Purpose & Use Of Fat Rendering
There are several uses for animal fat, so before you decide to pitch it consider to re-purpose it. Each animal has a different type of fat that have different smoke points. I personally am not a beef farmer or a homesteader, however, I am a deer hunter and render the tallow from my harvests. As little as it may seem, I do reuse it for cooking by adding it to deer burger. It helps keep the lean burger together while cooking, and also for candles and a backup fuel for fire starters.
Sources For Fat Rendering
Beef fat is called tallow and pig fat is called lard. Poultry fat is too soft to be used by itself, but it may be used in a ratio of about 10% with tallow or lard. Bear fat may also be used but it must be melted (rendered) quickly after the bear has been killed because bear fat will quickly become rancid. You may also use the fat from farm animals such as sheep or goats, and a variety of wild animals, such as beaver, opossum, raccoon, and groundhog. If there is any lean meat still attached to the fat, cut it off and make sure you only use the fat to make grease.
Types of Fat from a Pig
Belly: This is what’s used to make bacon. As its name suggests, it comes from the belly of the pig and has layers of fat and meat. Pork belly has become popular in recent years in a variety of cuisine. You typically wouldn’t render the belly into lard because there is too much meat attached.
Fatback: This comes from the back of the pig, includes the shoulder and rump areas, and is the thick layer of fat directly underneath the skin. Once rendered it produces a lard that’s slightly yellow in color and it has a stronger pork odor and flavor than leaf fat. It’s great for frying or sauteing. Fatback is also what’s used in sausage-making.
Steps For Rendering Fat
Melting animal fat is called rendering. Rendering should be done outdoors or in a well ventilated area. The smell of melting animal fat will make most people nauseous. Cut the animal fat into small pieces about one-inch cubed and put them into a pot with about 1/8 inch of rainwater and cook over low to medium heat.
Gradually add the fat to the pot and stir to keep the hot grease and solid pieces of fat circulating. As you stir be sure to scrape the bottom of the pot to prevent any fat from sticking to the bottom and burning. Do not burn the fat or allow it to smoke. If it starts to smoke then you are applying too much heat and you are burning the fat or grease.
Measure the amount of used cooking grease (or used cooking oil) and put it into a cook pot. Add an equal amount of water to the cook pot. Measure another one-half the original amount of water and set it aside for later. Add one tablespoon of salt to the cook pot. Bring the mixture to a boil inside the pot. Turn off the heat. Then gradually pour the cold water you previously set aside into the hot mixture.
The mixture will begin to separate into three layers as follows:
- pure fat on top,
- fat mixed with impurities in the middle
- water on the bottom.
Carefully ladle the top layer of pure fat into a clean container and save it for future use. Discard the bottom two layers. Label the container with the type of grease that it contains (pork lard, beef tallow, cooking oil, etc.)
You can render lard in a heavy pot (Dutch oven is perfect) in the oven between 225-250 degrees F, on the stove top over low heat (start at “2” and once it begins melting turn it down to “1”) or in a crock pot on LOW. Whichever method you choose, just remember that if you’re wanting a neutral flavor for using in pastries and pie crusts, cook it over very low heat, otherwise your lard will have a much stronger, “piggy” flavor (which is still fine for things like frying and sauteing where you want to add a little flavor boost).
Fat Rendering Yields
One pound of fat will yield about 2¼ cups of grease. Most of the fat will melt into a liquid but some small solid particles will not melt and these are called cracklings. After melting the fat, allow it to cool slightly, and then strain it through a clean thin cloth and store it in a sealed container until it is needed. The cracklings will be on the top surface of the straining cloth. Save the delicious cracklings for use in other cooking recipes.
Note: Raw animal fat can quickly become rancid. Therefore raw animal fat should not be saved and then converted into grease at some future date. The best procedure is to render animal fat into grease while the fat is still fresh. Rendered animal fat has a much longer storage life than raw animal fat.
Storing Rendered Fat & Lard
Lard was used and stored for centuries before refrigeration was invented. It will keep at room temperature for a long time (traditionally many kept it for up to a year). Nevertheless, today most recommend storing it in the fridge. It’s your call. In the fridge it will keep for at least 6 months and up to a year also and many say it’s less likely to get rancid in the fridge. I’ve heard of many people keeping it for even longer than a year in the fridge. Lard can be kept almost indefinitely and what determines if it’s still good is its smell: If it starts smelling rancid, throw it out and make another batch.
For longer storage lard can also be frozen. Freeze it in bars, in cubes, in tablespoon amounts, in tubs (slicing off what you need, no need to thaw), whatever you prefer. Lard can also be frozen in glass jars once the fat has solidified at room temperature.
It is best to only freeze it once though, not thaw and re-freeze