What is beef tallow? It is rendered beef fat, melted slowly out of fat trim, strained clean and set into a firm, creamy fat for frying, roasting and searing.
Buy whole primals and you already own the raw material, since the fat trimmed from a cube roll or striploin can go into a pot instead of the bin.
This guide covers tallow versus dripping, butter and ghee, how to make beef tallow step by step, and how to cook with it and store it.
What Is Beef Tallow?
Beef tallow is beef fat that has been rendered, meaning it is heated gently until the fat melts out of its connective tissue, then strained so only the pure fat remains. As it cools, it sets into a smooth fat that is solid at room temperature and melts fast in a pan.
Traditional tallow is often rendered from suet, the hard fat around the kidneys. Cost Cut Meats sells steak primals rather than suet, so tallow from one of our boxes comes from the fat cap and seam fat on a cube roll, striploin or rump.
Colour depends largely on diet, and tallow rendered from grass-fed cattle often sets cream to pale yellow rather than bright white.
MLA's guidance on fat colour links that creamy, yellowish shade to carotene in a pasture diet, while grain feeding over time produces white fat.
Tallow is mostly saturated and monounsaturated fat, which is why it stays solid on the bench.
Dripping, the word many Australian cooks grew up with, is close kin: traditionally, it is the fat and juices left in the tin under a roast.
Tallow vs Dripping, Butter and Ghee
Tallow is pure rendered beef fat, while dripping still carries roasting juices, butter contains water and milk solids, and ghee is butter with those solids removed.
| Fat | Made from | At room temperature | Best uses | Heat tolerance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beef tallow | Beef fat, rendered and strained | Firm and solid | Chips, roast potatoes, searing steak | High |
| Beef dripping | Fat and juices from a roasting tin | Soft set, often over a savoury jelly | Roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, gravy | Varies with how clean it is |
| Lard | Rendered pork fat | Soft and white | Pastry, frying | High |
| Butter | Churned cream | Soft and spreadable | Basting, baking, sauces | Low, as the milk solids burn |
| Ghee | Butter with water and milk solids removed | Soft and grainy | Curries, frying | High |
The heat tolerance column is a practical guide rather than a smoke point figure, because published smoke points for tallow vary from source to source.
Ghee is the closest match to tallow in the pan, since both are almost pure fat, but ghee tastes nutty and buttery where tallow tastes savoury and beefy. Against butter, tallow wins on high heat, so save butter for basting at the end of a cook.
How to Make Beef Tallow, Step by Step
To make beef tallow, dice cold fat trim, melt it slowly over low heat until the fat runs clear, then strain it through muslin into clean jars. This dry method works in a heavy pot or a slow cooker.
- Chill the trim. Keep it cold, following the usual rules for storing meat safely.
- Remove meat and sinew. Lean scraps brown fast, so cut them away.
- Dice it small. Small, even pieces render faster and more evenly.
- Melt it low and slow. Use the lowest heat and stir occasionally so the fat melts rather than fries.
- Strain it. Once the cracklings are crisp, pour the fat through a muslin-lined sieve.
- Jar and label. Pour into clean, dry jars, let it set, then seal and date them.
Yield depends on how clean the trim is, since meat and sinew end up as cracklings rather than tallow. Weigh the fat trimmed from a budget grass-fed scotch cube roll before rendering, and the strained tallow after, to find your own figure.
Dry or Wet Rendering?
Dry rendering uses fat alone, is simpler and gives a deeper, roasted flavour. Wet rendering adds a splash of water, which slows browning and tends to give a whiter tallow; pour off the water once the fat sets.
Which Trim Renders Best?
Hard outer fat, such as the cap on a whole porterhouse striploin, is the easiest to render cleanly, while soft seam fat tends to carry more meat, so trim it closely first.
On a rump cap, keep picanha's thick fat cap on for cooking and render only the excess.
Cooking with Beef Tallow
Cooking with beef tallow suits high heat: it is made for frying, roasting and searing, and it adds a savoury, beefy depth that neutral oils do not. Its smoke point is high, so it copes with deep frying and a smoking-hot pan.
Because tallow is solid when cold, measure it by the spoonful and let it melt fully before the food goes in. A little goes a long way.
- Chips: fried in tallow, they are the classic partner for steak frites, crisp outside with a rich, beefy edge.
- Roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings: a spoonful heated in the roasting tin gives a crunchy finish alongside a Sunday roast.
- Searing steak: a thin film in a hot cast iron pan helps a steak build a deep, even crust.
- Savoury pastry: cold tallow can stand in for part of the butter in a pie crust.
Hot fat needs respect. Never leave a pan of tallow unattended, keep a lid within reach, and if the fat ever catches fire, turn off the heat and cover the pan. Never pour water on burning fat.
How to Store Beef Tallow
Store beef tallow in clean, airtight jars in the fridge, or freeze it in small portions, and label every jar with the date it was rendered. How well it keeps comes down to how clean the batch is and how cold you keep it.
Well-strained tallow keeps far better than fat with meat specks or water left in it, because those leftovers are what spoil first. If the first pass leaves the fat cloudy, melt it again and strain it through fresh muslin.
Air, light and warmth push fat towards rancidity, so keep jars sealed, in the dark and away from the stove. Freezing tallow in an ice cube tray or small tubs means you only thaw what you need for the next cook.
Because every batch keeps differently, judge each jar by its smell and look as well as its date.
Use a clean, dry spoon every time, since water or crumbs dropped into the jar shorten its life. Throw out any tallow that smells sour, soapy or stale, tastes bitter, or shows any mould on the surface.
Conclusion
Beef tallow is simply rendered beef fat, and it rewards cooks who buy whole primals.
The beef trimmings from a cube roll or striploin become high-heat cooking fat with nothing more than low heat and a sieve.
Our whole primals by the box arrive chilled, never frozen, trim and all.
