Animal cooking fats are natural fats that are sourced from animals. Most animal fat comes from specific areas where fat is naturally stored, such as beneath the skin and around internal organs. The fat is then gently rendered by slowly melting the nutrient-rich fatty parts of the meat to create a pure, versatile ingredient. 

The most common types include: 

• Angus Beef Tallow/Beef Tallow (rendered from beef fat)
• Wagyu Beef Tallow (a premium form of beef tallow from the highly marbled Wagyu breed)
• Lard (rendered from pork fat)
• Bacon Fat (typically rendered from the pork belly)
• Duck Fat (rendered duck fat)

These animal fats are also known by professional chefs as “culinary gold”. When you swap your standard cooking oil for a natural animal fat, you are no longer cooking your food, you are elevating the flavor of every bite.  

Rooted in Tradition:

Animal fats are natural cooking oils that have been used for thousands of years. They are used in many traditional recipes, bringing authentic flavors to your favorite foods. Animal fats are natural and do not require highly engineered processing like chemically derived cooking oils.

Flavor and Performance: 

With a high smoke point, tallow and lard are the gold standard for high-heat cooking. Whether you are searing a steak or frying chicken, you get a crispier, juicer result every time.  And the mild, savory flavor enhances food without overpowering the other ingredients.  

Simple, Clean Ingredients: 

Clean ingredients. All Natural Ingredients. Animal fats are growing in popularity due to their health benefits, sustainability, flavor, and simplicity. There has been a shift toward traditional, less-processed ingredients.

Sustainability: 

Animal fats align with nose-to-tail sustainability minded practices, making use of more of the animal by repurposing fats that would otherwise go to waste.

A Balanced Approach to Health: 

When enjoyed as part of a balanced diet, traditional animal fats provide essential nutrients. They contain a mix of saturated and monounsaturated fats that help provide energy and help the body absorb fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E, and K, along with a healthy balance of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids.

What is Beef Tallow Used For? 

Beef tallow is a powerhouse ingredient in any kitchen. Because it is solid at room temperature and melts into a smooth, silky high-heat stable oil, you can use it anywhere you’d use butter or other oils especially when you want to add depth of flavor.

Grilling:

Beef Tallow and grilling go hand in hand. Beef tallow will create a better crust to lock in juices. Brush or spray tallow onto steaks or burgers and add any other seasonings before hitting the grates.  It helps the heat transfer instantly, creating a professional-grade sear. 

If you watch the professional pitmasters, you’ll see them slather our tallow onto butcher paper or directly on the meat before wrapping a brisket or ribs in the paper.  

And leaner cuts of meat like bison and chicken breasts benefit with a basting of beef tallow before adding other seasonings to help keep the meat juicy.

You can also use tallow as a natural way to season your grill. After your grill has cooled slightly, use a cloth to wipe a thin layer of tallow onto the grates. 

The Perfect Stove Top Sear:

Tallow has a high smoke point (around 400°), meaning it won’t burn or smoke at high temperatures. Drop a spoonful into a cast-iron skillet to sear steaks, burgers, and chops. The tallow will create a deep caramelized, savory crust that other oils simply can’t replicate.

Roasting:

Chefs love using beef tallow to roast vegetables, and coat roasting pans. Its ability to add depth to the natural flavors of ingredients makes it a favorite for preparing everything from roasted potatoes to prime cuts of beef.

Pan Frying:

Ideal choice of cooking fat for pan frying due to higher smoke point than olive oil and vegetable oils. The tallow will help to preserve flavor while imparting a slightly savory depth which shines through when pan frying potatoes, vegetables, eggs, and cuts of meats.  

Deep Frying: 

Beef tallow is ideal for deep frying due to its high smoke point. It delivers perfectly crisp textures and a rich, savory flavor profile that enhances fried foods like chicken, turkey, fish, French fries, and onion rings. Unlike many vegetable oils, tallow can be reused multiple times without degrading. 

Baking: 

Beef tallow can replace fats like butter or shortening to create flaky and tender biscuits, pastries, pie crusts, and baked goods. It adds a depth of flavor yet won’t overpower your baked goods. 

Other Usages: 

Beef tallow can be used to season cast iron cookware, ensuring even heat distribution and a natural non-stick surface.

Beef tallow can also be used as a base for confit where vegetables and meats are slowly cooked and preserved in fat, resulting in flavorful, tender dishes.

What Is Lard Used For?

Lard is a highly versatile cooking fat made from rendered pork fat, valued for both its performance and flavor. It’s commonly used in baking to create flaky pie crusts, biscuits, and pastries that produces tender, layered textures. In savory cooking, Lard adds a subtle richness to dishes.

Baking:

Compared to butter, Lard is preferred in baking to help form distinct layers in doughs, which is why produces exceptionally flaky pie crusts, super tender biscuits, and light and airy pastries. Because Lard is 100% fat with no water content, it inhibits gluten development more effectively than many other fats, resulting in a more tender crumb and delicate bite. Lard is also prized for homemade tamales and tortillas.

Pan Frying:

Lard works well with breakfast dishes and is ideal for frying eggs, hash browns, or breakfast potatoes, adding crisp edges and rich flavor.

Deep Frying:

A great fat for comfort foods like fried chicken which develops a crisp golden crust while keeping the chicken juicy inside. Donuts and fritters benefit from being fried in lard as it produces a light, tender interior and a golden brown with crispy edges on the outside.

Sauteing:

When used in a hot pan, lard quickly melts into a smooth cooking fat than helps vegetables brown and develop a deeper flavor than many neutral cooking oils. It works especially well for sauteing onions, garlic, peppers, mushrooms, and leafy greens, where it adds a subtle pork savoriness. 

Roasting:

Lard is also a great fat to use for roasting because it helps food develop a crisp, golden exterior while keeping the inside moist and tender.  Best when brushed or melted over vegetables, poultry, or potatoes that will help in the caramelization and enhance flavor. Root vegetables like carrots, parsnips, and potatoes work especially well with lard. For meat, baste lard over chicken or pork to lock in moisture and improve texture as the fat renders while roasting in the oven.

Other Usages:

Lard is a traditional and effective fat for confit-style cooking, especially in dishes like carnitas. In this method, meats like pork shoulder is slowly cooked in melted lard at a low temperature for an extended period of time allowing the connective tissue to break down gently while the meat becomes exceptionally tender and flavorful. 

Lard can also be used as a flavor enhancer when a dish could use some added richness like in savory spreads and compound fats mixed with herbs, garlic, and spices. Lard can also be used to season cast iron cookware, creating a durable, non-stick coating surface.

Yes — our beef tallow is a 100% pure, natural, high-smoke-point alternative to vegetable, canola, olive, and other cooking oils. Because it's stable at high heats, you can use it anywhere you'd reach for cooking oil: searing, roasting, sautéing, grilling, or frying. The result is a deeper, richer flavor that neutral oils can't replicate — with none of the highly processed, chemically derived ingredients found in many seed oils.

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