NOTE – See notes at the bottom – This is hot grease. It can burn. It can clog your sink. Neither is good. I know from experience!
I recently rendered tallow – beef suet – again. I took the fat, chunked it up to fit through my meat grinder and ground it so that it looked like hamburger.
Then I put this in the crockpot. I turned the crockpot to high heat for 40 minutes just to get the fat melting. I stirred it about every 20 minutes to get the melting fat mixed with the unmelted fat.
Once it was all melted, I turned the crockpot to low and positioned the lid off-center so that any water would evaporate. I let it cook for 5-6 hours, stirring it about every hour. At first there were cracklings on the top and bottom. Once the solids were all on the bottom, then I turned the heat off.
I let it cool a little bit and then carefully poured the fat off.
These are the beef cracklings that were left over – think deep fried ground beef, edible, but not the greatest thing in the world.
At this point I could have put it jars if I wanted to use it just in cooking. However I wanted it for a salve, so I let it cool and re-rendered it. I mixed it in a pot on the stove with 1-2 quarts of water and 1 tbsp of salt. I let this simmer for about 1 hour and then cooled it all in the frig.
I did this twice scraping off the salt and debris from the bottom each time and getting rid of the water after the fat had cooled and become solid. I cut the final circle into quarters to make it easier to use. I am storing these in the refrigerator.
NOTES: This is a very hot fat. BE CAREFUL!
Everything ends up with a layer of fat – the crockpot, the bowl, the spoons, the counter. To save the sink and pipes, wipe all the items off with a paper towel while the fat is still warm, and throw the paper towels away. Otherwise you could (will) end up with a clogged drain from the congealed fat. Use hot soapy water to clean whatever has fat on it.
Again, this is very hot. You could burn yourself. BE CAREFUL!
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