
Flanken cut beef ribs with chipotle mezcal glaze
These flanken cut beef ribs are made for the grill, and cook to perfection (complete with crispy charred edges) in a matter of minutes.
Remember how the McDonald fries of your youth seemed to taste so much better than the modern incarnations? Well, it’s not your imagination – they are different now to how they were back then. Back in the day, they used to fry in tallow, which made those golden strands unquestionably more delicious.
Now, I’m not here to tell you the health benefits of using tallow and lard. There are plenty of mom blogs who can tell you about oleic acids and vitamins. But here’s why I render my own lard at home and why you should, too.
1) It’s a frugal use of fat you’ve already purchased. You paid for that brisket, fat and all.
2) It’s a responsible approach to being a meat eater in terms of using as much of the animal as you can.
3) IT MAKES ALL THE STUFF YOU COOK/FRY IN IT TASTE AMAZING!
Fat is the major vehicle of flavor in meat, so it’s not surprising that melting down pure fat makes for an incredibly tasty oil substitute. That’s pretty much what rendering is – breaking down and melting animal fats. After melting, the fat is then strained to get rid of any impurities leaving you with a paste-like substance once it cools.
The difference between lard and tallow is a simple one. Both are animal fats, but lard is made from pork fat, and tallow is made from beef fat.
Lots of people will tell you it takes HOURS upon hours to properly render fat. And it does… sort of. It certainly does take some time, but there are speedier versions. My method takes about 2 hours all up. The main difference in the time it takes is in the quality of the final product.
If you use extremely low heat to melt the fat VERY slowly over the course of 6 or 8 hours, your finished fat will be whiter and smell more neutral. If you speed it up, the fat may brown during cooking. This makes the finished product yellower in color and smell a little more like the animal it came from. The slow version is somewhat purer and will last you a little longer, but even my speedy version still lasts 2-3 months in the fridge.
The only time you really need snow white fat is when you are using it for baked goods like pastry or pie crusts, or even biscuits. I use the majority of my fat as a flavor base in savory dishes, so it’s not really a problem if it has some taste to it.
What CAN’T you use it for? The most crispy and indulgent roast potatoes. Use it as a fat to make phenomenally flakey biscuits, fry up steak in its own fatty goodness with these beef chicharrones, even use it to make pork or duck fat caramels.
You can actually even make your own body butter using tallow (and trust me, it’s great for your skin). Or if you want to keep it simple, just use the fat in place of traditional oils when cooking.
A deep saucepan or stock pot, a sieve or strainer, some muslin (I actually use reusable wipes you can get at the grocery store!), and a jar for storage. You can also use your instant pot or slow cooker on the low settings, but it will take quite some time. I also find that its very difficult to pour liquid-lava hot fat out of a slow cooker, which is why I prefer a saucepan.
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These flanken cut beef ribs are made for the grill, and cook to perfection (complete with crispy charred edges) in a matter of minutes.
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