There are many benefits to late season bow hunting and one of them is the extra fat that deer have put on by the end of December and into January. I’m talking about pounds more fat than the rest of the year. Properly harvested and cooked down, this tallow rivals, if not surpasses, that of the best hog on the market. Yes, I mean pie crusts, pastries and cooking fat.
Let’s talk fat for a minute. Fat that is rendered from ruminants such as cows, sheep, elk, moose or deer is called tallow. If the fat comes from a pig, it is lard. From birds the rendered fat is schmaltz. Ghee is rendered butter. Pressing grains into oil that goes rancid but then gets bleached and deodorized is called shortening. Yes, “vegetable” shortening is bleached and deodorized grain oils that have extra hydrogen added to make them solid. Think about the history of Crisco, it was developed by Proctor and Gamble as SOAP and then sold to consumers as an easy and shelf stable cooking grease. Ok, I’ll step off my soapbox and get down to rendering deer fat.
Deer have a few different types of fat. The thin, lacey or weblike fat that is around their entrails is called caul fat. This is great to use ‘as is’ with your meats like sausage, meatballs and burgers. Caul fat is the best flavor fat. Next you have the suet. This is the hard fat that is around the internal organs. This can either be rendered or used as feed for birds or chickens. Last is the fat between the carcass and the skin. Don’t throw it in the gut pile, that’s good fat! (I couldn’t resist sounding like my grandma, mom, and mentors there.)
*You’ll want to check if you like the flavor of the suet by melting down a pea size amount of it with a little water and then smell it. Simple as that. If it smells good to you, you’ll like the flavor. If it smells bad to you, you are not likely to like the flavor. If you don’t like the flavor, find some other uses for it below.
Here’s the trick to getting good rendered deer tallow while your neighbors are complaining that it tastes bad. Time and air. Once you expose the fat to air, the spoiling process begins. When you skin your deer, harvest the fat at the same time, get it in a container with an airtight cover and put it in the fridge or freezer overnight. Render it within the next couple of days. Why does deer fat go rancid so quickly? It is high in heart healthy Omega-3s which oxidize quickly, causing spoilage to go into high gear.
To render deer fat, cut or grind it into small bits while it’s cold (not quite frozen). The smaller the pieces, the faster it’ll render. Small amounts of meat attached are just fine, they’ll be strained out at the end. Dump the fat in a large pot with a cup of water. The water will cook off, it’s just to get the process started. Cover loosely and cook on very low heat. Deer fat renders best around 120-130⁰F. Next, hurry up and wait 5-8 hours and stir it once in a while. While you wait, you’ll likely give yourself a hard time that you cut the pieces too big and that’s why it’s taking so long. Don’t worry, it’ll still render, and you’ll remember to cut them much smaller next time. To tell if your rendering is complete, look at your impurities. There are guaranteed to be some little meat bits and whatevers in there. When impurities are floating, the meat bits have sunk to the bottom, and the fat is clear, it is done. There should be no cloudiness. If there is, let it cook longer. To strain, put a few layers of cheesecloth into a colander, set it on a bowl or pitcher that fits well and pour in your new tallow. You can now pour or ladle the clean tallow into your storage containers. Let it cool, cover and store it in a dark area. This is shelf stable and can be kept at room temperature for a year or more as long as it’s cool and out of direct sunlight. Mine’s in the fridge just because it’s easier for me. I use freezer boxes rather than jars. Once the tallow firms up, it can be hard to get out of the mouth of a jar. Freezer boxes are wide open and easier to scoop out. They stack nicely too. 
Additional information:
The flavor of the fat will depend on what the deer has been eating. A diet heavy in acorns can create great flavor as well as when the deer are raiding your neighbors’ birdfeeders and farmers feed stores.
Deer fat is high in stearic acid. This gives it a waxy feeling in your mouth. Use it sparingly until you get used to necessary quantities being smaller. This is a perfect example of a little going a long way. You’ll know if you add too much!
The Omega-3s are great for cardiovascular health. The CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) has been shown to help in fat loss. The stearic acid can reduce LDL (bad cholesterol).
Tallow is more stable than cooking oils with a high smoke point. Fry your French fries and sautee veggies with ease and flavor. Add it to your sausage and ground meat in the place of raw fat.
Other uses in case you don’t like the flavor: Make soaps or balms for healthy skin, bird suet, waterproof leather items, fire starter, make an emergency candle.
Sourced from:
Tribal Knowlege
This is How Crisco is Made by Laura Williams Bustos, MSED
Crisco website
If Vegetables Don’t Make Oil, What’s Crisco by Meghan Telpner/Healthwashing
Danielle McCoy/The Self Sufficient Life
