How to Render Tallow White, Odorless, Flaky and Soft, Like Lard in Texture — (Copyrighted; Reprint Forbidden.)
It is an easy matter to render Tallow so it will have a very light color, in fact, will be almost white and at the same time flaky and soft like Lard, if the instructions which follow are carried out. When so rendered, the Tallow will sell at a good price, as it will be entirely free from a tallowy odor, and is an excellent thing for baking purposes. Tallow rendered according to these instructions can be mixed with Lard and it will even improve the Lard. But it must be sold for what it is.
Take Beef Suet and all the Beef Fat trimmed from steaks and other cuts, and run it through a Chopper, chopping it very fine. It will thus become soft and sticky so it can be rolled in small balls about one and one-half to two inches in diameter. While this is being done, fill Rendering Kettle half full of water, dissolving in the water about two ounces of Lard Purifier to every 100 lbs. of Tallow to be rendered and start it to boil. While the water is boiling the small balls of Tallow should be placed on top of the water until a sufficient number of balls have been thus put into the water to make a layer three or four inches deep, but not deeper. After the Tallow is rendered out of the balls, the heat should be turned off and the Tallow should be permitted to cool. Just as soon as the boiling has ceased, all the cracklings that are on the surface should be skimmed off, put into a press and pressed out. The Tallow that is on the surface should be skimmed off and put into buckets. Care should be taken that no water is taken out with the hot Tallow. The tallow which remains on the water can be left there until it is hard, when it can be taken off and melted if desired, and then run into buckets. The advantage in rendering Tallow in this manner is to prevent the Tallow from becoming too hot, and thus to keep it from turning dark; besides, the water and Lard Purifier purifies the Tallow and also draws out the tallowy odor.
Any butcher can build up a large trade on home-rendered tallow when it is prepared in this manner. In fact, his trade will like the Tallow so well that he will not be able to supply the demand. As a rule, the butcher sells his Tallow unrendered at a low price, but if he will render it himself and follow the above instructions carefully, he can sell the Tallow for at least 10 to 12 cents per pound, owing to the fact that Tallow rendered in this manner produces a very fine fat for cooking purposes. We believe it is much better than Lard.