The label on that lard container wasn't lying -- at least not about the fat breakdown. Even pure pork fat is not a 100% saturated fat. Fats are very complex foods. Fats come in many forms: mono, di & triglycerides, cholesterol, saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, poplyunsaturated fat. Not to mention the various fatty acids. To my knowledge, no fat exists in a 100% pure biochemical form.

Here's what I was able to find at Nutrition Data.com. (I'm posting a link because, for the life of me, I can't find the Analysis calculator if I start out on the site's frontpage -- there's no link for it. But you can bookmark this link from my coconut oil calculations & just type in your food item in the Search field in the top right corner.

http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-001-02s00e4.html


PORK FAT - 1 oz. (28 grams), cooked
Calories: 118 Calories from fat: 92
Total Carbohydrate - 0 g
Total Fat - 10.2 g
Cholesterol - 22 mg
Saturated Fat - 3.6 g
Monounsaturated Fat - 4.3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat - 1.8 g
Trans fats - 0 grams

COCONUT OIL - 1 tbsp. (14 grams)
Calories: 116 Calories from fat: 116
Total Carbohydrate - 0 g
Total Fat - 13.5 g
Cholesterol - 0 g
Saturated Fat - 11.7 g
Monounsaturated Fat - 0.8 g
Polyunsaturated Fat - 0.2 g
Trans fats - 0 grams

- RC

Hey, thanks radicalcon! I'm going to be coming back to this thread before Christmas sometime. I'm currently storing up lamb fat, as much as I can get from my local Whole Foods, to eventually make the talked-about Lamb confit. When I do, I'll be posting a report on how it went.

right now, because I can only get small amounts of it at a time, I'm freezing the fat as-is, and will then eventually, when I get enough, render it down all at once. I'm going to need a lot, so maybe I'll do it in batches, but I figure about three pounds at a time is about right and I'll need maybe 10 pounds of fat to get enough lamb lard (suet?) to make the confit.

I can't wait.

Plane Crazy

Guess what I found purely by accident at Safeway the other day - Pork fat, wrapped in little parcels in the freezer section. My, my, that's progress.

Cool! Are they charging for it? I've found that most butchers will give it to you for free unless it's the valuable suet used for traditional steamed puddings. But short of that, I can't imagine it would be too expensive.

Well, I stopped by Whole Foods yesterday after work and finally got them to understand my request for lamb fat. (this has been an ongoing request and discussion every time I go in) I finally figured out that I needed to give them a specific amount, so I set it at 10 pounds. They said that might take to the end of the week. I can't wait, ten pounds of beautiful New Zealand and now also Icelandic lamb fat!! Both are grass fed, organic, no hormones, etc. And it's free!!! In some respects, I hope this doesn't catch on too much, otherwise they're start charging us for the "fat of the land!"

Icelandic lamb
http://www.randburg.com/is/icelandiclamb/

Plane Crazy as always.

I assume you're eating that lamb, too. I prefer the NZ to the Icelandic, but they're both excellent.

As they say in Canada, "Oh yeah, you betcha'!"



Plane Crazy

They've started charging for fat here in my local supermarkets, in the same section as the hearts, livers brains and kidneys (yup we still eat such things in Australia). You can get pork rind and beef suet by the kilo.

MichaelG

We still eat them in SC, too. Most people think I am insane for eating kidney's, though. Personally, my favorite is beef heart

veal kidneys are the best!

my gran trimmed veal kidneys into small pieces, browned them lightly in butter, then made a flour gravy and served them over buttered American-style biscuits. I still make it occasionally altho it's not that easy to find veal kidneys.

it's not LC but it sure is good!

Am resurrecting this thread!

I FINALLY got a pound of bison fat out of my freezer the other day, and thawed it out in the fridge (so I could shave some off to try raw! - with trail mix and cream… there is another thread about it).

I then decided it was HIGH time to render this stuff! Yah… I know… it was WAY past time!

Well, I chose the oven method, cuz that is what PlaneCrazy was doing at the beginning of the thread. As the bison back fat was rendering in the 200 degree oven, I continued reading this thread, only to discover others who were rendering on top of the stove in cast iron skillets (which I guess meant stirring with a wooden spoon every half hour). Longhorn55's post that stated the tallow would be inferior done in an oven caught my eye… oh well, a little too late only. But, remember, I still have 4 lbs of this stuff left in my freezer!

I will have to follow Bandito's advice and go get some cast iron skillets. I use to have those and loved them too!

Well… unlike PlaneCrazy, who only left his fat in the oven for 2.5 hours, I left mine in for almost 4. There was quite a bit of fat (cracklin's) left in the (covered) glass cooking bowls when I got through. I strained through a wire mesh strainer… wanted to use cheesecloth, but didn't have any on hand… will definitely get some for the next batch, which I plan to do (the correct way) on top the stove in a cast iron skillet!

However... the end products seemed OK to me... actually WAY more than just OK...

Both of the covered glass cooking bowls had beautiful golden liquid in them... and floating in this golden liquid were lots of golden cracklin's... when I strained these out, the gold liquid was very clean looking and was just gorgeous gold! It is very ironic, cuz the whole time that bison fat has sat on the doors of my upright freezer, I have seen it there and always commented that "there's gold in that fat!"... and all I meant was there was super nutrients in the fat (cuz that is something I have always believed, and the fact that this was bison fat, with it's proper ratio of omega fats, etc., well that just made it more so). But, honestly, I never once thought about the fat rendering out such a wonderful liquid gold... I thought it would be brown or like bacon fat when you fry bacon in a skillet and it turns liquid. So my statements about there being "gold" in that fat had a double meaning that I only now discovered. Too bizarre!

But, of course the best part of this experience was after I poured the liquid into a mason jar (which it just filled - meaning one pound of bison back fat rendered about 1.5 cups of liquid gold!)... what was left over was a bunch of golden treats called cracklin'... and OH MY GOD!!!!! I cannot describe the smile on my face after putting the first one in my mouth! That hot liquid bursting in my mouth along with the taste of that cracklin'!!!!! Now I know what heroin addicts feel when they shoot up!!! Forget sugar! I use to think THAT was the best high... eating M&Ms or some other such junk! NO... NO... NO!!!!! This stuff... well, only if you have had it fresh out of the oven... only then can you truly appreciate such a TREAT!!! I mean, eating this stuff (and it was SO HARD to stop) left me with such a disposition as I have only known after sex! It was truly orgasmic! WOW! Sorry... but I have NEVER had this type of experience before!

All I can say is, if this is the "inferior" way of rendering fat, I can't WAIT to do it the correct way!!!

UPDATE

I checked the mason jar in the back of the fridge this morning, and inside is a solid white substance... but it is not really white... it's more like a gold or yellow off-white color. Is it suppose to be "white as snow" or what?

The cracklin's I had arranged on a plate over a paper towel. The towel did not really soak up the fat, cuz they are kind of soggy cracklin's. I put these pieces of delight into a tupperwear container and sprinkled on a dash of salt, some black pepper, and red cayenne pepper (for the zing I had read about in this thread), put on the lid and shook to coat the cracklin's, and they taste great!... but, still a bit on the soggy side. I stored them in the fridge last night, but put them in the cupboard this morning (after seasoning them). Where should cracklin's be stored? Who's the cracklin' expert on this forum?... please come forward!

Last night, after rendering the first pound, I took another pound out of my freezer and stuck into the fridge to thaw. I want to have it available to eat raw, as well as render, since it is such an easy (and REWARDING) task! Either that, or I am rapidly becoming addicted to cracklin's... and it may be worse than crack addiction! I was going to wait to get a cast iron skillet before doing the next batch... but I have a large stainless steel skillet that should work just fine!

So... need some feedback here as to what I am doing correctly, how I can improve this, etc. Also, was curious as to whether this bison back fat is as good to make tallow as the other type of bison fat (or deer fat?). I intend to keep getting supplies of this wild game fat and rendering away! Also, how much should I put into stews? When I heat up a bowl of stew, I usually put about 1/3 a stick of butter in the bowl... heavenly. I can't wait to put some of this yellowish-white tallow into the bowl instead (I am all out of butter, so perhaps I can stop buying it!). And when making stew, is the time to put some tallow (and cracklin's?) into the mix of bison, veggies and spices, before you start up the crock pot, or after it has cooked awhile? All you tallow/suet/lard/cracklin' experts please come forth and breathe new life into this WONDERFUL thread!

I just LOVE this WOE! Sugar?... why was THAT so important?

Pork fat (lard) tends to be whiter than tallow, but using cheesecloth would remove more of the impurities & perhaps make your next batch of tallow whiter.

Hey, thanks, deirdra! I will use the cheese cloth next time and see what happens! Do you make lard or tallow? Do you think I could let the mason jar sit out (would it turn back to liquid gold? or would I have to heat it up?) and when it got liquid, strain it through cheese cloth to remove the impurities? Or is this batch just what it is going to be? Thanks for your valuable input!

UPDATE

OK... for the first time ever, I used tallow in my bison stew (instead of butter)! I just put some in some leftover bison stew and microwaved it, and it melted back to that beautiful liquid gold! And, it was just fine... I would rather use tallow instead of butter... it is an excellent replacement! So, this way, I can eat closer to the way my ancestors ate! Hooray! And, I cannot WAIT to try frying omelets in this wonderful stuff!

I took the mason jar out of the fridge and had to scrape the tallow out with a spoon. It flaked off, very much like hard butter. Question. If I let the jar of tallow sit in my cupboard, would it get soft like when you leave butter out of the fridge? And, is this going to decrease the shelf life of this tallow? I have read that it is best to keep it in the fridge, but was curious about other's experiences. There are some folks on this forum who DO eat this stuff, is there not?

I am almost through cutting up the next pound into small pieces to render on the stove. I will have to use a wood spoon to stir? every half hour, I guess. Was reading that I should ladle the liquid gold out as it renders from the pieces of fat, and ladle them into a jar. Is this good advice? Please give me some pointers if you can... anyone!

BTW... those cracklin's have been sitting in the cupboard all day, and I just tried some... and they are still soggy! What did I do wrong? Aren't they suppose to be crisp?

Oh... and I REALLY want to make some pemmican with some of this fat! Is it correct to pour hot liquid gold right over the meat and berries; ladle it right out of the skillet? Or should I pour it through some cheese cloth into a jar first, and then pour it over the meat and dried berries? I WANT some pemmican tonight! YES! So, anyone who knows about making pemmican... please join in and give me some advice real soon!

Thanks for any input anyone can give to this great thread!

You don't need to melt this batch of tallow & strain it in cheesecloth unless you care about the colour or there is still a slight meaty flavour that wouldn't work in some foods (like sweet baked goods, but who makes these anymore?). For pemmican & stew, any extra brown bits probably improve the flavour.

Purer lard/tallow will last longer outside the fridge, so you may want to try the cheesecloth with your next batch.

Cooking the cracklins a bit and draining on paper towels like bacon might help dry them out.

Do you already have the meat for pemmican dried? That is usually the slowest step. Have you seen this site:
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/notukeu/pemmican_e.htm

My grandmother always left out the lard, tallow & butter in covered bowls on the counter, since she had always done so before she got an "icebox" (which is what she called her electric fridge), but she made them in quantities that were used up in a couple of weeks. Depending on how large your mason jar is, you could leave some out in an airtight (& cat proof) container, so it is easier to grab a bit for spreading or cooking, and leave the rest in the fridge.