Animal parts that are not commonly associated with food, such as casings and suet, have been used in various ways throughout history. Suet, a raw beef or sheep fat, was often melted down to create tallow, which was used in candles and soap. In cooking, suet is commonly used in British food, especially in steak and kidney pudding or pie. Vegetarian suet, made with palm oil and rice flour, is also available.
In many cases, we are accustomed to considering only parts of beef or mutton edible and often discard much of the animal. This was not the case for many of our ancestors, who found numerous uses for various animal parts. Today, many recipes still use “parts” that we don’t normally associate with food. For example, casings, usually pork intestines, are used around the world as the outer case of many sausages. Another of these “foods” for which there are multiple uses is suet, raw beef or sheep fat, usually taken from the animal’s kidneys or loins.
One of the major uses of suet was not related to food. Instead, suet would be melted down to create tallow, which keeps much longer than fat in raw form. Tallow is actually used in a variety of ways and was often used as an ingredient in candles and soap, although it is less common now. Tallow can be used today in bird feed; some birds both in cages and in the wild like it very much. It can also form part of animal feed or be used as an alternative fuel, although some argue that it is considered an animal-friendly fuel since it is made from animals.
In cooking, suet has a very important place especially in British food. Steak and kidney pudding or pie often have a suet crust made. This must be distinguished from lard, which is usually made from rendered pork fat. In fact the two fats produce very different types of pastry, with the lard typically producing a much crispier crust.
Suet is used in a variety of holiday recipes, including those for ground beef and plum pudding. If you hate beef fat or animal products in general, don’t despair. You can still enjoy these holiday classics without the fat, and you’ll be sacrificing very little in taste. In fact, a great alternative to ground beef with this beef fat are green tomato ground beef recipes, often a great use of the last few tomatoes in your garden at the end of the year. If you really want to go for authenticity, you can buy vegetarian suet, which is usually made with palm oil and rice flour. It’s not really related to the fat version of beef or mutton, but it has the fast melting point of fat when it’s derived from mutton or beef.
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