Long time animal fats renderer here. Yes suet, aka leaf fat, is preferable for soaps, body butters, et al. It also works perfectly for cooking. Non-leaf fat is great for cooking, but not preferable for other applications. Sounds as if you have a potentially viable local source. Awesome. Stay faaaar away from any supermarket fat sources. Also, pastured pig fat renders perfectly into lard, which, along with tallow, is a superior cooking oil. Below, I'll repost a how-to methodology for rendering any animal fat. I've honed this method over years of trial and error. I'll gladly answer any additional procedural or nutritional questions you may have. Happy rendering!
>Long time lard and tallow renderer chiming in here.... Yes, to glean the vitamin d benefits, the lard must come from pastured piggies. If possible, head to your local farmers market and cultivate a relationship with a local pig farmer. Buy or barter the fat from his freshly slaughtered pigs. Do the same with a local beef rancher if you want tallow (and you totally want tallow). Particularly the leaf fat, as it lends itself to a multitude of applications beyond consumption.
Here follows a comparatively quick and easy recipe to render animal fats into lards or tallows, respectively:
Necessary tools: -A good sharp knife or two -Cutting board -Meat Grinder -Instapot -Pyrex Measuring cup (4 cup) -Fine mesh wire strainer -Wide mouth 1/2 pint ball jars
Procedure: -Take your slightly frozen fat and cut it into meat grinder serviceable sized chunks. Trim as much of the meat away as possible. *Note: Fat will quickly dull a blade, so have a couple on hand or sharpen frequently as you go. **Note note: fat makes everything it comes in contact with slippery. Exercise an overabundance of caution while cutting.
-Feed the Fat into the meat grinder -Put the ground fat into the Instapot (no lid) and use the saute setting, stirring occasionally to keep the fat from sticking to the bottom. -In manageable batches CAREFULLY strain the liquid fat through a wire mesh strainer into a 4 Cup Pyrex Measuring cup -Pour the liquid fat into Ball Jars, cover with a cloth to cool. -Once cooled, lid them and store them. - If you so desire, you can salt and continue to fry the remaining fat in a good cast iron skillet for some legit cracklins.
Results: https://pic8.co/sh/kL70lf.jpg
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