Tallow Soap, Part 1

My dogs eat a raw diet using the Whole Prey Model which basically means that over time, they eat all/most parts of the animal. Roughly 80% muscle meat, gristle, connective tissue, etc. 10% organ and 10% edible bone (don't worry - the danger of bones splintering only applies to COOKED bones. Raw bones are pliable and completely digestible). Recently, I connected with a local meat processor to get his butcher scraps and started a small co-op with other raw feeders. Basically I buy the scraps, cut off the fat and package them in 5# bags. I make enough off of this venture to cover my costs and feed my dogs for free. Processing takes about 2 hours of my time a week and though my kitchen looks a little "Hannibal Lecter" I actually enjoy it. Here's the thing: I ended up with about 60# of beef fat (suet) from a couple weeks of processing. I was intent on finding something useful to do with it so that I could make use of as much of the animal as possible. A little Googling turned up rendering tallow for soap.


Step 1: Grind the suet. I tried it both ways and grinding definitely yields more tallow and less waste.
Step 2: Boil it with a little salt. Scoop the nasty brown stuff off the top as is cooks.
Step 3: Strain it in to another container to get out pieces of meat, gristle, etc.
Step 4: Let it cool until the fat rises to the top and water & impurities sink to the bottom.
Step 5: Cut the "clean" fat off the top and discard the water
Step 6: Package tallow in zip lock bags and store in the freezer for up to a year.

Total time spent on this project = 6 hours

I have no doubt that women entering the workforce was a VACATION compared to what they were used to doing during the day.

The process was disgusting and time consuming, but tallow soap is supposed to be amazing. Believe it or not, the actual soapmaking process is supposed to be the hard part. I have to admit after playing in the fat & gristle for a couple days, it'll be a while before I'm ready to undertake it. I'll keep you posted. Next time, pictures, I promise (I know you're dying to see!)

D