So why bother with rendering your own chicken (poultry), pork, beef (tallow) fat or or any fat for that matter?  Most of us were raised or taught growing up that all fat was bad, even butter.  I choose not to believe in all  of the myths about fat and you can’t believe everything you read as you know and lets face it we are continually receiving mixed messages about nutrition.  At some point you just have to come to your own conclusions about what works best for you and your homestead.

Our Reasons For Rendering Fat

My no. 1 reason, believe it or not as a foodie, for rendering fat,  is that it just tastes better!  I absolutely adore duck fat and plan to roast root vegetable hash in some rendered duck fat over the holidays.  The Viking in my life saves our fat from our smoked pork and it is absolutely fabulous.  We like to use it when we are sautéing mushrooms, or even baking chicken.

No. 2 it is healthier for you.  If you don’t believe me, stop by an expert on the subject,  Dr. Berg’s Facebook page and check out his video on fats.  Although, their are better home rendered fats than others for example, grass fed beef is better than just regular beef from the grocery store.  This post won’t be diving into all of that.

No. 3 it will save you money and you are using a resource you already have such as leftover chicken or beef bones that were going to throw in the trash anyway.

Some Thoughts on Fats

My take on this is that animal fats are fine, and it is the bad hydrogenated fats that are in potato chips, pastries, and junk food that are the real concern.  Remember our ancestors would eat as much fat as they could get their hands on but they were not surrounded by an abundance of food at every corner like we are presently.

I have met people that eat a strict kosher diet that use chicken fat (Schmaltz) exclusively,  some of these folks are well into their late 70’s and early 80’s and lead extremely active lifestyles.

We are always striving to eat healthier on our lil’ homestead,  but it’s a learning process as I did not grow up in a family where we rendered our own fats.  My mother did save bacon fat sometimes to cook with later and I remembered loving it when she would fry up food in that.

I know it’s been a while since I have shared as I’m still in school and working on degrees, but we are still keeping up the good work here at the homestead.  I’ll be posting more while I’m on winter break now and I look forward to hearing from you all.  If you would like to connect, please stop by our Lil’ Suburban Homestead Facebook group.

Have a great Sunday!  Hope you all are enjoying your holiday season, in spite of this pandemic.

Until next time…

Fondly,