For centuries, tallow (or beef fat) was considered a healthy and delicious fat for all types of cooking. It was only once inexpensive, highly processed vegetable oils became widely available that tallow and similar animals’ fats (like schmaltz and lard) went out of favor.

What Is Tallow?

Tallow is the fat rendered from beef. It is occasionally referred to as beef lard. Like many other saturated fats, it is solid at room temperature but melts into a liquid when heated.

Tallow’s appearance and texture are described as being similar to butter, being solid and a beige/white color when cooled. However, it has a drier, waxy texture and somewhat different taste than butter.

Tallow is still a healthy fat to cook with, especially compared with margarine or processed shortening.

Although most people refer to only beef fat as tallow, technically other animal fats can also be called by the same name. Some commercial types of tallow contain fat derived from multiple animals, including mutton, pigs and hogs.

Most often tallow is made by rendering suet, which is a hard, white type of fat found in the tissues surrounding the organs of the animal.

The best quality beef tallow is thought to be that which is rendered from the fat around the kidneys, although it can also be made from rendering other fat. This fatty tissue around the kidneys stores many nutrients, especially when the cattle is grass-fed.

In fact, grass-fed beef fat can be a great source of oleic acid, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and other fatty acids that are thought to be good for increasing ‘good’ cholesterol levels and supporting cognitive/brain health and a strong metabolism.

Tallow can also sometimes be referred to as shortening, which is defined as any fat that is solid at room temperature and used in baking.

Nutrition In Tallow

Tallow is a mostly saturated animal fat, with the breakdown of fats estimated to be 45 percent to 50 percent saturated fat, 42 percent to 50 percent monounsaturated fat and 4 percent polyunsaturated fat.

·       1 Tablespoon of tallow contains:

·       115 calories

·       13 grams of fat (including 6.5 grams saturated fat and 5.5 grams of monounsaturated fat)

·       0 grams of carbs, protein, sugar or fiber

The highest-quality beef tallow comes from grass-fed cattle, as opposed to those conventionally raised on feedlots and fed grains. Grass-fed cattle tend to store more omega-3s, CLA and other beneficial compounds in their bodies compared to cows that are fed less optimal diets.

Tallow rendered from grass-fed cattle provides some of the following nutrients:

·       Vitamins A, D, K, E and B12

·       Choline

·       CLA

·       Other fatty acids, including oleic acid, palmitoleic acid, stearic acid, linoleic acid and others

Health Benefits

Well-sourced, naturally occurring tallow can provide numerous benefits to you and your health

Provides Healthy Fats, Including Cholesterol

Contrary to the popular diet dogma, we have come to learn (and research has supported) that foods high in fat and cholesterol actually provide certain health benefits.

Tallow provides both saturated and monounsaturated fats. It is comprised of between 40 to 50 percent monounsaturated fats, which are considered one of the most heart-healthy fats in the diet. This is the same type of fat found in olive oil.

The type of saturated fat found in tallow is believed to have a mostly neutral effect on blood cholesterol levels, or the ability to raise ‘good’ HDL cholesterol, meaning that consuming it in moderate amounts will have no impact on your risk for developing cardiovascular disease.

Consuming saturated fat as part of a healthy diet has also been shown in some cases to have an inverse relationship with obesity-related type 2 diabetes.

A high percentage of your brain is made up of cholesterol and fat, making consuming these fats beneficial to your cognitive health too.

Supports Absorption Of Essential Vitamins

You need fats in your diet to absorb fat-soluble vitamins, including vitamins A, D, E and K. These essential vitamins help support your immune system, skeletal system, heart, skin and more.

Supports Weight Loss/Management

Tallow is rich in CLA, a fatty acid that studies suggest can support a healthy metabolism and may lead to fat burning. There’s some evidence demonstrating that CLA also has anti-inflammatory and immune-supporting properties, possibly even fighting growth of tumors. The fatty acid oleic acid has been found to do the same.

Consuming animal fats can be especially helpful for weight loss if you follow a lower carbohydrate diet, which can also have benefits such as reducing inflammation and oxidative stress.

Good For High Heat Cooking

Compared to other cooking fats and oils, including olive oil and butter, tallow has a higher smoke point (around 420F to 480F0. Smoke point refers to the temperature at which an oil starts to burn, smoke and lose many of its nutritional benefits.

Tallow can be used at high temperatures without causing its chemical composition to change. When cooking at high heat, including when you are roasting, frying and baking, you can use it over toxic oils like canola, corn and even virgin olive oil, which are prone to oxidizing at high temperatures and can contribute to problems such as formation of free radicals.

Hydrates The Skin

Tallow is rich in fatty acids including palmitoleic acid, stearic acid and oleic acid (the same type of fat found in olive oil). These fats help form the lipids that keep skin protected and moisturized.

Consuming fats can help support the skin, while some fats, including tallow, can also be applied topically to your skin. Some benefits of tallow for skin health include:

·       Improving moisture and treating dryness

·       Helping increase skin’s flexibility and ability to heal

·       Supporting the protective barrier function of skin

Using Tallow

Due to the high smoke point of tallow (400 F –420 F), it is a good fat for frying, baking, sautéing and roasting.

It can help give crusts, pastries, fried foods and baked goods a crumbly texture.

Sourcing Tallow

Look for organic tallow sourced from grass-fed cows at a local farmers market or health food store. You may also be able to find it at your local butcher shop. Brühe in Calgary makes some fantastic tallow from the highest quality

Making Tallow

1.     Purchase some grass-fed beef fat, such as from a butcher shop or farmers market or Brühe. You may need to buy a big chunk before grinding or cutting it up and rendering it into liquid fat.

2.     Grind the fat or cut it up into very small pieces (or ask the butcher to do this for you). Put the fat into a slow cooker on low or medium for several hours. You will hear crackling noises while it cooks. Once the noise stops and there is only liquid tallow and some crispy bits (called greaves or cracklings), it’s done. Try to turn the heat off as soon as the noise stops.

3.     Let it cool off for an hour, then strain it through a mesh strainer and store in a glass mason jar. If you keep it in an airtight container it doesn’t need to be refrigerated short term, however some people choose to refrigerate it if keeping it for a while.

Alternatives To Tallow

Lard

Lard is a type of rendered pork fat or what some have nicknamed bacon butter. It is made from the fat found in the abdomen of a pig (or swine) that is rendered and clarified for use in cooking.

Lard is the original shortening and was popular long before the creation of partially hydrolyzed vegetable oils and man-made trans fats. This semi-soft white fat is high in saturated fat but contains no trans-fat.

This means, that as with tallow, lard may actually provide some benefits, such as supplying you with the fats and cholesterol that are necessary to fuel the brain and produce hormones.

Many respected chefs and bakers consider lard to be one of the best fats for frying and making pastries. Not only does it have a neutral taste and high smoke point, but it helps makes fried foods crispy and crumbly.

The downside to eating lard is that it’s likely to be derived from pigs that are often contaminated with toxins as they are commonly raised in unhealthy environments that causes them to become ill. This can affect both their meat and fat. If you are able to source pastured pigs or lard made from these animals, lard is a wonderful alternative to tallow.

Grass-Fed Butter

Grass-fed butter is a good alternative and can be used in similar ways as tallow, since they both contain mostly the same types of fats and are between 40% and 60% saturated fat.

Some people may prefer the taste of butter, especially in baked goods. However, tallow is dairy-free and tolerated by those with lactose intolerance/dairy allergies or who simply avoid dairy.

Oils

Good quality oils, such as coconut oil and avocado oil, can also be good alternatives that supply you with a mix of healthy fats. It is important to remember that refined vegetable oils are not the best choice, as they are highly processed, often rancid due to exposure to high heat and are very rich in pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids.

Tallow – A Good Fat

There is now expansive evidence suggesting that naturally occurring animal fats are healthier than partially hydrogenated vegetable shortenings, especially the kinds that contain trans fats, which have been linked to many chronic diseases and conditions.

Purchasing high-quality tallow from grass-fed, well raised animals is important, since today many types sold in supermarkets come from conventionally raised cows that are often given hormones, antibiotics and nutrient poor diets. It is also important to avoid hydrogenated animal fats (meaning they contain not only cholesterol and saturated fat, but also dangerous trans fats).

Beef tallow has a delicious taste, and it adds a lot of flavor to food. It is not a coincidence either. Your body craves the nutrients and fats. It is good for you and that’s why it tastes so good.