I love making homemade products that are natural and budget-friendly. Tallow, can be hard to source and comes with a big price tag. In this post, I show you how to render tallow in an Instant Pot for a budget-friendly alternative.
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What is Tallow?
Tallow has regained popularity this past five years as people become more health conscious and look for more natural alternatives to everyday products. To make it clear tallow is rendered beef fat. I first heard of tallow in a YouTube channel dedicated to recreating Victorian-Era recipes. They seem to use it a lot so I was curious as to what it was. When I finally looked it up I realized it was just beef fat that had been rendered or purified to get the beefy taste and smell out.
How to Render Tallow?
There are various methods to render tallow. I like to use the Wet Method because it uses salt to draw out all the impurities. Because of this, the tallow can be used in homemade body products like this Tallow Balm as well as for cooking.
Other methods include Dry Rendering which is similar to this tutorial except you add no water or salt and oven method.
What you need to Render Tallow
- Beef Fat
- Real Salt
- Water
- Instant Pot or slow cooker
- Glass measuring cup
- Cheesecloth
- Metal Strainer
- Mason Jars for storage
To begin you need fat. I source our fat from a butcher shop that processes local beef.
The fat I buy comes frozen in about 2-pound packages. I usually render two packages at a time.
Next, I thaw out the fat. Once it is defrosted I place it into my Instant Pot.
Along with the fat I add about 3 tbs of real salt and a quart of water per 2 lbs of fat.
After, I add all the ingredients I set my Instant Pot to the saute function on low.
When the tallow starts to simmer I switch the Instant Pot to Slow Cook. I let it slow cook uncovered for as long as it takes to melt all the fat.
Next, I strain the tallow using a metal strainer lined with cheesecloth.
Once I have strained all the tallow removing any solid pieces I allow it to cool in the fridge.
The tallow will become solid as it cools and the water will all separate to the bottom.
After the tallow has completely solidified I carefully remove it from the bowl and throw the water out. As you can see there will be some impurities at the bottom. I use a knife to scrape them all off.
Lastly, I repeat the process for a second time to ensure the tallow has no beefy smell.
The result is an almost odorless and pure white tallow ready for use.
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How to Render Tallow
Learn how to render your beef fat to make your own beef tallow. Tallow is useful in the kitchen as a healthy oil alternative and it is great in beauty products for skin care.
Materials
- 4 lbs beef fat
- Real Salt
- Water
Tools
- Instant Pot or Slow Cooker
- Mason jars
- Cheesecloth
- Metal Strainer
- Glass measuring cup
Instructions
- Start by placing the fat, salt, and water into the Instant Pot.
- Melt the fat and bring it to a slow simmer by using the saute function on low.
- Once the fat is simmering switch to the slow cook option and allow the fat to completely melt.
- When the fat is completely melted and there are only small meat or sinew pieces left turn the Instant Pot off.
- While still hot carefully strain the now-rendered tallow using the metal strainer lined with cheesecloth.
- Allow to cool in the fridge in a large bowl.
- Once the tallow is solid again take it out of the fridge and pour out the water that will be sitting in the bottom.
- Cut tallow into manageable pieces and scrape any impurities, salt, or brown spots that it might have.
- Repeat the process.
- After the second round of rendering the tallow will be ready for use.
- If you want to store the tallow in mason jars, pour it while still hot.
Notes
- The measurements for this process are not precise because it depends on how much fat you are rendering.
- I use about 3 tbs of salt and 1 quart of water per 2 lbs of fat.
- If you just want to use the tallow for cooking you can stop after the first rendering.
- Tallow has a high smoking point and it is great for frying.
- Tallow can be used in homemade body products like, balms, salves, soaps, and chapstick.
- To shorten the process grind or cut the fat while cut into small pieces.
- While it does take a while to render tallow most of the time is inactive.
- Tallow can also be rendered on the stove top or the oven.
- I prefer the instant pot because I know it will not burn and it is easy to set it aside as I go about my day.
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