Plane Crazy, that lard looks great!

I have 7 lbs of bison fat in my freezer, that I am going to render (one pound at a time). I am going to try the oven method. How many hours did it take you and did you set the temp down as low as possible? Did all the fat chunks turn to liquid? Did you cover the baking dishes or just leave them open? Did you strain the liquid fat through cheese cloth or what? Did you add water to the fat before putting in the oven? Sorry for all the questions, but I just want to do this correctly. I got this bison fat about 8 months ago. It has been in my freezer that long. Do you think it is still good? How long can it keep and not lose nutrients?

Thanks for all the pictures and directions! Good job! I want to make pemmican (and also use the lard for frying eggs). I have dried bison meat (which I pulverized into a powder) in my freezer, and dried berries (all kinds). I dried this stuff about 8 months ago. I am determined to make pemmican! Just have not gotten around to it yet.

Ok, lets see if I can answer all your questions.
It took about 2.5 hours at about 225-250 (started higher, when I had two pans in the oven, the one on the bottom rack was finished first, took it out and turned down the over and took another 1/2 hour to finish the second.) I left the pans open and didn't cover them. It seemed to not make a mess in the oven. I think it's the low heat that surrounds the pan rather than direct heat right under it. I seem to remember the whaling ships used to render the fat into the valuable whale oil using large kettles and low heat.

The fat chunks did not all turn to liquid, what's left is a wonderous material called cracklin' in the South. I strained the lard out using only a fine-mesh strainer (took most of the cracklin out with a slotted spoon first). I kept the cracklins and chop up a few to put in my eggs. Better than bacon when eaten like this! Cheese cloth would have ensured a lard with less of the tiny brown bits. Now, I have no problem whatsoever with tiny brown bits, so I didn't sweat it. I guess if you're cooking something white, you don't want tiny brown bits in your lard. That's not a consideration with me.

I did not add water. From what I can tell, water is added when this is done on the stove top because you have direct heat on the bottom of the pan. The water helps to keep you from burning the fat on the stove.

I imagine the bison fat is still good. I bet it will make some amazing tallow. (lard is from pigs, tallow from beef, I guess bison would fall under tallow, but I'm lazy about the terminology myself so who cares.)

The 7 pounds is going to be a lot of lard/tallow. Make sure you have some containers you can seal well and put in the freezer. If you use plastic, make sure the lard is cooled enough before pouring it into the container! I used glass bowls with plastic lids that I found at a home furnishings place. I've also used the smaller ramikins in the past. They also have the advantage of stacking well, you just have to make sure you cover them well. Freeze them and then give them out as gifts at the holidays!

Hope this helps!!

Plane Crazy

Plane Crazy,

Thanks a million for all the great suggestions! I have a whole bunch of small mason jars with those metal lids. I use them to freeze cat food that I make (from raw meat, eggs, etc). Would these work out ok? I am going to make pemmican with some of this tallow. I already have the fat split up into 7 gallon size freezer bags. There is about 1 lb in each bag. I plan to thaw out 1 bag at a time and then render it. I wonder if the fat would keep longer (better) after it was rendered and put into mason jars and frozen, than just in it's present form in gallon freezer bags? What do you think? You rendered 4.5 lbs, right? If you freeze it it should keep forever don't you think? Pemmican is suppose to keep forever (or at least a few hundred years). Have you thought about making pemmican?

BTW... has anyone ever used lard (or tallow) on hot veggies or in stew (instead of butter)? I would love to see what that is like, and never have to do butter again (except when eating crab or lobster... can't imagine dipping that stuff into bison fat!). Unfortunately, it isn't that often that I eat crab or lobster.

I'm no food scientist, but it just seems to me that the lard itself will last longer frozen than the fat as a whole. Just instinct. Don't know how long it will last, but saturated fats are very stable, and I imagine frozen will be even more stable. I would just minimize freezing, thawing and refreezing. If anything would damage the fat, that might. Again, just a thought, no evidence.

Mason jars will work, they're just more trouble to get the lard out when you need it, unless it's room-temp or warmed to the point of melting. Otherwise, go for it! Make sure the jars are clean, and dry.

As for using lard in soups and stews, you bet!! The best beef/bison/lamb stew is made by starting with lard or bacon fat and chopped up craklins or bacon. A table spoon or two added to any savory soup or stew can only improve it! Some people who eat bread spread lard on it like butter. I've heard of my German ancestors spreading lard on pumpernickle and topping with chopped chives as a sandwich. It also works well on some veggies. I don't have a lot of experience, but lard is often used in place of butter in a lot of cultures, especially in central/eastern europe.

Plane Crazy

when doing a baked or roast beef/lamb/pork dinner in the oven chop sweet potatoes, pumpkin (the bright yellow/orange stuff I believe Americans call squash and the Brits feed to cows), small whole onions, whole carrots etc into a baking dish, cover with about half a cup of melted lard or tallow then - using clean washed hands only - squish all the raw ingredients around until nicely coated. Then bake on medium heat until nicely browned.

cheers
Michael
Australia

Michael, I just can't read your posts any more. They make me too danged hungry.

Yah, my (german) ancestors did the same thing... they spread lard on bread and ate it (daily!). I can't wait to get this lard (or tallow) made so I can see if I can really say goodbye to butter! Thanks for all the info and the help!

Lard spread on sour rye bread, sob. My favorite as a kid. Rub the crusts with garlic, then mince the garlic and sprinkle on top of lard. I'm in heaven, I'm in heaven......

Two words...beef dripping.

Speaking of that, I slow-cooked a roast the other week. After eating the meal, I got a strange craving for the drippings--and drank all the fat from the slow-cooker.

or if you ask my DH.......mucky dripping

I just had to add this. I was talking to my wife's Godmother the other night and she told me of a traditional Armenian recipe that is made exactly like duck confit but is made with lamb!!

Take a shoulder of lamb, cut into cubes, salt and leave overnight. Rinse off the salt and pat dry. Cover with rendered fat, preferably lamb fat, (I imagine duck fat or pork fat would also work) and cook slowly (low heat) for about three hours. Take it out and shred it. Serve on rounds of mild feta cheese or with roasted vegetables. You can also cook whole garlic cloves in the same fat for 45 minutes then take out, cool and crisp in the oven to serve with the lamb.

If it's anything like duck confit this will be so full of flavor that a little goes a long way. I definitely want to give this a try!!

Plane Crazy and getting hungry!

Does anyone know how long one can keep animal fat trimmings in the fridge. I put about 1 lb of bison fat in the fridge about 3 or 4 weeks ago (had it in the freezer for several months). I wanted to render it. Does anyone think it is bad? How long can it keep in the fridge?

Thanks for any responses to this.

should keep for months in the rendered state

About end of May I bought a whole cheap-grade beef rump, cut off the big slab of fat and rendered it to about an American quart of fat. There's still some of it left in a china bowl in the fridge and it smells ok.
Bacon, on the other hand, seems to go "on the turn" after about 2 weeks, so rendered fat's longevity is probably due to there being no moisture in it.

So if your bison fat is as yet unrendered, probably best to regard it as being of bacon behaviour, and render it a.s.a.p. all in one hit, save as individual lots and probably freeze them to be on the safe side.

Cheers
Michael
Australia

Smell it. If it smells fine then it should be ok. If it smells funky, it will taste funky as well. Even though the rendering process may very well kill any bacteria, the funky smell comes mostly from the by-products of the bacteria and won't go away with rendering.

So, get on it and render the stuff tonight! All you need is a few hours and an empty oven. You don't even need to pay close attention to it. I'd hate to learn that wonderful clump of bison fat went to waste! (oh the horrors!)

Plane Crazy