For today’s Happy Homesteading post we are going back in history to learn the long-lost skill of rendering beef tallow fat like many pioneers made & used. Beef tallow was used in cooking as it makes an amazing oil for frying or pastries. They would also use tallow fat for candle making, soap making, moisturizing, keeping cast iron pots from rusting and even for waterproofing leather.
What is Tallow?
“Tallow is the rendered fat of cows, sheep, and other ruminant animals such as deer. It is very solid and waxy at room temperature and can be kept for extended periods without the need for refrigeration. Rendering is the process of gently heating the interior fat tissue, called “suet,” causing the pure oils to melt away from the rest of the tissue.” (Source)Tallow is solid at room temperature, with a texture harder and more waxy than shortening. In fact tallow and lard are rendered the same way, but lard is pig fat slowly melted down and is softer like shortening.
Beef Tallow is a Healthy Fat
Tallow is the healthy fat that sadly got pushed off the shelves once vegetable oils came around.
Before doing this homesteading series I had honestly never heard of tallow. And when I asked my friends and family about this I just got weird looks. Isn’t it amazing how something that was basically a staple in homes a hundred or two years ago has seemingly been lost or forgotten? After researching I found that beef tallow is actually a very healthy fat full of vitamins and is actually better for you than some of the hydrogenated oils we buy at the stores.
“Tallow is an excellent source of niacin, vitamins B6, B12, K2, selenium, iron, phosphorus, potassium and riboflavin. Grass Fed beef tallow contains high ratio of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which is a cancer-resistant agent. Contrary to the popular conception, tallow is good for health as tallow fat is similar to the fat/muscles in the heart. Recent studies have shown that human beings need at least 50% of saturated fats like tallow and lard to keep the heart pumping hale and healthy. Tallow from pasture-raised cows also contains a small amount of Vitamin D, similar to lard. It is also a good source of K2 in its suet form.” (Source)Making Tallow
First thing you need is some beef fat. I found a nice local butcher shop, called them up and asked if they had any beef fat. Lucky for me they did and it was only $.67 per lb too. For the nicest and healthiest tallow try to get beef fat from right around the kidneys and preferably from a grass-fed cow. I didn’t ask the butcher at the time I purchased it if this was a grass-fed cow or not, I think I was in shock that I actually found beef fat and that it was so inexpensive. But next time I will ask for sure.
The beef fat I purchased was frozen, so I let it thaw enough that it was still hard but not frozen solid so I could use my food processor to grate it up. If you don’t have a food processor just use a knife and cut the fat into as small of chunks as you can. If there are any pieces of meat you can cut out do it at this stage too.
Here is all my beef fat put into my 5 qt. Dutch Oven I purchased. I think there is about 4 lbs of beef fat in there. I filled my pan to the top.
With the heat on low I put the lid on the beef tallow fat and let it start slowly cooking. Here is how it looked after 1 hour. If you had only 1 lb of fat it would look a lot more melted at this stage, but since I have 4 lbs, it is slowly cooking from the bottom.
Here it is again after 2 hours. A little more rendered. At this point I took a wooden spoon and mixed the beef tallow fat around a bit. Some people like to take a potato masher and squish it a bit too to help the process along. You don’t want to cook this fast because if it burns it will ruin it all.
Now its been 4 hours and my house is REALLY starting to smell bad like well..FAT and STINKY OIL. YUCK.
I opened up every window and turned on fans. I can’t stress to you enough how horrible this smelled. At this stage I was just wanting this whole process to be over. I am not kidding. I spent most of the day upstairs just so I couldn’t smell it as much. Then when I did have to go downstairs I actually gagged once from the smell. I am such a baby, aren’t I… 🙂
After about 6-7 hours it was all done. You can tell by all the little browned bits cooked till crispy. The Pioneers called these the cracklin’s. They are basically fried bits of meat and grisle. They would sprinkle a little salt on the cracklins and once cool eat them up. I shuddered at the thought after smelling the fat cooking in the air. I actually lost my appetite with the smell in the air.
Next is the time to drain all the liquid oil and strain out the cracklin’s. You can use a fine mesh strainer, a paper towel, cheese cloth or what I used: a flour sack towel. I lined the towel over a strainer, which sat over a large bowl.
Then I poured all the hot oil in and strained it. Use oven mitts here, and remember to be safe. This is REALLY HOT oil and can burn you if you are not careful.
Look at all that lovely yellow liquid tallow left behind after the straining.
It should be a nice yellow color.
I poured mine into wide mouth glass jars for storage. Then I let it cool all night.
And it turned hard and waxy and white. Isn’t it beautiful??
It was even more beautiful after I deep cleaned my whole kitchen, using vinegar to get the nasty smell out. 😉
Storing Tallow
Beef Tallow is wonderful because as long as you store it in an air-tight container to avoid oxidization it can be at room temperature for up to a year or longer. I have mine in my fridge as it will last even longer there. OR you can pour your tallow fat into ice cube trays and put the frozen cubes into a freezer bag to freeze.
Tallow Soap & Tallow Candles
As many of you might know I made my own homemade soap for the first time last month using a recipe of lye and a variety of store bought oils. I love the soap I made, but I wanted to make soap like the Pioneers and settlers did from long ago using beef tallow. I have heard that homemade tallow soap made from rendering beef tallow is the very best type of soap. It’s strong, its hard and it suds nicely. And I would like to use my own tallow soap instead of using Fels Naptha in my Homemade Laundry Soap recipe as well. So check back, I will be making tallow soap from scratch very soon! Plus I think it might be neat to try to make Tallow candles as well.
So what do you think? Do you have questions? Think this is weird? Please leave a comment with your thoughts!
Ingredients
- Beef Fat preferably from a grass-fed cow and try to get the fat that is from right around the kidneys
Instructions
- Use food processor to grate it up or if you don’t have a food processor just use a knife and cut the fat into as small of chunks as you can.
- If there are any pieces of meat you can cut out do it at this stage too.
- Put beef fat into 5 qt. Dutch Oven, fill pan to the top.
- With the heat on low put the lid on the beef tallow fat and let it start slowly cooking.
- After 2 hours take a wooden spoon and mix the beef tallow fat around a bit. Some use a potato masher and squish it a bit too to help the process along.
- Don’t cook this fast because if it burns it will ruin it all.
- Stir again at about 4 hours.
- After about 6-7 hours it will be done. You can tell by all the little browned bits cooked till crispy.
- Next drain all the liquid oil and strain out the cracklin’s. (Cracklins are basically fried bits of meat and gristle)
- Use a fine mesh strainer, a paper towel, cheese cloth or a flour sack towel and line the towel over a strainer, which should sit over a large bowl.
- Pour all the hot oil in and strain it. It should be a nice yellow color.
- Pour into airtight containers and allow to cool overnight.
- Store it in an air-tight container to avoid oxidization it can be at room temperature for up to a year or longer. You can store it in the fridge as it will last even longer there. OR you can pour your tallow fat into ice cube trays and put the frozen cubes into a freezer bag to freeze.
About Karrie
Food is my love language. But so is saving money. So I like to combine the two a lot and make thrifty make ahead and freeze meals to save time. Because life is busy, and freezer meals can come to the rescue for all of us. And yes, they actually CAN taste good. Read more...
Comments & Reviews
Kirsten says
Oh any idea if this can be done in a crock pot?
Alyssa says
Yes! It totally can! I just did it outside 🙂
Kirsten says
I love your blog. I read it whenever I have a “free” moment 😉
I am now going to add this to the forever long to do list. It will be before other things as I am going to make some soap with it as well. Its kind of ironic to make some fat soap to help get clean though? Especially with the laundry.
Mandy says
I love your site it is very informative and fun to hear about your experiences. I live on a ranch in Colorado and we raise our own cows, pigs, chickens…a little of everything and I have to say that homemade is best. When we make lard we use the burner from a turkey fryer, it works great. We also use a three burner (cabelas) for canning outside. Keep up the good work. 🙂
margie says
I just made some tallow and it kind of yellow and not very hard, it solid at room temperature, but really soft. It also has a very strong smell. Can you tell me what I did wrong. I been trying to look it up on the web, and can find much help. I want to use it for soap, but the smell is bad.. Can I fix my oil, if so how? Also can you tell me what I did wrong so I don’t do it next time? Hoping you can help thanks
Karrie says
Hi Margie, I have only made tallow once, so I am not an expert at this yet. But maybe you had a lot of meat still in your fat when you rendered it down? I think the more meat you have in with your fat you will get a beefier smell. Someone said also to try and melt it and add in some potatoes or something…that they will absorb the smell, but I haven’t tried that yet. Sorry yours didn’t turn out great, mine smells bad too but I think that’s just how it is.
teresa says
just wondering, since i’ve only done it a handful of times (5)……..
how did you filter the tallow??
did you cook it long enough to render out all the moisture??
did you overcook it??
i have noticed that when we have fat from cooking hamburgers or beef, that it is still soft even after a day in the frig (plus, it still has the layer of drippings on the bottom of the bowl under the fat- the stuff that normally makes great gravy) but this is stuff that i have not cooked out the moisture (because we save it to use in dog treats that we make) where the tallow that i have rendered for soap and lotion making is hard (cut it with a knife hard for when i’m adding 1-2 tablespoons of tallow to the dog treats when we don’t have left over grease from food cooking)
Mislyn says
What kind of dog treats do you make? I have a finicky dog that will not even eat doggy ice cream…she thinks she needs all people food thanks to the elderly 91 year old aunt that insists on sharing her meals.
Genna says
Hi Teresa,
I render tallow from sheep, goats, and for the first time in Feb of 2015 will use beef. I am currently rendering pork as I type. I have only rendered from animals I raised, but using fat from my neighbors now. My sister and I are having a debate over the best approach to cut the smell. I have come to the conclusion IT IS JUST GOING TO STINK!!!! I used to boil it in water with baking soda. That didn’t work, nor using some vinegar.
Try adding some tea tree oil when making your soap.
Melissa says
Pssst!
over at Wellnessmama . com she has a lovely recipe for lotion bars. (easy too, like 4 ingredients.) Basically lotion in bar form, like soap. It calls for tallow. And is said that tallow is great for the skin because its fatty acids are so much like our own that our cells can easily absorb it. You might wanna check it out. ^.^ I wrote it down and will be trying it as soon as I can find some tallow. We’re swimming in lard in all the stores here but no tallow. I’m thinking of asking the butcher at one of the stores if they have scrap beef fat that they can sell (or give, even better ^.^)
gloria says
I think this is a good recipe that I will be trying soon. can you use this to make pastry dough?
twinmom says
My Dad made beef tallow for the reasons you mentioned here but also for first aid applications. When you mix a small amount of tar medicine (not sure where to buy this today – I have a 20 plus year old jar) with the beef tallow it makes an incredibly strong drawing salve. It is super effective on bug bites and bee stings and even on my sisters ex husbands boil (yuck, both the boil and the ex). I do remember the horrible smell when he would cook the tallow.
michele fout says
Love this page, I’ve been trying to learn the primitive and pioneer ways of making things from scratch also, as well as going back to some old recipes grandma had…I’m learning something new everyday 🙂 I’ve found tar medicine (now called coal tar) in the pharmacy and some larger grocery stores, it usually comes in a tube and is sold in the sections for boils…hope this helps.
Janette says
I have rendered my own tallow for soap making before. DH’s family are beef farmers. i asked for some beef fat from around he kidney (it is the cleanest/least meat). i received a whole large garbage bag full including the kidney! I rendered it outside on the side burner of our gas grill. Now I always look for a grill with a side burner. It does smell bad. I need to start making soap again. I have not made any for years.
BTW, pork fat does not make tallow. Rendered pork fat is lard. Trust me, just buy it at the store already done. Tallow and lard are not interchangable in soap making. Tallow makes better soap (or everyone would just use lard).
Heather says
You make me smile with this series and I am thinking about doing this…especially with the whole crockpot in the garage idea. I am wondering though, does that tallow smell like bacon when melted? Wonder if the candles will smell of bacon? Maybe for a father’s day gift because I have priced those bacon smelly candles and they are pretty spendy! Keep us posted! 😉
Karrie says
NO Heather, tallow does NOT smell like bacon. It smells like …I don’t know..nasty oil? LOL..I really don’t know how to explain the smell… Rendering pork fat might smell like bacon though.
Karrie says
Oh and I don’t think rendering pork will be as waxy and hard as tallow for candle making. It’s more like shortening, so it’s a bit softer than tallow.
Rachelle Benson says
I am so proud of you Karrie! Yesterday we had to butcher a couple of lambs for the freezer ( no judging from those who don’t eat lamb! You are missing out…) but I told hubby…. next time I am taking all the fat and rendering it out as well. I was just too tired! One can never have enough supplies on hand to be self sufficient when the time comes..
Dutch oven cooking is fantastic… you can control how to heat it with coals ( not to be confused with briquets)… and I bet you could render that way too… (in case there is no power for the crock pot)… We use ours outside alot year round to cook in. The kids love it… and saves the kitchen from icky smells…
Remind me to tell you about “Chelle’s Canning Camper” we put in the back yard for this canning season…
Karrie says
oh yeah, I LOVE dutch oven cooking. I really do, and have done a lot of dutch oven cooking camping. The only thing is that I would need to keep the coals on so low..it might be a bit harder, but yes I can do that. 🙂
I am curious to how sheep tallow would smell – and wonder how hard it gets too? You will so have to let me know, that is so cool! And yes, I want to know more about your canning camper, I saw a picture of it, but I am not sure how it will work. 🙂
Renee says
Some hydrogenated oils…? Don’t you mean all of them? I was under the impression that hydrogenated oils are the worst of the worst.
Karrie says
Yes, yes they are. 🙂
Vanessa says
I think it is awesome that you made your own tallow and I agree with you that it is sad that it has been lost and replaced with less healthy options. As for me, I was pretty proud of myself when I started making my own chicken broth this past winter and I think I’ll just stick with that for now. 😉
Karrie says
Oh cool! I have been making my chicken broth too..it’s so much thicker and better than the canned stuff. I might have to add that to my homesteading series, thanks for the idea.
margie says
My mom and I were just talking about this today. My grandma made here own laundry soap with beef tallow, my mom said it really works well to take out stains. She said she did not remember how she did it. So I will be waiting to see how yours turns out. I just found your website last week, I found it funny that we have chicks about the same ages yours and are working on our coop too.
Karrie says
Crossing my fingers my beef tallow/lye soap will turn out! You have chickens too? Oh how I love mine, today we let ours out in the yard and they are getting too fast to catch! 😉
Chris says
I would think that homemade laundry soap made with tallow (and other ingredients) would be great getting out greasy stains as the tallow soap would be able to bind to the fats in the stain and make it water soluble.
Alicia Penney-Harnum says
Hi!
I have a butcher in my community who I may be able to get fat from and I also buy whole pigs from a farmer. I had tried to make tallow before, but didn’t have much success. Your blog has been the most instructive and detailed that I have read so far! I think I will use a slow cooker out in my garage and see how that works to avoid the smell in the house. I love that there are people like me who love keeping these valuable homesteading skills alive! Great job, keep it up and spread the word!!
Alicia
Karrie says
Hi, Alicia! I LOVE that idea about the slowcooker in the garage…brilliant!
sallie says
My sister has a jar of tallow she had it for twenty years when our kids were babies and had colds and mixed it with vicks works like a charm
Karrie says
Oooh, I will have to see if I can research about that, sounds really interesting.
Denice says
I would like to know it just in case something very terrible were to happen (like decimating civilization as we know it) and for that I appreciate your post and effort. That being said, I would not make this part of my daily routine.
Karrie says
Yep, this won’t be part of my daily routine either. However after hearing the idea about the crockpot in the garage…that sounds like something I might be able to do. It would be better to have a HUGE amt of beef fat and do a big batch at once since it’s a lot of work and the stuff lasts a really long time.
Lenora says
Hi there I’m lenora and I get tallow from the grass fed beef bones, after making bone broth there’s lots of tallow fat left over. Oh and there’s no smell except a beautiful scent of beef. You can get two things, beef broth and fat. Enjoy……
Kristen says
FYI-you can even get suet from most grocery stores that have a butcher also! I get mine from winco. We use ours (and a lot of others do as well) to mix with our venison when we grind it up, since venison is very lean.
Karrie says
So true, Mary! I do sometimes think I romanticize doing everything from scratch, but I think it’s because I want to have that knowledge. It feels sad to me that the knowledge of it all is slowly fading away, and if a natural disaster happened or another great depression I want to be a little more prepared. Hoping nothing ever does happen, but I want to know how to survive. It has been really fun trying these things out. I love a great new adventure.
George says
The way things look it is better safe than sorry. Love your site.
Greg Self says
Love this, I am going to try regardless of the smell. Besides if you can get that much tallow or lard from a pig that cheap think about the money saved buying shortening.You also know what is in it.
Karrie says
Go for it, you should! It’s really great stuff, I still need to make candles out of it. 🙂 I Better get on that…
Kelly says
please share how to make and how your candles turn out! I am super excited to hear! Thanks.
DEB says
I FELT THE SAME AS YOU KARRIE, MY KIDS ARE GROWN NOW AND I LIVE ALONE IN A APT. SOME OF MY HAPPIEST TIMES WERE WHEN MY BOYS WERE YOUNG AND WE LIVED IN THE MIDDLE OF NO WERE! I USED TO CALL IT THE LAND TIME FORGOT. I WANTED TO DO EVERY THING FROM SCRACH. AND I PREETY WELL DID . SPUN WOOL, GREW OUR OWN FOOD. I LOVE YOUR SITE IT BRINGS BACK SO MUCH FOR ME THANK YOU ! THERES SOMETHING ABOUT DOING IT ON YOUR OWN, ITS HONEST HOLESOME and memorable .GOD BLESS DEB
Happy.MoneySaver says
Thanks, Deb!
Wanda Hershey says
And you get the added benefit of knowing what exactly you are eating or putting on your body.
Sissy says
Awesome! I’m excited to try making my own tallow as well, but right now I’ve got bad morning sickness so the smell just might do me in! Maybe in a few weeks I’ll give it a shot. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Karrie says
Oooh..yeah. It’s a really bad smell..beware my pregnant friend.
Soaping nut says
The reason hers smelled so bad is there were still bits of meat, muscle and blood spots when she rendered it. If you remove as much of that as you can you’ll have a mild smell but not an over whelming stench like she got. When I render, it smells more like I’m heating oil in a deep fryer
Diane says
I just did some again today from grassfed beef and I didn’t notice a smell until I went out and came back in. But I took out all the meat bits and non-fat stuff. I used to cut mine up for lard and tallow before I put it in the pan, but it was too much work. Now I just stuff it all in the pan, and put the lid on. Then when it starts to get warm and soft, I take the lid off and start cutting it into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces with my kitchen scissors. I make big cuts with the tips touching the bottom. I cut some more every time I check it the first hour or 2, until everything it less than 1 inch. It gets softer and so much easier to cut as it gets warmer!
Happy.MoneySaver says
Great idea!
Valerie Hutchison says
I think this is so cool. I have food storage and it’s just another thing to be prepared with. I might try it, just to see if I can. Very cool.
Keep all your homesteading ideas coming
Lynn says
I love tha you did this. I think next time do it outside. Over a fire would be cool but why not just use a hot plate and let nature enjoy the stink . Lol
I may just try this.
Karrie says
Absolutely. Next time it would have to be outside, but it might be hard to keep a fire or coals at a low temperature so you don’t burn it.
Yasmin says
Try a large slow cooker outside. Another variation is with pork fat however that’s not as inexpensive as beef fat because pork fat is typically used in Mexican cooking and is much harder to find.
The Mexican grocery store on 20th (the old Bingo City) sells pork fat as does Albertsons off of Court. Sometimes WinCo in Kennewick carries it but I’ve never seen it at WinCo in Richland. Not sure about Fiesta Foods, I’m sure they do sell it but I don’t shop there enough to know for sure.
Pork fat smells so much better than beef fat but at the same it’s worse because your whole house will smell like bacon. LOL
Karrie says
Brilliant idea about the crockpot…love it! Oh and to respond about the pork fat smellin up your house like bacon….All I gotta say is mmmmm, baaaaacoooon. 😉
claudia howard says
I just found your site as I was looking for a DIY Dishwasher soap recipe. I have always wanted to do the tallow thing. I for one, would love to see/hear your results using a slowcooker.
C. Howard
claudia howard says
Also wanted to mention, yes I would do it outside, but for me I would have to do it on the second floor balcony cause I live in bear country 🙂
C. Howard
Ruth Daniels says
Try using a propane burner, like one on the side of a bar-b-que, or for a turkey fryer. You can set it for a constant, low heat.
bonny says
I have made in in my kitchen and NO smell. YOu first have to remove those pesky peaces of meat and mucle. That’s what must be making it smell. You can cook it later in a small batch with the scraps of meat if you wish to save more fat.
Anne Blanchet, Brookshire Farm says
When we render the tallow from our 100% grass fed beef, I have not noticed a terrible smell. We also render pork from pastured pig. I have never rendered commercial fat, so have no experience with how it smells.
You might find a source of better fat would not have the same odor.
Margarett says
I just rendered tallow from a 100% grass-fed steer that we split with our farmer friend. I thought it smelled awful while rendering, my husband didn’t even notice. I think I am just more sensitive to certain odors.
Ian says
Hi Great post. I’ve been rendering my own beef kidney fat for years. It is perfect for frying chips which is why Belgian chips are the best in the world. These days I cut my chips to the size I want and boil them for ten minutes, dry them and then brush them with a tiny amount of beef fat, I mean just barely enough so they don’t stick on the baking tray and then bake them in the oven at 180c until golden and crispy, just like perfect roast potatoes. Perfect every time and not greasy at all.
Provided you only choose grass fed or organically reared animals you can render down wonderful fat from Pigs (lard), or goose, duck, or chicken skin. They all are healthy fats and they bring superb flavour to food. Make sure to source grass fed or organically reared animals or birds.
Scientists now say don’t fry food in sunflower oil or canola because heat produces toxins which are very bad for you.
For shallow frying steaks, or other things, use a very little olive oil and a small knob of unsalted butter for best results. Just enough to stop the food sticking.
Happy cooking
Katherine says
I was thinking of trying outside also. I had a similar stinky situation when I made bone broth in the slow cooker, my house was so stinky I stayed upstairs too!
Karrie says
Thanks Valerie, trying new things has been fun for sure. And it does feel good knowing that I know how to do them if I need to. 🙂
Kathy Casey says
Before I did this for the first time, I had read about how bad it smelled. I have a gas grill with a burner, and I rendered the fat outside on the grill burner. Also, if you put the hot, strained fat into hot canning jars then immediately put on hot canning lids, the lids will seal and the fat will last even longer. So far, I have only used it for soap and I love it for that. I would seriously suggest finding a way to do it outside unless you live so close to other people you might get a complaint.
Becky says
Which is more healthier…Beef tallow or pig fat?
roger says
Do you ever cook with it?
Donna Blanton says
I’ve read before that McDonald’s used to use beef tallow fat to fry their French Fries….in the 80’s & 90’s when the world was so against deep frying & the oil used, they switched to something that was suppose to be healthier. That why the fries suck today.
Kara L. Baas says
I am filling my freezer with a side of grass fed beef. I plan on making atllow, but with the warning of the smell, im going to use a crockpot on the garage. Can you please share ways/recipies you use the tallow? I feel confident rendering it, but dont want to kill food by using it wrong. Thanks!