Is Rendering (fat) An Unhealthy Method?

[Logan-]

But I think it's more likely that this method took you so long when you tried it because the fat was not cut up into small pieces. This is something you can do yourself with a knife

or just run through a meat grinder (or ask your butcher to do so).

The fat was cut into very small pieces. In another time, I also had my butcher to grind the fat in a meat grinder and tried that method. No difference. Still takes a lot of time, and not efficient. I also close the lid to increase the heat inside the cooker.

Seriously overheating the tallow will lead to a yellow color BTW.

The colour is milky white when it becomes solid.

 

[Literally]

You're right about it taking longer...

May I suggest using a thermometer and keeping it in a very safe range, like 250-270 perhaps? I have a probe thermometer with an alarm that I use for deep frying... for rendering I would rather not be bothered, and I'm not worried about the small amount of electricity that a burner on low takes up.

At the end of the day I think you face a trade off between rendering heat and damage to the fat, but not necessarily a linear one.

I don't think lack of color means no oxidation, unfortunately, just that you didn't burn the residual solids, which can be an indicator of the pot being way to hot or insufficient stirring.

 

[Logan-]

using a thermometer

That's a good idea, thanks. I think TeaRex14 is right when when he says:

Tallow is fairly safe and resistant fat to oxidation.

The rendering method I have been using (dry rendering) has been used in different cultures around the world for a very long time; though that doesn't mean it doesn't burn the fat. What do you think about the third post that I made in this thread? I think the saturatedness of the fat must be protective of oxidation from heating, but I think the amount of oxidation mainly depends on the intensity of the heat, the duration of exposure to the heat, the antioxidant content of the fat, the percentage of the unsaturated fats in the fat.

 

[Literally]

I saw it, thanks. They are all intent on giving you a binary way to think about it, but the process they actually use is suggestive of what I tried to say above, i.e. that oxidation increases monotonically (but not linearly) as heat rises. I am pretty sure that some oxidation/degradation will occur with any fat at room temperature. So it would be useful to see some kind of curve, but we can speculate based on known data points

- at room temp, oxidation is slow
- at normal cooking temps, most fats oxidize to some degree (why do I think I know this? sorry can't tell you)
- at deep frying temps, say 275 and above fats oxidize badly enough that the fat tastes bad if reused more than a few times, and I believe there is lots of info about how these temps degrade fat
- for any fat, there is some point at which degradation happens very rapidly.

I picture a sigmoid curve from the above, but that is just a guess.
sigmoid curve - Buscar con Google

Since we know saturated fats are resilient, we could visualize this as having a generous bottom-left region, with a shallow up-curve before getting into that vertical part of the curve. The upper right portion would represent the smoke point region.

 

[Logan-]

I picture a sigmoid curve from the above, but that is just a guess.

Do you picture that in regards to the dry rendering method? I couldn't understand your meaning.

They are all intent on giving you a binary way to think about it, but the process they actually use is suggestive of what I tried to say above

What/Who do you mean by "they"?

 

[Literally]

The bottom axis is simply temperature, regardless of the method used.
The wet method simply limits the temperature to boiling point of water until the very end.
This is ultimately not too helpful without real data.
But it's worth noting that cows have very little incentive to design a fat that is stable at high temps.
The important point is that there is good reason to believe damage to the fat does increase with temperature.
So IMO it would be wise to limit heat as much as you find practical.
With a tightly covered pot I find it difficult to believe loss of efficiency would be more than 20-25 percent, using the water method.
If you don't use water I would certainly stay below the lowest temps recommended for deep fat frying, i.e. 275.
I would personally stay well below.


>>What/Who do you mean by "they"?

The people who developed the metrics you referred to in your third post.

 

[Logan-]

The bottom axis is simply temperature, regardless of the method used.
The wet method simply limits the temperature to boiling point of water until the very end.
This is ultimately not too helpful without real data.
But it's worth noting that cows have very little incentive to design a fat that is stable at high temps.
The important point is that there is good reason to believe damage to the fat does increase with temperature.
So IMO it would be wise to limit heat as much as you find practical.
With a tightly covered pot I find it difficult to believe loss of efficiency would be more than 20-25 percent, using the water method.
If you don't use water I would certainly stay below the lowest temps recommended for deep fat frying, i.e. 275.
I would personally stay well below.


>>What/Who do you mean by "they"?

The people who developed the metrics you referred to in your third post.

Understood, I agree with your points. I will give the wet method another try, or if I keep using the dry rendering then I might use a thermometer to measure the temperature of the fat. When I am using the dry rendering method, I put the cooker on the smallest stove and open it to the half only. I think, in addition to these, if I don't close the lid while dry rendering, it might be helpful by reducing the fat's temperature.

 

[ddjd]

Tallow is fairly safe and resistant fat to oxidation. You're probably okay, grassfed tallow also has elevated levels of CLA and stearic acid which both help to protect against PUFA in the diet. The only problem with tallow (and butter) is that it can cause weight gain much easier then coconut oil. I don't think they have the antimicrobial effects coconut oil has either.

I've noticed the opposite. Coconut oil doesn't really help me with weight loss but Tallow really does seem to help

 

[Logan-]

.

 

[Dutchie]

One odd thing I'd noticed is that CO makes strands of my hair stick/'glued' together.
That's why I'd stopped using shampoos with CO in it a long time ago, but even consuming it causes this.

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

I render beef tallow and use it instead of coconut oil and butter. Do you think the rendering process makes the fat become oxidized and unhealthy?

This is how it looks like during rendering (looks like it's burnt):

This is how the end product looks like (white, milky):

The images are taken from this web page.

I do the same as you @Logan- , I save the fat off my grass fed beef and lamb, from roasted short ribs, off of browning ground beef and the fat that comes to the top of making beef bone broth. I freeze it until I need it.

 

[Logan-]

I do the same as you @Logan- , I save the fat off my grass fed beef and lamb, from roasted short ribs, off of browning ground beef and the fat that comes to the top of making beef bone broth. I freeze it until I need it.

Those are great ideas. Really. Thanks for sharing them. I will do the same.

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

@Logan- As to your question, in the other thread, on how I make my “famous liver pate”, here is my recipe, which I have not posted in my recipe thread yet. I agree with you that you can’t cook liver too much or it ruins not only the nutrition, but the mild flavor of it too. I start by soaking the liver in milk to soften the flavor and get some of the iron and blood out. Then I do a quick minute or so sear on each side, on medium high heat, and set it aside. I then sauté onions with a little salt and let them caramelize, to sweeten them, then put the liver and onions together in a blender, add in herbs like savory or herbs de Provence and some salt, blend it until smooth and scrape the mixture into a glass dish and refrigerate, then slice it. I have added sautéed mushrooms to this, which is so good, and stretches the recipe so I can eat more of it without overdoing the copper. I have also added a little sautéed bacon to it, when I was first developing this recipe, and it was delicious too. I rarely eat pork, but bacon is tasty!

 

[Logan-]

@Logan- As to your question, in the other thread, on how I make my “famous liver pate”, here is my recipe, which I have not posted in my recipe thread yet. I agree with you that you can’t cook liver too much or it ruins not only the nutrition, but the mild flavor of it too. I start by soaking the liver in milk to soften the flavor and get some of the iron and blood out. Then I do a quick minute or so sear on each side, on medium high heat, and set it aside. I then sauté onions with a little salt and let them caramelize, to sweeten them, then put the liver and onions together in a blender, add in herbs like savory or herbs de Provence and some salt, blend it until smooth and scrape the mixture into a glass dish and refrigerate, then slice it. I have added sautéed mushrooms to this, which is so good, and stretches the recipe so I can eat more of it without overdoing the copper. I have also added a little sautéed bacon to it, when I was first developing this recipe, and it was delicious too. I rarely eat pork, but bacon is tasty!

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Those photographs were enough to make me hungry again. I am going to the kitchen. Really interesting and looks very good and nutritious. Thanks for sharing. I wish I could tolerate onions, milk and herbs. I wonder if doing this with just unsoaked fresh liver, salt, crimini mushrooms and maybe some thyme would be palatable at all. Only one way to know. If I try it, I’ll let you know.

 

[Logan-]

BTW, could you add a photo of the blender that you use for this recipe? I want to see the machine.

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

Those photographs were enough to make me hungry again. I am going to the kitchen. Really interesting and looks very good and nutritious. Thanks for sharing. I wish I could tolerate onions, milk and herbs. I wonder if doing this with just unsoaked fresh liver, salt, crimini mushrooms and maybe some thyme would be palatable at all. Only one way to know. If I try it, I’ll let you know.

You’re funny! Yes, yes and yes, make your pate your way!

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

BTW, could you add a photo of the blender that you use for this recipe? I want to see the machine.

My Bullet blender broke and now I am using a Ninja blender.

 

[Logan-]

My Bullet blender broke and now I am using a Ninja blender.

Can a smoothie blender work for this recipe? I have a good one.

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

Can a smoothie blender work for this recipe? I have a good one.

Yes! That is the attachment piece I use, the smoothie cup. I attached a picture above.

 

[Logan-]

Yes! That is the attachment piece I use, the smoothie cup. I attached a picture above.

Okay, didn’t see that. Got it.