Rendering Fats

When I canned up some roasts last week, I had a small pile of fat that it seemed a shame to throw away.  I paid for it by weight, after all.  I've never done this before, but I decided to render them down to save as cooking fats.  Beef suet and pork lard are traditionally from the fat around the liver and kidneys, not muscular fat, but it still works.

I got out the small Crockpot and a saucepan, to try two methods.  The pork trimmings went in the Crockpot on low while all the canning was going on plus a while after, maybe 6 hours.  The beef went on the stove at the lowest flame for about three hours.  I poked each every hour or so, to get the more fatty pieces closer to the heat.

When I strained them off into containers, I had about a quarter cup of each.  Not as much as I was expecting.  Maybe I could have rendered them longer, but the beef at least looked done.  The liquid is yellow, and cools to a white.  It is best stored in the fridge unless you can be 100% sure there are no impurities in it.

I was still a fun experiment, and I'll use it.  Was it worth the gas and electricity?  Probably not.  But now I can do some UK recipes I've seen that use suet.  I don't think I've ever seen it for sale.   You can buy lard at an American market.