suet.

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Viva, beef fat is suet.

Well, there you go.

Somehow, I wasn't sure if suet was just the fat around the kidneys, or all beef fat. Kinda like lard, I guess.

Anyway, I bet the fat would make a rockin' savory pie crust. You could freeze the dough, thus solving the storage problem.

...wine can of their wits the wise beguile, make the sage frolic, and the serious smile. --Alexander Pope

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  • 4 months later...

I am about to get my hands on two pounds of beef suet for the princely sum of 75 cents. I was wondering what I would do with it and now I have several options.

My husband accuses me of pampering the squirrels so I know that some of the suet will go to them. Does putting ice cubes in their water sound like pampering? It is 90 F here after all. :raz:

- kim

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. - Carl Sagan

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You can use either method as described in Lard to render your beef fat. I haven't had the luxury of getting my hands on hunks of beef fat so I don't know how long it lasts. I always store pig and chicken fat in canning jars so that it doesn't pick up flavors from the fridge or freezer. I actually don't know how long it keeps in the fridge. I keep mine pretty cold and have usually used it up before anything happens to it. I know I have kept lard and goose fat (bought canned) for months. The trick is to fully render it, no water left, and leave any sediment in the pot.

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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I like to treat the rendering process like I'm making a stock and so when rendering I add mire poix vegetables plus garlic. Then, most often, I roast potatoes in the fat. I throw away the solids. With vegetables in there during the rendering, one must keep a closer eye on the temp to avoid them burning. God knows which fat I'm using. The butcher just gives me a pound or three of fresh fat whenever I buy beef.

You shouldn't eat grouse and woodcock, venison, a quail and dove pate, abalone and oysters, caviar, calf sweetbreads, kidneys, liver, and ducks all during the same week with several cases of wine. That's a health tip.

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If you rendered it completely (no moisture) and strained out the solids, maybe that might buy you more time, but I kind of doubt it.

Scott,

Logically, properly rendered beef tallow should last as long as any other rendered saturated fat -- whether butter, goose, pork, chicken, duck, bacon...

Kevin

Kevin

Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside. -- Mark Twain

Visit my blog at Seriously Good.

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. . . . .

beef...cracklings?????  i've never heard of turning pure fat into cracklings, i think you need skin for that.

In the picture of the lard in the linked recipe, the cracklings are from the little bit of connective tissue that holds the fat together on the animal. That batch of fat didn't have any skin. I am thinking that rendering beef fat would yield the same thing.

Home lard making like I am familiar with usually involves removing the skin and frying that separately like they do in Mexico. That is how my great aunt used to do it. If the gobs of pork fat had some skin left on it, she would slice that off and set it aside. Then she would cut it into strips and get a little pot of lard really hot and drop the strips in. They would puff up and get tender crispy. Us kids loved it when she did that.

I remembered that I have a friend that rendered some beef fat (also from a loin) some time ago. He does the same thing that I do, storing rendered fat in jars in a cold fridge. I asked him how long it was still good. He went and checked and it is still good. He thinks that is at least a few months. That makes some sense. The enemy of pure fat is oxidation to fatty acids that make for the funky rancid taste. Kept cold and sealed in a jar there isn't much chance for oxidation. This assumes that there is no water to support bacterial growth and that gibbles of other stuff isn't there to maybe catalyse oxidation. I am not at all sure how long fat would last in the freezer, maybe just about forever.

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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If you rendered it completely (no moisture) and strained out the solids, maybe that might buy you more time, but I kind of doubt it.

Logically, properly rendered beef tallow should last as long as any other rendered saturated fat -- whether butter, goose, pork, chicken, duck, bacon...

I just looked up fat and rancidity in On Food and Cooking and beef fat is the most saturated and so most stable of animal fats. In short, it will keep better and longer than anything else.

Kevin

Kevin

Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside. -- Mark Twain

Visit my blog at Seriously Good.

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Even if you don't use the fat, the cracklings alone are enough to justify saving it.

beef...cracklings????? i've never heard of turning pure fat into cracklings, i think you need skin for that.

The original poster wasn't talking about pure fat, he was talking about fat tissue from the sirloin. If you render than, you'll be left with lovely cracklings.

PS: I am a guy.

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If you rendered it completely (no moisture) and strained out the solids, maybe that might buy you more time, but I kind of doubt it.

Logically, properly rendered beef tallow should last as long as any other rendered saturated fat -- whether butter, goose, pork, chicken, duck, bacon...

I just looked up fat and rancidity in On Food and Cooking and beef fat is the most saturated and so most stable of animal fats. In short, it will keep better and longer than anything else.

Kevin

Kevin, do you or anyone else here know if the old McDonald's recipe which included beef fat was pure beef fat or a mixture of, say beef fat/vegetable oil? I really miss how those fries used to taste. For the home, cook would a blend of beef/vegetable be the best and not pure beef fat?

Also the part of your last reply that was: "--whether butter, goose, pork, chicken, duck, bacon..." that line up of delicious fats has me swooning. :laugh:

Inside me there is a thin woman screaming to get out, but I can usually keep the Bitch quiet: with CHOCOLATE!!!

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