# Question about lard/suet



## southerncooker (Jul 16, 2006)

I was watching Guy's Big Bite this morning on the food network and he was using what looked like pork lard (that is readily available here in the south) but he kept calling it beef fat. I've never heard of using beef fat to fry in. Was wondering if he was just mistaken and it was really pork fat or if there is such a thing as beef fat used to fry in. He did say it was in most supermarkets. Though some of you might shed some light on this for me. 
TIA


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## Andy M. (Jul 16, 2006)

It could have been suet, which is beef fat.

Either that or the chef was wrong in calling it beef fat.


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## skilletlicker (Jul 16, 2006)

I've never seen his show but was hoping for something better from him.  I've never seen rendered beef fat for sale in the markets I go to.  Maybe you could check the posted recipe on The Food Network and see if it lists lard instead.  If so maybe we could give him a rookie pass.  I searched beef fat on their site and got two hits, both using fat reserved from something made at home.

Reminds me of a woman name Christine who has a show on PBS.  She keeps putting a jalapeno pepper on her cutting board and saying in a grammar school instructional tone, "This is a poblano pepper."

Maybe I'm wrong though and they do sell rendered beef fat and poblanos that look exactly like jalapenos in all the markets except the ones I go to.


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## skilletlicker (Jul 16, 2006)

Andy M. said:
			
		

> It could have been suet, which is beef fat.


Hey Andy,
Can you shed any more light on the subject.  I googled suet and sure enough it's beef fat, but all the sites were about bird feed.


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## Andy M. (Jul 16, 2006)

His recipe for carnitas calls for pork lard or suet (beef fat).


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## Andy M. (Jul 16, 2006)

skilletlicker said:
			
		

> Hey Andy,
> Can you shed any more light on the subject. I googled suet and sure enough it's beef fat, but all the sites were about bird feed.


 
Bird seeds are sometimes pressed into a block of suet to provide birds with some extra calories in the winter.


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## Gretchen (Jul 16, 2006)

You can get beef suet from your supermarket.  It is good for adding to venison for making sausage.
I don't understand what is wrong about his using it. Growing up, we had steak on Saturday night and my dad would cut the excess fat from the steak and fry it out to use in the skillet for pan frying the steak. It has an immense amount of flavor--as evidenced by the fact that McDonald's used to use it for frying their French fries.


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## skilletlicker (Jul 16, 2006)

In case any body's interested here is the recipe in question. Basically it's deep frying 3/4 lb pieces of pork butt in beef or pork fat for 1 to 1 1/2 hr. at low temperature, 250F.
Has anybody done it like this?


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## skilletlicker (Jul 16, 2006)

Gretchen said:
			
		

> You can get beef suet from your supermarket. It is good for adding to venison for making sausage.
> I don't understand what is wrong about his using it. Growing up, we had steak on Saturday night and my dad would cut the excess fat from the steak and fry it out to use in the skillet for pan frying the steak. It has an immense amount of flavor--as evidenced by the fact that McDonald's used to use it for frying their French fries.


Gretchen,
I don't say there's anything wrong about his using it.  I just had never heard of suet or noticed rendered beef fat in the store, but there's an awful lot I don't know.  That's why I appreciate this forum so much.
I keep lard in the ice box all the time and will look for suet next trip to the store.
Furthermore, if anyone confirms they've cooked meat with the method described in Guy's fairly simple recipe I will make it that way in the near future.


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## ironchef (Jul 16, 2006)

skilletlicker said:
			
		

> In case any body's interested here is the recipe in question. Basically it's deep frying 3/4 lb pieces of pork butt in beef or pork fat for 1 to 1 1/2 hr. at low temperature, 250F.
> Has anybody done it like this?


 
At 250F, I wouldn't really call that deep frying. That's more like confit.

Isn't this the same guy who's only claim to fame was winning the FoodTV's "Next Star" show?


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## Andy M. (Jul 16, 2006)

As I mentioned earlier, the recipe calls out both suet and lard.

Also, I think the internal temperature he gives for his pork confit is too low for shredding.  The meat has to reach an internal temperature of 205-210F so the connective tissue can break down, making the meat shreddable.

I have done this with veal and duck, but not for shredding.


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## Gretchen (Jul 16, 2006)

"I've never seen his show but was hoping for something better from him."--from your post

I guess this is what I was referring to. Iron Chef is right about it being a sort of "confit" method. Frank Stitt has a recipe for pork butt cooked in fresh pork belly fat in his Southern Table cookbook that I am waiting for cooler weather to fix.
Suet won't usually be seen in the counter--you need to ask for it. Sometimes they have to save it from breaking down their meat carcasses/cryovac packages.

As for the temp--190* is about the temp that the connective tissues have broken down so his is a bit light but can probably be shredded.

As for confit--Charlie Trotter does a tuna confit, using olive oil.


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## skilletlicker (Jul 16, 2006)

ironchef said:
			
		

> At 250F, I wouldn't really call that deep frying. That's more like confit.
> 
> Isn't this the same guy who's only claim to fame was winning the FoodTV's "Next Star" show?


 
Yeah, that's the guy.

ironchef,  I confess I've never confitted anything, at least not on purpose.  Does this method make sense for pork butt to you?


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## Gretchen (Jul 16, 2006)

For ideas of pork confit, take a look here.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=pork+confit


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## skilletlicker (Jul 16, 2006)

Gretchen said:
			
		

> "I've never seen his show but was hoping for something better from him."--from your post
> 
> I guess this is what I was referring to.


 
Yeah, that sounds pretty bad but what I was thinking was that he'd sort of grown on me during the series in which he won the show that recently debuted, and I thought he'd either misnamed an ingredient or said something is widely available that isn't.

Thanks to you, Andy M and ironchef for pointing out my error and good luck to Guy.


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## FryBoy (Jul 16, 2006)

Actually, not all beef fat is suet. Rather, it's a special type of fat, namely the hard fatty tissue around the kidneys. It's very white, very flaky, and has qualities that make it particularly desirable for baking. My mother used to order it from the butcher around Christmas when she prepared my great grandmother's recipe for plum pudding. Mom insisted that you could not substitute any other fat for suet. 

As for regular beef fat, it was the secret ingredient in McDonald's french fries, probably the reason Julia Child raved about them. That ended several years ago due to health concerns -- the practice had come to light when an entire cargo ship filled with beef fat sank on its way from Australia to the U.S.


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## Ishbel (Jul 16, 2006)

Beef lard used to be very popular in the UK...   not so much now since the 'health police' became more vocal!

Suet, on the other hand, is a staple part of many traditional English/Scots dishes, for instance to make a suet pastry for steak and kidney pie or to add a bit of texture to a clootie dumpling etc.  Suet is usually sold as packaged stuff, but I can get my local butcher to prepare it for me.

I've never had pork fat.... and to my mind that would be too greasy.  Just different tastes in different countries, I suspect.


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## Constance (Jul 16, 2006)

Ishbel, do you ever fry bacon? If you do, try saving the grease and using a little to saute onions for a soup or bean dish.


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## Constance (Jul 16, 2006)

Ishbel...me again. I'm watching Paula Deen in London, and she's in a butcher shope, looking at bacon. She says the English have something they call "back bacon", which is wider and has more meat running through it. Can you tell us about it?


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## ironchef (Jul 16, 2006)

skilletlicker said:
			
		

> Yeah, that's the guy.
> 
> ironchef, I confess I've never confitted anything, at least not on purpose. Does this method make sense for pork butt to you?


 
LOL this thread is starting to go off-topic (or is it?) but here goes.

The traditional method and defintion of "confit" is to slowly cook a food immersed in it's own fat, beit pork, duck, etc. Now days, confit refers to any type of food that is slow cooked in fat: onions, garlic, tomatoes, tuna, fennel, etc. etc. 

Regarding pork, pork is excellent for use in slow cooking methods so I'm sure his recipe would probably taste good. I don't see how it wouldn't with all of that lard. One thing that he fails to do that I would probably recommend would be to sear the pork first. It will brown somewhat in the lard, but I just love the flavor of seared, golden brown pork.


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## DaCook (Jul 17, 2006)

I have never seen beef rendered fat in of the stores I go to, either. I have rendered it down at home to use in recipes for beef. Yep, the method he is using is confit, not deepfrying. I would think it would be easier done in the oven, though.


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## Ishbel (Jul 17, 2006)

Constance said:
			
		

> Ishbel...me again. I'm watching Paula Deen in London, and she's in a butcher shope, looking at bacon. She says the English have something they call "back bacon", which is wider and has more meat running through it. Can you tell us about it?


 
I don't know Paula Deen, Constance - but 'back bacon' is a larger rasher than 'streaky'. We have smoked and unsmoked bacon. I believe British bacon is more like the type that Americans call Canadian (don't know if it's cos the bacon is FROM Canada, or the way it may be cured!).

I haven't eaten American bacon for many years - it was so different to the stuff I am used to that I only tried it a couple of times... and anyway, it's not good for me nowadays!

Constance: here's a wikipedia piece on the differences between bacons! And isn't it odd that, according to Wiki, 'Canadian' bacon is unknown as CB in Canada?!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacon


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## Judie (Jul 17, 2006)

Since you had mentioned LARD, I was wondering where you go to get it in the South?  I live in SC and the last time I tried to find lard I was sent to the Crisco.  Any suggestions?


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## Michael in FtW (Jul 17, 2006)

I can't imagine anyone having a problem finding lard anywhere in the South! But, that doesn't mean that some stores may not carry it. I have 6 grocery stores on my side of town that I shop at and only 1 (very small store) doesn't carry it, or if they do I just haven't seen it. Three stores have it next to the Crisco, one has it in the Ethnic Foods section, and one keeps moving it around ... I once found it back in the refrigerated case with the butter and margarine.


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## southerncooker (Jul 17, 2006)

All the grocery stores I visit in our area of NC have lard. Most of the time it's next to the Crisco and other shortenings but if not then it's in the Hispanic section.


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## DaCook (Jul 18, 2006)

Constance said:
			
		

> Ishbel...me again. I'm watching Paula Deen in London, and she's in a butcher shope, looking at bacon. She says the English have something they call "back bacon", which is wider and has more meat running through it. Can you tell us about it?


Back bacon is what is commonly referred to in the states as Canadian bacon. Which isn't really what we use for bacon. We use the same old side bacon that the Americans use for our bacon recipes. Canadian bacon is reserved for use with eggs benny and such.


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## BigJim (Jul 18, 2006)

Have any of you tried the bacon that is lined with black pepper. Its like
pastramy. its the best bacon I have ever had. My dogs just love it.


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## Ishbel (Jul 18, 2006)

This is the usual way we buy suet (although I can buy it grated/shredded dierctly from my local butcher) - here is a picture of the box, which might be sold locally - although this is a US site for mail order.

http://www.britsuperstore.com/acatalog/Atora_Suet.html


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## skilletlicker (Jul 18, 2006)

Ishbel said:
			
		

> This is the usual way we buy suet (although I can buy it grated/shredded dierctly from my local butcher) - here is a picture of the box, which might be sold locally - although this is a US site for mail order.
> 
> http://www.britsuperstore.com/acatalog/Atora_Suet.html


 
If I did the math right 3lbs. would cost $16.47 US.  If I understood your earlier post, suet is primarily a baking item and you would buy "beef lard" to fry with or make a confit.  Did I understand you correctly?


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## Ishbel (Jul 18, 2006)

I wouldn't ever buy lard to fry things with!  The suet is used mostly for dumplings for meat dishes, for suet puddings like jam roly-poly and for suet crust pastries for steam puddings.

I wouldn't get through 3 lb of suet in 3 or 4 years!  Most of my recipes add about a quarter pound to the flour - at most, half a pound...  and I would only make such dishes 2 or 3 times a winter!


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## Michael in FtW (Jul 19, 2006)

I called my son, who used to work for a company that made a lot of this stuff - and then called his MIL who still works for that company .. here is the story they told me (it's kind of like a dog chasing it's tail):

Lard is rendered raw (uncured) pork fat.

Suet has different meanings, and may have different names ... depending on the context. But, suet is beef or lamb/mutton fat.

The raw fat from around the kidneys or loins are suet, sometimes called hard or flake suet. This is the preferred fat for pastries and puddings, like Ishbel mentioned. But, it is limited in quantity.

Raw fat from other areas (not rendered) is also called suet. However, when rendered it technically becomes "tallow". Tallow can undergo a couple of rendering processes ... to make soft or hard/flake tallow. The old oil blend that McDonald's used (when their fries tasted so good) was about 93% tallow - some other quick-food franchises with really good tasting fries used something similar. Hard flake tallow is also used in the pastry world - cheaper than hard-flake suet but has similar baking characteristics and flavor. 

Fats, especially animal fats, carry a lot of flavor and offer qualities in baked and fried goods you will not get with Crisco or vegetable oils ... but also contain cholesterol, which vegetable fats don't.

I limit my instake of these goodies to once or twice a year.


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## Gretchen (Jul 21, 2006)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lard

Michael has it right. The only slight emphasis is delineating "pork" for lard and "beef" for tallow, etc.

The highest quality lard is from around the kidneys and called "leaf lard".

Beef tallow is excellent for frying because of its high smoke point.


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## Judie (Jul 21, 2006)

Thanks for all your information about lard..... I will have to look again and I didn't think of looking in the Spanish section.... so, great information.... thanks.


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