Beef Tallow
Is beef tallow really a cut of beef? Well, not really but it is a very important byproduct of some other cuts. And the flavor it adds to other cuts is amazing. So it is time to take a break from the regular steaks and roasts and talk about beef tallow.
There are numerous purported health benefits to using beef tallow vs. other cooking oils or fats but I will leave that as a topic for people who know more about it than me. I primarily want to focus on the great flavor of beef tallow.
Where does beef tallow come from?
Technically beef tallow can be rendered from any fat on the steer. Beef tallow is usually rendered from suet though. Suet is a nice, rich fat that surrounds the kidneys of the steer. If you ever get your hands on some suet you will see how different a texture it is than the fat you would get when trimming a ribeye. Suet has a firmer texture and is also somewhat dry and waxy.
To make tallow you basically take the suet and render it down by cooking it on very low heat for a long time. The impurities will rise to the top and you will be left with a nice, clean cooking fat.
Beef tallow is shelf stable meaning it is “solid” at room temperature. Most solid fats like shortening are hydrogenated which apparently isn’t good for you. But once again, let’s not get too much into the health aspects of tallow. It isn’t quite as firm as shortening or the lard you get from the store but as long as you keep it under about 80 degrees it will remain solid. I have some on my shelf right now that has the consistency of vanilla pudding but it is summer in Florida so “room temperature” is a fluid term.
How to cook with beef tallow
Since you can’t really cook beef tallow itself (well, I guess you could but you would just be drinking a cup of hot fat at that point which is a bit odd) I will focus on what you can use tallow for.
Beef tallow doesn’t really have a strong flavor but it definitely has more complexity than other cooking fats. If you think about how good the juices are from a hamburger that is similar to the flavor you will get from beef tallow.
The primary use for beef tallow will be frying. Beef tallow has a smoke point around 400 degrees depending on how pure it is. This puts beef tallow right in the same range as vegetable oil and canola oil. 400 degrees is plenty high to deep fry. French fries made from beef tallow have an awesome flavor. Up until 1990 McDonald’s cooked their fries in 93% beef tallow. Next time you want to fry up some fries or potato chips reach for the beef tallow instead of the vegetable oil and you will be rewarded with some fries that have just a very slight hint of beefy flavor.
You can also “roast” potatoes with beef tallow but let’s be honest here… this is really oven frying. Jess Pryles has a recipe for the Best Ever Roast Potatoes that has you boil the potatoes and then roast them in a few tablespoons of hot beef tallow.
Another great use of beef tallow is to baste your steaks or oil them before searing. Why would you want to use a vegetable product when you can use rendered beef fat? Beef tallow melts in the microwave in just a few seconds and you can use it to baste your steaks on the grill or put some in your cast iron pan while searing.
Personally I can’t wait to cook some chicken wings in beef tallow. I would think this recipe for twice fried confit chicken wings would work great with tallow.
And I just saw this from Snake River Farms as a way to finish off ribs instead of butter which is just insane:
Where to buy beef tallow
Most health food stores will carry beef tallow. I have never really looked but I would think Whole Foods would have it too. You probably won’t find beef tallow in your local grocery store though.
I bought my tallow from Snake River Farms. 4 pounds of tallow is regularly $49 but I got it on sale for $25. Snake River Farms also ships for free with code FREEAFF so it ended up being a great price. Their tallow comes from their American Wagyu cattle so it is a higher quality fat than most. Amazon also sells beef tallow from a number of different sources and it runs about $12-15 per pound there
Give beef tallow a shot the next time you are deep frying.
Like what you read? Be sure to share it with your friends and come back tomorrow to learn about another cut of beef.
