Beef tallow is a traditional cooking fat that is regaining popularity for its rich flavor and high smoke point. This rendered beef fat adds depth and richness to dishes making it a versatile ingredient in the kitchen. In this complete guide, we will cover everything you need to know about cooking with beef tallow from rendering your own to the best uses in recipes.
What is Beef Tallow?
Beef tallow is rendered fat from cattle, usually sourced from the suet around the kidneys and loins. When melted and strained, it becomes a creamy white, solid fat at room temperature. Unlike vegetable oils, tallow is minimally processed and has been used for centuries in cooking and even skincare. It contains fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.
Benefits of Cooking with Beef Tallow
There are many good reasons to use beef tallow in your cooking:
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Rich, savory flavor – Tallow adds incredible depth and umami to dishes.
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High smoke point – With a smoke point around 400°F, it’s perfect for searing, frying, and roasting at high heat
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Nutrient content – It’s a source of vitamins and healthy fats, especially when from grass-fed cattle.
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Sustainability – Making use of beef fat reduces waste from nose-to-tail butchery.
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Shelf stability – Properly stored, tallow can last for months without spoiling.
How to Render Your Own Beef Tallow
Rendering tallow at home is simple. Here’s an easy method:
Ingredients:
- 2-4 lbs beef suet or fat, diced
Instructions:
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Place fat in a pot and cook over low heat around 200°F.
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Simmer slowly for 2-4 hours until fat melts and bits shrink and crisp.
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Strain through a cheesecloth-lined mesh strainer into a heatproof container.
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Discard solids. Pour liquid tallow into storage containers.
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Cool completely before covering. Store in the fridge or freezer.
Best Ways to Use Beef Tallow
Beef tallow can replace oils, butter, or lard in both savory and sweet recipes. Here are some of the top uses:
High-Heat Cooking
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Pan searing meats like steak to develop a delicious crust
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Frying potatoes or vegetables for crispy results
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Roasting potatoes, Brussels sprouts or root veggies for caramelization
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Sautéing aromatics like onions, garlic, mushrooms
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Stir frying meats and vegetables
Gravies, Sauces and Roux
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Deglazing pans and making rich pan sauces
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Using as the fat in roux for gravies, sauces, gumbos
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Adding to stews, chilies, soups for body
Baking
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Making flaky savory pie crusts
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Substituting for butter or shortening in biscuits, scones, pastries
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Adding to cookie dough for richness
Confit and Curing
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Poaching meats like duck legs in tallow
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Marinating meats before cooking
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Frying potatoes twice for crispy frites
Seasoning Cast Iron
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Coating cast iron pans and griddles to season and protect
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Adding a thin layer before cooking for flavor
Tallow Tips and Tricks
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Save beef fat scraps in freezer until you have enough to render a batch of tallow.
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Melt just enough to coat food for searing, sautéing or roasting. A little goes a long way.
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Combine with butter for the flavor of tallow and richness of butter.
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Make chicken or veggie dishes more savory by using tallow for pan frying.
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Rub on grates to season a new grill or outdoor griddle before first use.
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Use to oil butcher block counters, wood cutting boards and knife handles.
Storing and Handling Beef Tallow
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Keep tallow refrigerated and use within 2-3 months for best quality.
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For longer storage, freeze for up to a year in an airtight container.
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Scoop out portions as needed. Avoid contaminating unused tallow with water or food bits.
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Reheat gently to melt. Avoid overheating or the flavor can deteriorate.
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Add to recipes cold or melt first depending on the application.
FAQs About Cooking with Beef Tallow
Is tallow healthy to cook with?
Yes, beef tallow is a natural, minimally processed saturated fat that is stable for high-heat cooking. It provides vitamins A, D, E and K. The fat composition is heart healthy compared to vegetable oils.
What does food cooked in tallow taste like?
Tallow has a subtle beefy, savory flavor. It enhances flavors of other ingredients without overpowering. The rich taste is perfect for hearty dishes.
Can you substitute tallow for butter and other fats?
Yes, tallow can replace butter, oils, shortening or lard in equal amounts. The results may be richer with tallow’s beefy notes. Adjust any recipes as needed.
What foods pair well with beef tallow?
Tallow complements beef, game meats, hearty vegetables like mushrooms, potatoes, onions, and rich dishes like stews, roasts, and fried foods.
Should you season tallow after rendering?
For cooking, plain homemade tallow doesn’t need anything added. You can optionally season it by adding herbs, smoked salt or spices. Cool completely before storing seasoned tallow.
Discover the Power of Beef Tallow
With its high smoke point, long shelf life, and ultra-savory flavor, beef tallow is a versatile and nourishing traditional fat worth rediscovering. Use tallow for searing, frying, roasting, baking, and more. Render your own tallow at home or seek it out from quality butchers. Once you try cooking with beef tallow, you’ll be amazed at how much richness and body it adds to your dishes.
How to cook with beef tallow
You can use beef tallow as a one-to-one alternative to an array of cooking oils and fats, including canola, sunflower seed or vegetable oils, melted butter, or ghee. It can grease a skillet, season a griddle or cast-iron pan, or form a flavorful base for stews or sofrito.
At New York City restaurant Due West, cooks use beef tallow to make patty melts. At Jeju, Cho confits steaks in it before reverse-searing them.
But potatoes are arguably tallow’s most dashing dance partner. Because it has a high smoke point, beef tallow is particularly suited to deep-frying. Beef-fat french fries appear on menus at casual pubs and burger joints, as well as at restaurants like Jeju, Hank & Artie’s in Portland, Maine, and Perilla in Chicago, Illinois.
“It does something so special to french fries,” says Andrew Lim, Perilla’s executive chef. “It makes them super crispy on the outside, and just so flavorful and good.” Perilla’s team also uses tallow in a steakhouse vinaigrette and to grease the grates of its tabletop grills to “build flavor and develop a nice sear on steaks,” Lim says.
Like most of us, tallow has limitations in the kitchen. Its distinctly meaty flavor can overpower some dishes. At Perilla, cooks use lard, olive oil, or seed and vegetable oils when making seafood, veggies, and other non-beefy menu items. “Unless you want that flavor, you’re better off using other types of fat,” Lim says.
What is beef tallow?
Beef tallow is rendered fat from any part of a cow. A butchery by-product, it’s related to but less locationally specific than suet, which is the fat that surrounds the organs of cattle or lambs.
Like lard, its porky cousin, tallow has a semi-solid consistency at room temperature and a creamy opaque color. You can buy it online or from butchers and specialty food purveyors—or even render it yourself.
That’s what cooks do at Jeju, a Portland, Oregon, restaurant that specializes in whole-animal butchery. They combine the trimmings of steaks and other muscle cuts with the fat that accumulates atop their stocks and bone broth, explains chef-owner Peter Cho. “We take all that fat, filter it, skim it, and fry it off to make nice, clean beef tallow.” Then that tallow gets used for cooking.
Fatworks Organic Grass-Fed Beef Tallow