Tallow
Bos taurus (rendered fat) · Oil
Top 10 pairings
Tallow is rendered beef (or mutton) fat — suet and trimmings melted slowly until the fat separates from connective tissue, then strained to a clean fat that sets to a firm, creamy-white, nearly odourless solid at room temperature. Long the everyday frying fat of the Western kitchen and the raw material of soap and candles, it prizes a very high smoke point and a clean, savoury richness.
Picking a good onedrag
Firm, creamy-white, almost odourlessYellow-rimmed, smeary, smells of crayon
Dry-rendered and beefyEveryday bestStraw-gold and frankly savoury, from a hot render or grass-fed suet. Roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, searing — where the beefiness is the point.
Colour, right through the blockEvenly straw or pale gold — a dry render, or grass-fed
Smell the cold fatFrankly beefy and roasted — dry-rendered, not a fault
Press it with a thumbSofter and greasier — rendered from trim, not hard suet
Read the tinSuet or grass-fed stated, strained clear, sealed and full