It’s simple to make your own beef fat, or tallow, and it makes excellent cooking fat. You might as well gather some time ahead of time since it does take some. There are various methods for rendering fat; I use the oven to dry render it. When you wet render something, you usually put it in water, bring it to a boil, and then let it boil until all the water is gone and only the fat is left. But dry rendering is easy, so that’s what we’ll do.
Several areas of the cow are covered in lard, or beef fat. Large chunks of the best fat are found around the kidneys. Alternatively, you can obtain it from a roast or anywhere that has substantial white chunks. Save some in the freezer until you have enough if you can’t get enough all at once.
Therefore, not all fat is suitable for rendering; instead, you should look for saturated fat. By piercing it with your finger, you can determine the difference. When it is hard (not wiggly or loose), saturated fat has been found. See this page for details.
Step-by-Step: Rendering Tallow in the Oven
Make sure to allot enough time for the task when rendering any fat, whether lard or tallow. Although not difficult, the task requires a lot of time, most of which is spent idle.
Remove any extra meaty pieces the butcher might have missed by chopping your beef fat into small pieces. The process will move along more quickly if you cut your pieces smaller.
Put all of your fat in a roasting pan, and for every pound of fat, add about 1/3 cup of water. The water will eventually evaporate, but in the interim it will prevent the fat from sticking to the pan prior to the fat melting.
Place your roasting pan in an oven that is preheated to 2500 F, uncovered. After 30 minutes in the oven, stir. Stir again after 45 minutes, and once every hour thereafter.
Eventually your tallow will begin to darken. At that point, take the pan out of the oven and drain the fat. If you don’t have any cheesecloth lying around like I do, you can make do with coffee filters to strain the fat.
Reposition the solid pieces in the roasting pan and re-roast them in the oven. Continue to stir every hour until you’ve rendered more fat. Put the remaining solid pieces in the oven after a second strain. You can continue this process until only dark bits remain.
Rendering your own fat is essential because you can monitor the entire process. You are confident that the fat has not been hydrogenated, bleached, deodorized, or added any unwelcome ingredients.
It can be challenging to overcome the fear of fat because for too long, we’ve been fed myths about cholesterol and dietary fats. Animal fats are beneficial for your body, so don’t be afraid of them.
Render Tallow and Lard in the Oven
FAQ
What temp do you render beef fat to in the oven?
Cut them into cubes, put them in an oven-safe pan, and heat the oven to no more than 100-120° C/210°-250° F. You want it high enough so the fat will melt, but don’t let it burn because that will make the food taste bad. What’s the duration? I typically render fat at 250° F for 3 hours.
Can I render fat in the oven?
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Put the fatback in a 6 to 8 quart Dutch oven after cutting it into 1/4-inch cubes. Add the water. Uncover the pan and place in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring every so often to help the pieces melt.
What is the best temperature for rendering fat?
130-140°F (54-60°C). Fats begin to liquefy, a process called rendering. If the meat is kept at this temperature, the process is slow and may take hours.
How do you render down beef fat?
Put the fat first in the pan, then add just enough water to the pan to cover the bottom by about half an inch. Turn the heat down to low after placing the pan over a medium flame and waiting for the water to begin to boil. Stirring occasionally, cook gently for 1-2 hours until the majority of the fat has rendered.