I’m going to show you how to make “Liquid Gold” today otherwise known as beef tallow. If you’re the type of person who has ever saved your leftover bacon grease (or at least remember your mom and grandma doing that) and know how much flavor that adds when you cook with it – you’re going to want to try making beef tallow.
Beef tallow is basically just rendered beef fat. It adds so much flavor when you cook a steak in a pan coated with beef tallow instead of oil, or toss some potatoes with beef tallow before air frying them. It’s a game changer. AND if you’re trimming beef to cook anyway with a little extra effort, it’s free!
We made it the first time when we bought a beef shoulder clod and broke it down into various cuts of meat. The next time we made it was when we bought a brisket to grind down into hamburgers and after trimming and added back enough fat for 80/20 burgers, we had a bunch leftover. It just seemed silly to waste it.
Making beef tallow isn’t so much a recipe as it is a method. All we’re going to do is cook some fat in a slow cooker on low until it renders down into a liquid.
You can either make it after breaking down a large cut of meat, or if you don’t find yourself with large cuts of meat just start saving the trimmings from a pot roast or other roasts in the freezer until you have enough to fill the size slow cooker you have at least half way.
Here we have that brisket all trimmed up, with the fat piled on the side.
It’s ok if you don’t get every little piece of meat off the fat, it will cook up (and resemble ground beef) as it sizzle in the rendering tallow and you can just strain it out later.
Once you have your fat trimmings, I like to cut them into small little cubes which helps them to render quicker. Take the cubes and put them into your slow cooker.
Cover and cook on low until all the fat pieces are rendered down. I like to stir it occasionally just to check on how it’s doing.
When all you have left are crumbles of ground beef, it’s done. Strain it using some cheese cloth set over a fine mesh strainer into a bowl or large glass measuring cup. You can also use a fat separator (#EarnsCommission) if you have one, like this one. If there is any collagen in the tallow it will rise to the top allowing you to strain the fat out the bottom.
Then pour into glass jars. I used ½ pint jars because that was a good size for me to use. Put one in the fridge to use right away and put the rest into the freezer or give them to a friend.
- Beef fat trimmings
- Cut the fat trimmings into small cubes.
- Place in slow cooker and cook on low for 6-10 hours (depending on the size of your cubes, size of your slow cooker and amount of fat you have).
- Remove the cover and stir periodically to check on how it’s rendering. There will be some pieces of cooked beef in it.
- Line a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth and set over a bowl or a large glass measuring cup. Strain the cooked pieces of meat from the rendered fat into the bowl.
- Divide among glass mason jars. Store in fridge or freezer.
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