Sunday, October 28, 2012

Rendering Bear Fat


Last week, my industrious friend Lady Day invited me to spend a day at her home rendering the fat from two bear their family recently "harvested".  I have no idea if the layer of fat on these wee beasties is at all indicative of the winter we will have, but they were both rather roly poly - one yielded 30 pounds of fat and the other (a much smaller bear) yielded an additional 15 pounds.

The important thing to remember when you are butchering an animal with the intent to render the fat is to allow the fat to congeal before you attempt  to remove it from the carcass.  If you don't give the fat time to cool it will be an oozy gooey mess you won't soon forget.  You can remove the fat from the animal in large chunks and put it in the freezer until you are ready to render.  This is especially useful if you will have multiple animals from which to render fat - you might as well save it and do it all at once.

To begin the rendering process, cut the fat up into roughly 1" to 1 1/2" squares.  Make sure that you don't leave any hair in the fat (you want high quality oil, after all).  Fill a large stock pot (or two or three, depending on how much fat you have to render) about 1/4 to 1/3 full.  Rending fat will splatter so you don't fill your pot too full.  If you are using a conventional stove you don't want to deal with the mess and if you are using your wood cookstove (as we did) you don't want to start a fire.
Fat cut into chunks
Pots on high on the wood cookstove
Fat beginning to melt
Cracklings beginning to brown
Ready to strain
Turn your burner on high (or get your wood box filled and cranking out heat) and put your stock pot(s) over the hot spot.  Stir occasionally.  You really don't have to stir very often, just enough to keep the fat from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

As the fat begins to melt, the chunks will grow smaller and begin to brown.  These are the cracklings (you know, the ones that Laura talked about in the Little House on the Prairie books).  Some folks like them sprinkled with a little bit of salt and other people use them to flavor soup or corn bread.  If you have no taste for cracklings your chickens will love them.
Removing the cracklings from the oil
Straining the oil and pouring it into jars for canning
After the cracklings are quite brown but not burned and your pot is rather heavy with oil it is time to strain the fat into canning jars.  Take the pot off the stove and remove the cracklings with a slotted spoon.  When you have removed most of the big chunks (cracklings) you can then strain the oil through a fine, mesh strainer or a couple of layers of fine cheesecloth.

After the fat has been poured into sterilized jars, cap them off and put them in your water bath canner and process for 20 minutes.  That's it!  That is all there is to rendering fat.
A large roasting pan full of cracklings
Ready to use in place of shortening
You can now use your rendered fat in multiple ways.  You can use it in place of vegetable oil in recipes.  You can use it as frying oil.  You can let it harden and use it in place of shortening in biscuits, pie crust or whatever you need it for.  If your fat is particularly white and without sludge, you can use it in your soap making (although tallow (the fat around the kidneys) is best for this.

Rendering is a skill that every homesteader/prepper should know.  It takes little time and the oil that is produced is worth its weight in gold.

*Please excuse the pictures - I took them on my phone!

25 comments:

  1. Enola,
    Interesting post. Did they save the meat for future meals from these bear?

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    1. Yes, that is the main reason for hunting the bear - for their meat. In fact, bear roast makes one of the finest meals to be had. The fat is just a by-product.
      Enola

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  2. Thanks for the info. I'm curious, how does it taste? I'm curious about the differences between fats from different sources. I've only had store bought and lard so far. I plan to do this, and I'm curious as to whether or not one is preferable over another, or if one works better for certain things, maybe.

    Also, if you don't mind me asking (it's a bit off topic) I've only had store bought butter, too, and I was wondering if you get good tasting butter from other sources besides cow's milk. (I love butter!) We haven't got the means at the moment to get any livestock (soon!) and I'm trying to decide how to meet the family's dairy needs and start planning for it.

    Thx!
    Love your blog, as always.

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    1. Hmm....I think taste is very personal. I really like bear fat to fry doughnuts in and use in pie crust and biscuits. Of course, it also depends on what the bear has been eating - how gamey it is. I prefer it to store bought lard.

      I have only had experience with our cows butter and our goats butter. Goats butter is almost non-exsistant because the milk is already homogenized so there is very little cream that floats to the top. I hear that you can milk sheep and their butter is very good, but I have never tried that. I loved our cows butter - very wonderful.

      Hope that helps.

      Enola

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    2. It helps much, thx. :)
      As far as the butter, we figger on ending up with a cow, I'm just fairly intimidated at the prospects. It's not like I'm heading out tomorrow to get one, and I'm sure by the time I do I'll be ready (or as ready as someone who's never owned a cow can be)to give it a go.

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    3. We have a backyard cow that we've had now for almost two years. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but we've only just recently begun making our own butter on a regular basis. We made some early on but found 1. it was kind of a pain to have to shake the milk for so long until the butter was formed, 2. a quart Mason jar of milk didn't make very much butter, and 3. the butter quickly went rancid. I found a book on homesteading at the library that explained that as much of the milk as possible must be removed from the butter. We've begun putting the freshly made butter on a wooden cutting board and running very cold water over it. We also push the butter around with a couple of spoons to make sure all the milk is rinsed out. This step has helped make tasty butter that lasts much longer. We've also begun making our butter in the blender. It still doesn't make a whole lot but we make frequent small batches and it's helping our grocery budget since butter is so expensive these days. Hope this helps someone. We've sure enjoyed our homesteading journey!

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  3. Is it the same process, rendering fat, regardless of the animal?

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    1. Yes, the process is the same no matter what the critter.

      Enola

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    2. Yes, the process is the same no matter what the critter.

      Enola

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    3. I did the same thing last year with fat off of my deer; it was a January season animal, so it had most of its winter fat already stored. I use it primarily to grease the pan for frying.

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  4. I fed cows for 5 years, never got a drop of milk but ate lots of beef! Got sheep in Nov and had my first 'milking experience' in March. The milk was GREAT! The sheep was easy to handle for an old gal like me. We became good friends and I look forward to her freshening again along with some of the other ewes. No experience with cows? I reccomend sheep! I have a Finnsheep and I think they work best and are naturally friendly and loving. The milk added to soap was wonderful too! And the yogurt, and in the coffee and OH! The Fudge! Then there is the wool and I will always have something to keep mind and hands busy.
    Judy

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  5. I recently canned bacon bits as suggested by Patricia from Rural Revolution. I thought at time it's a shame to throw out all this "good" bacon grease. So I've kept it. No it's not good for pastries, but for cooking other meats or veggies, it's great. Now I can "can" the almost two quarts that I recieved from it. Thanks Enola.
    Donna W from Sweet Home OR

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  6. Hy husband loves pie crusts made with bear fat. It smells like you are cooking bacon when you cook the pie but there is no bacon flavor when you eat it. It makes a wonderful flaky crust.

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  7. Enola, you continue to make me wistful for your community camaraderie. I have been rendering fat from a grass fed beef and intend on using it for my soap. Thanks for sharing your stories. A bear? Wow.

    Goldie

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  8. I wonder if you could make candles/fuel for oil lamps/ or soap with it?

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    1. Yes, you certainly could use this rendered fat for candles/fuel or homemade soap.

      Enola

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    2. I thought it could probably be done, but wasn't sure if it would be ideal for that purpose. The homemade soap I've seen was always made with lard(fairly easy-I participated in it a few times)),candles made from beeswax(I've done this) or beef fat( seen this done), and there was a step or two to turn the fat into a wax-I've forgotten how that was done-I've only seen it done once,and that was 25+ years ago.
      Making soap has gotten a little more difficult-you may have to sign to get lye(depends on where ou live). The Law, in its very finite wisdom, seems to think anyone buying a can of Red Devil lye is making meth..

      How much oil did you get from that 45 pounds of fat?

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  9. Thanks so much, Enola! This posting could not come at a better time for us. The last pig we had butchered, we asked that the fat be retained so we could render it. I was willing to try the process but not really sure how to go about it and/or how long to process the jars once full. So thank you! I really enjoy your blog and eagerly watch for new postings. God's richest blessings on you and yours,
    MB

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  10. Great little tutorial. Such a skill shall come in handy indeed in the coming years.

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  11. Enola,

    (captaincrunch)

    I know this is not on the above subject but I just thought of something that made me feel pretty good about being an American.

    I just read a news article on how the Guards at the" Tomb of the Unknown Soldier" will not abandon their post's in the major storm thats hitting the east coast.

    Fourth General order, I will not quite my post until properly relieved.

    In this society full of cowards, wimps and occupy wall street communists, its nice to see real dedication to duty and honor.

    As a veteran I know what that means. If I was visiting the Arlington National Cemetery and one of the guards faltered or collapsed. While that guard is getting medical attention and if no relief is present, I would take his place until a relief arrived.
    I may get in trouble for it, but sometimes you just gotta say "what the heck" some things are worth the trouble.

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  12. enola, i have a question to pose to you regarding the canning of rendered fat. you suggest 20 minutes in a boiling water bath canner..if everything seals properly after this process, does this make the fat safe to store on a shelf rather than the refrigerator?

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    1. I do store mine on a shelf unless I want it to be solid. HOWEVER, I have no idea if this is an FDA approved preservation method. If you are concerned about this, you may want to contact your local extension office.

      Enola

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  13. This post brings back such fond memories of my grandma rendering fat in a huge black cauldron after animals were butchered in the cool fall. Thank you.

    sidetracksusie

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  14. I also render on my woodstove, and have found that I get a whiter finished product if I grind the fat first, rather than cutting it, or worse, leaving it in big pieces. Have done pork & beef (going to try the beef in a soap making project this winter). But I like the idea of trying bear, would imagine it would be better to have a fall bear that's been fattening up to get ready for winter.

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  15. This weekend I made your pork chop receipe below....IT WAS WONDERFUL! I can not wait for your cookbook.

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