Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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After making a couple of batches of beef bone broth, I have about a quart of tallow as a by-product. The bones came from grass-fed beef raised by a friend of mine, so it's of the highest quality, but I'm not sure what to do with it. I tried frying some potatoes in tallow once, but I wasn't thrilled with how they came out; I prefer them fried in olive oil. Most things at our house are cooked in bacon grease or butter. I love the flavor of bacon grease and butter - the tallow, not so much. I hate to throw it away! Should I give it to my dog, or does someone have a better idea?

flag	asked May 4 2011 at 19:50 Annika 1,110●4●10

	Is tallow the suff that solidifies at the top when you pull the broth out of the fridge the next day? – Todd May 4 2011 at 20:43
	Yes; what I'm calling tallow (perhaps incorrectly) is the fat that rises to the top of the broth, then solidifies in the fridge. – Annika May 4 2011 at 23:07

Joan · Answer 1 · 2011-05-04 20:06:59Z UTC

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you can send it to me!

answered May 4 2011 at 20:06

Joan
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Forrest · Answer 2 · 2011-05-04 20:26:39Z UTC

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I would definitely fry food in it. Frying in olive oil damages the phenols. I wouldn't heat up any olive oil you use past 350 degrees.

Also great soup base ingredient!

answered May 4 2011 at 20:26

Forrest
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225 is the smoke point for olive oil – The Quilt May 4 2011 at 22:09

Thanks...I don't heat it at all any more so I guess I'm fuzzy. – Forrest May 4 2011 at 22:43

Agreed. I add mine to liver and ground beef when I want to fatten it up. – Grocket Jun 16 2011 at 18:25

Carl_Stawicki · Answer 3 · 2011-05-04 19:55:18Z UTC

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You can make soap or candles. Your house or body can then smell like beef instead of stinky flowery crap.

answered May 4 2011 at 19:55

Carl_Stawicki
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	I love this answer. ;) – gilliebean♦ May 4 2011 at 19:56
	I was gonna +1 ya but then I realized you may not be trying to be funny?? It's funny either way though, lol. – Shari Bambino May 4 2011 at 22:03
	1st sentence is serious, 2nd is not. ;0) – Carl_Stawicki May 4 2011 at 22:42

Kim The Nourishing Cook · Answer 4 · 2011-05-04 20:33:58Z UTC

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Pemmican! recipe: http://thenourishingcook.com/2010/04/what-is-pemmican/

answered May 4 2011 at 20:33

Kim The Nourishing Cook
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	good suggestions here but i agree with Kim that pemmican is the best bang for your tallow buck. – tartare May 4 2011 at 21:58
	+1 for pemmican. good stuff! – Caveman Greg May 4 2011 at 22:14
	Forgot to add... you can also freeze tallow for future use. So if you don't use it all up in pemmican and cooking, put it in jars with a half inch air space, screw on the lid and wait until it's cool before putting it in the freezer. I've frozen tallow for over a year before and it was fine. – Kim The Nourishing Cook May 5 2011 at 0:49

Katherine · Answer 5 · 2011-05-04 20:41:36Z UTC

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Perhaps using your favorite fats and oils mixed with a portion of tallow would be more tolerable? For example, if you usually cook eggs in bacon grease, perhaps 2-4:1 mixture of bacon grease to tallow would be doable?

Because of the favorable fatty acid profile, it's worth the tweaks and effort to make it a part of one's diet.

answered May 4 2011 at 20:41

Katherine
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Oh, I like this idea! I can certainly use tallow as long as I am also using something else which tastes great. I doubt my tallow is pure enough to attempt candles or soap, and I'm not brave enough to try pemmican - yet. – Annika May 4 2011 at 23:19

UncleLongHair · Answer 6 · 2011-05-04 20:40:19Z UTC

I render leaf lard and then use it as a cooking oil. I imagine your tallow would be similar, though there could be other solids dissolved in it since it came from stock.

Lard stacks up pretty well to olive oil in terms of health, but note that the lard that is usually available in grocery stores has been "trans modified" (i.e. trans fats) and is as bad for you as Crisco.

I think lard/tallow is a great fat for cooking, though food tends to absorb the lard more than it absorbs olive oil, which might be why you did not like it with potatoes. Try using it to fry meats or leafy vegetables. I had duck breasts fried in lard last night, it was great.

If you have a lot and want to get rid of it and want to indulge, deep fry something in it. I am sure someone's got a recipe for Paleo-friendly deep fried coconut fritters or something. It's a wonderful fat for deep frying, but usually too expensive to use on the regular.

Laurie · Answer 7 · 2011-07-24 11:31:23Z UTC

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The best use for Tallow is to make soap. Look up cold process soap making, add your favourite oils and fragrances and you have a plentiful supply of natural soap. Plus its good for the environment.Soap biodegrades, tallow doesn't.

answered Jul 24 2011 at 11:31

Laurie
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Katie · Answer 8 · 2011-06-16 18:00:25Z UTC

Anybody have any more suggestions on this? I just bought a bucket of grass fed tallow and HATE how it smells. Smells like dog kibble. An yway to hide the smell/taste? (My original vision was to use it as the fat to sear sous-vide steaks, but I get really turned off even by the smell of it heating up in the pan).

What do I do with all this tallow?

8 Answers