Tallow (Rendered Suet from sirloin)

[glennbech]

I bought a tenderloin cut at my butcher today that was boneless but contained a lot of fat. After trimming, I rendered the fat like I use to do with duck fat.

I did this by putting the the suet in a large pan, covered it and put it in the oven at 120-130 c for an hour or two. I then strained the fat. Im not sure if this is the right process for beef fat. I read up on the subject AFTER doing it (typical!), and most pages I found suggesting boiling the fat with water and salt...

Now... Im not quite sure what I need this fat for. I guess it was the "never waste anything", instinct that kicked in. I know I can use this fat for soap, birdfood and for cadndles...

But, How about cooking ? Maybe a beef confit ? Any Ideas ? Recipies ? It looks and smells awsome .-)

Edited June 5, 2006 by glennbech (log)

[Torrilin]

Fried potatoes. French fries. Yorkshire pudding. Anything you'd use duck fat for. Anything you'd use bacon fat for. You get the idea I'm sure . If it's creamy white you got it rendered right. It's fabulous stuff to have on hand.

Emily

[Kerry Beal]

I recall the early days of McDonalds fries when I'm sure they used tallow to fry them. Great fries.

[HKDave]

Emily beat me to it... Yorkshire pudding, Christmas pudding, frying spuds. It's also great for browning beef for stews and roasts.

[glennbech]

Kerry; You're right. They used ~ 95% Tallow and 5% Cottonseed oil.

Im sure they were great fries.

I know I can use duck fat for as long as many times I like, if it never goes over 160 degrees c, does the same go for tallow?

[Torrilin]

Not sure. I have limited storage space, so I only have tallow on hand if we do slow roasted beef short ribs (rub with salt and mustard powder and perhaps some pepper, roast in the oven at 200F until falling off the bone tender). Have you tried consulting a suitably old edition of The Joy of Cooking? They're very good on food safety and flavor concerns with unusual to us ingredients. Generally fat can be reused, but some ingredients may add an off flavor to the fat, and the temperature where it goes "off" may vary.

Emily