This is super easy! Tallow is great as a cooking oil. We use tallow when we need a bit of oil when frying items in our cast iron pan. It can also be used in baking recipes as a substitute for lard or shortening.
Step 1- Chop up pieces of unrendered beef fat. We use our certified organic grassfed fat trim that we get from our butcher. It's ok if there are small pieces of beef on the fat- it won't harm the process
Step 2- chop up in uniform pieces and place in a crock pot on low
Step 3- The fat will slowly melt and bubble in the crock pot. I mix it up periodically scraping the bottom to prevent burning. I let it render for at least 6-7 hours. I know the process is complete when the fat no longer bubbles when I'm giving it a stir.
Step 4- Scoop out the "cracklings". These are the bits of fat and beef that didn't breakdown during the process. I usually feed them to my dogs or compost them.
Step 5- Turn off crock pot and let fat cool for an hour. Then strain through cheese cloth into a clean jar. I leave about an inch space to allow for freezing.
Step 6- let fat harden. I like to keep one jar in my fridge and the others in the freezer.
It will store in the freezer for at least a year. Enjoy the benefits of beef fat in your cooking. Its fun to figure out new ways to incorporate beef fat into your recipes.