If you are making a brisket this summer, learn how to render smoked beef tallow – for free. Made by rendering brisket fat trimmings, low and slow of course, beef tallow is very affordable if you make it at home. Move over store bought beef tallow, smoked beef tallow is the next best thing!
If you have been reading this blog for a little while, you would know we are all about using every part of our food – from nose to tail, the last shake of the container and final grain of salt.
When it comes to cooking a brisket, we use every part of the meat for something and ensure nothing ends up in the trash. After all, who doesn’t like to have beef tallow for free?
How do you make tallow?
The process of rendering fat is easy. Many other rendered animal fats are well known including lard (rendered pork fat), ghee (butter) and tallow (rendered beef or sheep fat).
These healthy fats are an easy way to use all parts of meat. Making beef tallow can make purchasing a large cut of meat budget friendly. This is especially true if the meat is from a grass-fed cow or from a local butcher shop.
Making tallow consists of trimming the fat off of a slab of meat and rendering the fat down over the course of a few hours. The fat is cooked low and slow on either the smoker, stovetop or crockpot until the fat is rendered from the meat.
How to Render Fat on the Smoker
If you are smoking a brisket or another cut of beef, the fat can be rendered along side in a smoker safe container- low and slow. We use aluminum pans because they are easily moldable and can be thrown away after being used. For a smoker, our favorite brand is the Traeger brand, a pellet smoker.
To render beef tallow on a smoker, simply set add your beef trimmings in a separate pan while smoking your brisket (or other smoked meat). We have our smoker at 225 degrees.
We allow it to go for 4-6 hours, depending on how much fat we have. You will know when the rendered beef fat is complete when a golden liquid comes out of the fat. The fat will turn a golden brown color (aka liquid gold!).
How to Render Fat on the Stove
- Render fat on the stove by placing it in a pan and cooking it over low heat. However, we prefer to cook it outside on the smoker to…well get that smoky flavor and because cooking down fat can get a bit stinky.
- Once rendered, we place it in a mason jar and store it in the fridge until used. We like these mason jars as the amount of tallow produced correlates to the amount of fat on a cut of meat.
How to Render Beef fat in a Crock Pot
You can render beef fat in a crock pot. To do so, place the beef fat into a crock pot. Allow to simmer on low for up to 8 hours. Note, the smell of fat rendering can stink, therefore this is not our preferred method of rendering fat.
How to Make Beef Tallow (From Smoker / Stove -> Storage Container)
After the fat is removed from the smoker (or stove), set up your straining stations. We like to have a glass measuring cup, lined with a few coffee filters or paper towel.
The coffee filters or paper towel stay in place because of clothes pins. We put a few clothes pins on the glass jar to hold the fine mesh strainer and coffee filter or paper towel together. We strain the fat twice to ensure a pure rendered fat.
Once strained, place within a mason jar and store within the fridge until used. Alternatively, keep the wide-mouth mason jar on the counter top as long as it is in a dark place and not in direct sunlight.
Feel free to enjoy any crispy beef bits which have cooked alongside the fat. Place any remaining fat into the trash.
Tools
There are not many kitchen tools required to make and store beef tallow.
- Traeger Smoker (or other pellet grill)
- Coffee filter or paper towel
- Mason jar
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you overcook tallow?
It is possible to ‘overcook’ your beef tallow, however it would simply have a darker brown color and a stronger flavor. Tallow can become overcooked when the temperature on the stovetop or smoker is too high. This can also occur if the tallow is exposed to heat for 8-10 hours.
Why render beef tallow?
Many people skip the step of rendering beef fat and they are missing out for a variety of reasons!
- Making beef tallow at home is cheap. If you already bought a cut of meat (a brisket, for example), you do not have to buy anything else to make it!
- Popular brand name companies that produce beef tallow (IE EPIC and Fatworks Foods) sell their tallow for a hefty price. We are talking about $15 per jar.
- Beef tallow is a natural occurring fat and is rich in vitamins and minerals (A, D, E, K, magnesium and selenium).
- Beef tallow is perfect for keto and diets high in fat.
- The smoke point for beef tallow is as high as canola oil – a whopping 420 degrees!
- There is no fuss to making the recipe. Cut it, place it on the smoker, let it render and strain it before placing it into a jar to store it. It is as simple as 1, 2, 3!
- Beef tallow is a shelf stable fat.
How to use beef tallow?
There are many ways to use beef tallow. Some of our favorite ways include swapping it in place of other oils or butter.
Tallow has a high smoke point of 420 degrees which allows it to handle high heat without smoking or becoming rancid.
Because we render our beef tallow the same time as we smoke our brisket on our Traeger smoker, we have a smoky flavor in our tallow.
We then use tallow where a slight ‘smoky’ flavor fits well. The beef tallow will stay solid at room temperature, like coconut oil or other natural animal fats (beef suet, sheep fat, pork fat).
Our favorite food related uses for beef tallow include:
- To keep our Blackstone and cast iron skillets seasoned
- Making homemade stovetop beef tallow popcorn
- Fry up a corn or flour tortilla in beef tallow for taco night
- Using it in replacement of olive oil while cooking beef tips or whole chicken crockpot meal
- As the oil in our favorite one pot taco soup recipe
- Fry up eggs, potatoes and corned beef
- Poured over steak, brisket or eggs
- Homemade french fries (in the oven, by deep frying, or in the air fryer)
- Reuse tallow up to 3-4 times when making bread or battered items. Reuse it up to 8 times when making potato chips or fries.
- Fun fact, did you know McDonalds used a mixture of 93% beef tallow and 7% cottonseed oil to fry their french fries prior to 1990? McDonalds switched to a different oil because of the concern of heart disease.
What are other uses of beef tallow?
Beef tallow is a versatile fat and has different uses within food and non-food related items. Because it is shelf stable when at room temperature, it makes wonderful for tallow candles, tallow lotion, tallow balm, tallow soap and other skincare products or beauty products.
Beef tallow is gaining popularity in the skincare and home essential section because it does not have a beefy smell and has a luxurious, smooth texture. The beef tallow is often paired with an essential oil to cover any scent when applied to the body or burned via flame (beef tallow candle).
What is the shelf life of beef tallow?
If prepared and stored correctly, beef tallow can last on a shelf for up to one year. We store ours in a glass jar and put it in the fridge. If you see any mold (green, gray or black) within your jar (specifically around the rims), it is a good idea to pitch the jar and start over. Plus, it is a great excuse to smoke another brisket!
Beef tallow can also be frozen. To freeze, simply place into an ice cube mold and freeze. Once frozen, remove the frozen beef tallow from the ice cub mold and place into a freezer safe bag. This can be frozen up to 6-12 months.
Why did my beef tallow separate?
Occasionally, separation can occur between tallow and juices emitted from meat. If you have a separation of liquid from fat within your beef tallow, do not fear – this is gelatin.
This is the gelatin which drains from any meat trimmings attached to the fat. Nothing has gone wrong and you can continue to use the tallow within one year (if kept within the fridge).
If you would like to discard the liquid, simply scrape a hole within the beef tallow and drain it from beneath the fat.
Have you tried making beef tallow before? If not and you make this recipe, share in the comments below what you use it for! Enjoy!
Very interesting! I’ve been curious about rendering tallow. I never realized it’s the same steps as ghee!
While I have yet to make ghee – their process is very similar. I hope you are able to try the recipe soon!