I started doing this when I was getting beef chuck rolls by the case.  Now I have a good local butcher who saves his fat trimmings for me when I need more.


Way easy to do, rendering tallow makes a easy to store and use fat for cooking or whatever.


I start with the trimmings and trim out any remaining meat.  Then into an iron pot on medium to medium low for a few hours.  Kinda depends upon your stove.  You dont want it to fry, just start to melt out and bubble off the water.











As it cooks down, I fish out the bigger meat chunks I may have missed. 
I use a spider strainer to fish out the big chunks once its down to just chunks left.  Then I strain and filter it.


The finished tallow will range in color from yellow to gray or white depending on the breed of cow and diet.  This batch came out yellow and cooled grayish white.  It's pretty shelf stable.  I sterilize my jar first anyway and keep it in the fridge, but I've gotten two years out of one big batch with no problems.

Cool, thanks!

I have some 7 year old bear tallow in a coffee can. I heard it would go rancid, like pork fat, but that has not been the case. The fat will go rancid even if frozen, but rendered tallow is a different critter.

About the only reason rendered tallow will go bad is from bits of meat that you fail to filter out. It IS cooked, though, and the tallow keeps the air away from it, so it still lasts a heck of a long time.

Question.... so by rendering the fat you remove the water and meat leaving more or less concentrated fat, would this be similiar to when you clarify butter as in that process you remove water and milk solids and in doing so make Ghee which is a more stable long lasting product compared to butter?

Either way, thanks for sharing Gryphon 

One piece of advice, or suggestion.  If you render deer tallow, plan on using it only for candles.
I have yet to find any deer tallow that was edible, and it doesn't seem to matter if it's a mule deer, or a whitetail deer feeding on corn and alfalfa.
 

Gryphon, do you use the chittlins for anything after you filter them out?   I remember an elderly aunt liking to use them in a recipe...but I was too little to know what it was.   

Thanks for sharing this.

WW

I eat 'em! 

Gryphon, do you use the chittlins for anything after you filter them out?   I remember an elderly aunt liking to use them in a recipe...but I was too little to know what it was.   

Thanks for sharing this.

WW

FWIW, there's a big difference between chittlin's and cracklin's. 

I've/we've rendered pounds and pounds of bear & pork fat.
It makes the best pie crust and biscuits in the world
Plus the craklins ain't bad either

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I'm sorry for the way off topic.

Bear, I've been trying to get a hold of you.  -Matt