It is a thing of beauty to me, worth almost it's weight in gold. My appreciation stems from knowledge that few people have a source for solid leaf fat, fresh-trimmed. Not only fresh and fresh-smelling but from beeves raised on grass, free-ranging, no growth hormones, no genetic modifications.
I estimate there to be between 10 and 15 pounds of the stuff. By the time it is trimmed and rendered it will reduce significantly. Final yield may be 5 pounds or so. About 1/2 pound of that will be made into small blocks for the birds this winter. The rest I will use for cooking.
All you low-fat aficionados are having mild seizures at the thought, aren't you? I can hear faint echoes of your protests that we must have massively occluded arteries, sky-high cholesterol, be grossly overweight, horribly unhealthy! My sincere apologies to you all but none of that is true. When used properly, finely rendered beef fat can be a great addition to a cook's bag of tricks. The real trick is knowing how to properly use it....
Preparation of fresh leaf fat* isn't hard but it does take time and a really sharp boning knife. To clean and prepare the fat for rendering, cut off as much clean fat as possible. Be careful not to cut into any of the kidney tissue or remaining hunks of meat. Discard the meat scraps and organs. Cut the remaining clean fat into small pieces and dump them into a large, heavy pot. Add just enough water to cover by about a half inch, turn cooktop to low and bring water barely to a simmer. If it's hard to maintain a simmer, use a heat diffuser under the pot. It's important to keep the heat so low that the fat renders slowly without burning.
As the fat renders, the liquid level will go down. Keep the rendering fat covered at all times. I find it will take this much fat around 4 days to render out totally so don't start the process if you don't have the time. When there is nothing solid left in your pot but pieces of connective tissue and some bits of coarse fat, cool the pot's contents a bit and strain through several thicknesses of fine cotton towels. Set the container with the fat/liquid in a cool place, like a fridge or garage until the fat solidifies on the surface of whatever liquid is in the pot. Working quickly, pull the solid fat out of the pot, turn the bottom up and scrape off any coarse nasties you find on the bottom. Those can be tossed.
Break the fat up into pieces and put in a double boiler or nested pots over simmering water. Melt fat and pour into containers. I keep mine in the freezer and thaw as needed.
This rendered fat is used sparingly to sear meats and in larger quantities for mixing empañada dough or deep fat frying potatoes. When using it for frying, make sure you maintain an even heat so your taters don't soak up a lot of fat and get greasy-soggy. Keep a close eye on your fryer and make sure the fat doesn't reach smoke point or you might have a huge problem, a grease fire. After frying, cool fat slightly and strain well. Return what's left to a container and keep it in the fridge, covered tightly, until you want another batch of crispy and non-greasy fried food.
* Leaf fat is the fine white fat surrounding an animal's kidneys. It is very dense to protect the vital organs found inside and after rendering will be extremely hard. This can be used to make tallow candles if you are so inclined... they will burn almost as cleanly as beeswax and are a lot cheaper to make.
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