Making beef tallow is essential to creating tallow-based skincare. When I first started making tallow balm for my face, I usually bought rendered tallow online or from local farms. This was an amazing option for me at the time because I wasn’t quite ready to learn how to make my own tallow and I didn’t have access to the fat I would need anyway. After about a year of experimenting with tallow, my parents gave me a massive slab of leaf fat which came free with their bulk beef order from a local farm. Once I discovered that with a crockpot, a little time, and a few simple ingredients, making beef tallow was a natural next step in my journey.
What is the wet render method?
The method I am sharing below is called the “wet rendering” method. For this method, I use water and salt to draw out the fat’s impurities, yielding an almost odorless and white tallow. This rendering method is best for skincare because it removes the beefy flavor and smell from the fat. Remember to heat the fat slowly when following this recipe for an odorless, tasteless result.
No need to measure ingredients!
You don’t need to measure the salt, fat, or water for this recipe. I give rough measurements below to guide you but don’t worry about getting too specific!
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Supplies for making beef tallow
Crockpot
While you can use a large stock pot on the stovetop, I like using a crockpot because you can set it and forget about it. It’s also important to slowly heat the fat for an odorless and tasteless result. The first round of melting fat takes a while so leaving a crockpot on the counter for several hours is convenient.
Fine mesh sieve
A fine mesh sieve helps to filter out any bits of cartilage, bone, skin, or anything else that is not fat.
Tallow molds
I like to use these silicone soap molds to make little tallow bars that store well in the freezer.
Ingredients for making beef tallow
Beef fat
Ideally, you will want to get a large piece of what is called “leaf fat” which is found around the kidneys. You can buy it online and it looks like this, but I would recommend sourcing this fat from a local farm. You will want to use the leaf fat if possible because it has a much milder scent and flavor. I would not recommend using drippings from cooking or carving off small pieces of fat from other cuts of meat to use. This can result in very meaty tallow which is fine for cooking, but not ideal for making tallow balm or other skincare.
Salt
Using a good mineral salt will help draw out the impurities in the fat when making beef tallow. The water will turn brown as the impurities are drawn out, leaving the fat white. This step is essential to rendering a pure and odorless tallow.
Water
I always use filtered water when baking or cooking because I don’t want water with bleach or chlorine anywhere near my food or skincare! The water gives the impurities somewhere to go when they are drawn out of the fat by the salt. You will see throughout this process that the water will be brown after it separates from the fat. Each time you purify the fat, the water will be less brown as your tallow becomes cleaner.
Making Beef Tallow: Wet Render Method
Ingredients
- 1 slab leaf beef fat
- 1 small handful of salt
- filtered water
Instructions
- Cut the fat into small chunks, about the size of your thumb
- Add small chunks to a crockpot and cover in water
- Add a small handful of salt
- Turn the crock pot on high and melt the fat until it is liquid, stirring ocassionally
- Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a heat safe bowl to remove any remaining skin, cartilage, bone, etc.
- Place the bowl in the fridge or freezer
- Once the fat is solid and separated from the water, remove it and place on a clean cutting board
- Scrape the bottom of the fat block to remove any brown bits, these are the impurities that have been drawn from the fat
- Add the fat back to the cleaned crockpot with fresh water and salt.
- Repeat steps 4-8 until the fat is completely white and you no longer need to scrape off any brown bits
- Melt the fat down one more time but do not add any water or salt
- After melting it, pour into molds and allow them to solidify in the freezer
- Once solidified, remove the rendered tallow blocks from the molds and store in a freezer-safe bag in the freezer for long term storage.
- Slice, weigh, measure, melt, and use as needed for all your tallow skincare and recipes!
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