What is Tallow?
Many of the terms used to describe fats are applied fairly interchangeably – and often misused. Let’s try and clear some of that up:
What is Dripping?
Dripping is the name given to fat that drips out of meat while cooking.
What is Tallow?
Tallow is rendered animal fat, usually obtained from cattle or sheep. The best quality Tallow comes from the fat around the kidneys – which is highest in all of the various nutrients that Tallow contains – especially when grass-fed.
What is Lard?
Technically, Lard is very similar to Tallow – except it is obtained from pigs.
What is Shortening?
Shortening, by definition, is any fat used in baking, to “shorten” baked goods (which gives them a more delicate, flaky, crumbly texture). Shortening may include tallow – but there are a lot of other fats also referred to as shortening (eg margarine, and hydrogenated vegetable oils).
Why You Should Be Cooking with Beef Tallow.
Before so-called vegetable oil, animal fat (eg Tallow) was practically the only thing anybody cooked with. It’s just about all there was. Animal fat is 100% Natural - and 100% what our bodies have been used to digesting in our diet, since the very beginning.
Then, along came the so-called health experts - who told us we shouldn’t eat butter .. or animal fat .. or drink full cream milk. (Some of them also told us we should smoke cigarettes too, for a while.)
As a result - many of us have grown up in a world where we only know to use unsaturated plant-based oils, for cooking.
The Latest Health Food Re-Discovery.
We are now finding that a lot of traditional food preparation methods are actually some of the best cooking techniques for ensuring we’re consuming a nutrient-rich - and great-tasting - diet.
And like so many things, we now realise the people who told us not to eat butter, animal fat, or drink full cream milk – were actually the people who made and sold margarine, plant-based oils, and low-fat milk. All so-called foods that are unnatural to our diet.
Have you noticed that ever since we’ve been doing the things that are supposed to be “healthy”, in our society .. our physical and mental health just seem to be getting worse and worse? It turns out our ancestors had it right all along which is why cooking with Tallow has become the latest health food re-discovery. Back to basics.
The Problem With Polyunsaturated Plant-based Oils.
When studies were promoted in the early 1970’s linking a diet high in saturated fat with an increased risk of heart disease, saturated fat quickly became the black sheep of the food pyramid. But now we’re finding out that only some of the findings in those studies were published – and the idea that all saturated fats are bad and all unsaturated fats are good isn’t 100% true.
In fact – as we might expect from all-natural foods our bodies were designed to eat - there are a lot of health benefits of natural, unrefined saturated fat sources such as Beef Tallow and virgin coconut oil.
And as we often find is the case switching to polyunsaturated cooking oils only swapped one set of problems with another that it took us a long time to begin to understand.
Most vegetable oils are high in unstable polyunsaturated fats. As a result, they produce a lot of free radicals when heated. Such free radicals can harm your body at the cellular level – causing all sorts of problems such as inflammation and an increased risk of developing degenerative diseases like heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s.
What is Beef Tallow?
Beef Tallow is a really amazing, all-natural food to integrate into your cooking. Like olive oil, avocado oil, and coconut oil, it consists of mostly saturated and monounsaturated fat. Beef Tallow is rendered fat, from cattle. What is considered the highest-quality Tallow is made by rendering the suet – which is the white fatty layer that surrounds an animal’s organs. It can also be made from rendering the fat found within bone marrow.
All of our Beef Tallow is naturally rendered from the finest quality suet – sourced from 100% grass-fed, pasture-raised Canterbury beef. The resulting Beef Tallow is rich in nutrients. It’s simply loaded with flavour .. that will enhance the great taste of all your favourite recipes.
And, it’s really easy to work with in the kitchen. Like coconut oil or butter, Beef Tallow is solid at room temperature. You can store it in your refrigerator (or even in your pantry) in an air-tight container for months – or longer – and it won’t degrade. Tallow has a great texture – similar to hard butter – and it readily melts when heated.
Just a couple of generations ago, Beef Tallow was what people used to cook with. Not only does it have a very high smoke point and a long shelf life, but it’s also a way to honour the animal, and make sure we’re using it all – a practice our forefathers understood the value of, and we’re re-learning today.
The Health Benefits of Beef Tallow
Beef Tallow isn’t just more flavourful and a better option for high-heat cooking, it offers some surprising health benefits.
• It boosts your immune health – with unprocessed fats like Beef Tallow in your diet, it’s easier for your body to absorb fat-soluble vitamins that support your immune system.
• Rich in nutrients – not only does it help you absorb more nutrients from your food, but Beef Tallow is also rich in vitamins A, D, E, K, and B1.
• Reduces inflammation – Beef Tallow contains conjugated linoleic acid, a natural anti-inflammatory.
• May help protect the body from infection – one of the fatty acids in Beef Tallow – palmitoleic acid – possesses fantastic antimicrobial properties, which may help to ward off infections.
• Good for your nervous system – Beef Tallow is high in choline, a nutrient that supports the nervous system. Also, the healthy fatty acids help to protect nerve cells.
• Helps the body burn fat – consuming healthy fats stimulates the release of glucagon, the hormone that signals to your body it’s time to burn stored fat to use for energy.
• Reduced risk of free radical damage – not only are you avoiding the free radicals that your body would have to deal with if you cooked with some vegetable oils, but Beef Tallow is also rich in vitamin E, which helps to protect your cells from free radical damage.
• Softer skin – the saturated fat found in Beef Tallow helps nourish your skin’s cell membranes, which helps to keep skin smooth. You could even use Beef Tallow on your skin as a natural moisturizer!
What Can You Do with Beef Tallow?
You’re going to love cooking with Beef Tallow. You can fry with it, bake with it .. basically use it for any savoury dish that requires cooking oil. Try it for your next omelet. Sauté fresh greens with a little garlic, sea salt, freshly ground pepper, and Beef Tallow for a new spin on green leafy vegetables. Use it to make an out-of-this-world crust for your pies.
One of the best ways to use Beef Tallow is to baste your roast potatoes, or cook your chips (fries) with it. Once you try roast potatoes or chips cooked using Beef Tallow – your world will never be the same again! Seriously, cooking with Beef Tallow is really that good!
Try our Beef Tallow and taste the goodness for yourself!