kai657•4d ago

Rendering fat the old way vs. now with sous vide

I've been a butcher for almost 20 years now, started at a shop in Portland back in 2006. Back then, rendering fat for lard or tallow was a whole afternoon thing. We'd chop up the fatback or suet into chunks, toss it in a big pot on the stove, and stir it for hours on low heat. It was easy to scorch it if you stepped away too long, and the smell would hang in your clothes for days. Now, I seal the fat in a vacuum bag and drop it in a water bath at 165 degrees. Let it sit overnight, and the next morning you've got clean, clear rendered fat with no fuss. Tastes the same to me, and I can do other stuff while it works. Has anyone else switched methods like this or do you still stick with the pot and stovetop?

2 comments

2 Comments

hill.troy4d agoMost Upvoted

Funny enough, I tried sous vide for bacon once and forgot about it for two days. Came back to the most perfectly rendered fat I've ever had, but the house smelled like a wet dog.

the_daniel4d ago

Wait, didn't you worry that sous vide wouldn't get that same deep flavor from browning? I was totally in that camp for years. I thought you had to have that pot on the stove to get the good stuff. Then a friend pushed me to try the water bath method and honestly I was wrong. The fat comes out so clean and neutral, perfect for baking or frying. I still do stovetop if I want a nuttier taste for something specific, but 90 percent of the time I'm going sous vide now. It's just way less stressful and I never have to scrape burnt bits off the bottom of a pot anymore.