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Is beef tallow making a comeback?

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Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#131

Post by bluGill »

geremiiah wrote: post #86
m000 wrote: post #48

As an outside observer of this beef tallow trend, it looks to me a lot like a fad driven by some internalized machismo: "It's not proper food if it's not from a dead animal." While this is not unique to the US, apparently believers of this in the US reached a critical mass enough to make it public policy. I don't doubt that one can find health benefits in beef tallow. But I also vividly remember ads in the 80s and 90…

Aren't Americans the kind of people who will cut the fat and gristle out of their rib-eye and leave it on the plate? And it was like a thing of pride to not eat the fatty part because look how rich we are ... Now they suddenly all into slurping beef tallow. What?

There are 342 million Americans. Don't try to treat them all as a unified group. There are Americans who cut the fat, there are Americans who eat it.

What has changed is we have learned that fat isn't as bad as it was made out to be - it doesn't seem to have as large an effect on health as thought 40 years ago. That doesn't mean it is healthy - though some take it that way.

It was once observed that vegetarians being healthier than others could be explained almost entirely by vegetarians being less likely to smoke - something studies generally didn't even try to control for and so we don't know if that observation is true. There could be some other unknown factor in play as well that because it is unknown we can't control for it.

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#132

Post by embedding-shape »

elric wrote: post #78
Rendello wrote: post #7

I made it a few years ago. Tallow is trendy (and thus expensive), but you make it by rendering suet which is basically a throw-away product at butcher shops. Lots don't even bother selling suet, which is a pain. Rendering was just slow-cooking and removing the little pieces, then you're left with candle wax you can cook with. I thought the candle wax consistency was a coincidence, but it was the main way to make cand…

If I understand it correctly, tallow is made from beef or mutton. The same principle can be applied to pork fat -- and presumably any other herbivore? -- to create lard. Which is is also delicous for fries.

> to create lard. Which is is also delicous for fries.

I'm afraid to ask but regardless: you use the lard as a replacement for oil when frying/cooking fries, or as like a condiment/sauce/something?

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#133

Post by allreduce »

geremiiah wrote: post #86
m000 wrote: post #48

As an outside observer of this beef tallow trend, it looks to me a lot like a fad driven by some internalized machismo: "It's not proper food if it's not from a dead animal." While this is not unique to the US, apparently believers of this in the US reached a critical mass enough to make it public policy. I don't doubt that one can find health benefits in beef tallow. But I also vividly remember ads in the 80s and 90…

Aren't Americans the kind of people who will cut the fat and gristle out of their rib-eye and leave it on the plate? And it was like a thing of pride to not eat the fatty part because look how rich we are ... Now they suddenly all into slurping beef tallow. What?

Seems like Americans are into making up food theories instead of just eating with common sense and moving your body with legs instead of cars sometimes.

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#134

Post by wat10000 »

graemep wrote: post #101
bloaf wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We all know there has been a replication crisis across many different disciplines of science. I think that the set of things we actually know about nutrition and health is a lot smaller than the experts think. However, the problem is that the public has also come to that conclusion. The public has gone on to decide "that means my incredibly weakly-evidenced idea is just as good as the expert opinions" which does not…

I think the experts and the media are to blame. The public are presented with things that are weakly evidenced as scientifically proven. After all, the one study that says something is good or bad for you was published in a peer-reviewed journal and the university PR people blogged about it and the newspapers reported it uncritically. A lot of experts are very bad at differing between different levels of evidence and…

Experts are usually very good at differentiating between levels of evidence. The process of becoming an expert tends to thoroughly educate a person in just how little they actually know.

The problem is that a bunch of talk about weak studies and probabilities and personal thoughts is not what grabs attention. The few overconfident loudmouths end up being the ones everybody hears from. And you don't even need to be an expert, you just need to sound like one.

If you're a nutrition scientist who really knows their stuff and knows how to talk to people so that they understand just what is really known and how well it's known, how in the world do you compete with someone like RFK Jr.?

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#135

Post by mattmaroon »

embedding-shape wrote: post #132
elric wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I understand it correctly, tallow is made from beef or mutton. The same principle can be applied to pork fat -- and presumably any other herbivore? -- to create lard. Which is is also delicous for fries.

> to create lard. Which is is also delicous for fries. I'm afraid to ask but regardless: you use the lard as a replacement for oil when frying/cooking fries, or as like a condiment/sauce/something?

People have fried things in lard for millennia. You can certainly use it in some condiments like Schmalz, mayo, etc but it’s mostly used for cooking.

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#136

Post by strken »

UncleMeat wrote: post #81
m000 wrote: post #48

As an outside observer of this beef tallow trend, it looks to me a lot like a fad driven by some internalized machismo: "It's not proper food if it's not from a dead animal." While this is not unique to the US, apparently believers of this in the US reached a critical mass enough to make it public policy. I don't doubt that one can find health benefits in beef tallow. But I also vividly remember ads in the 80s and 90…

This is my vibe too. There is a huge masculinism effort across not only the Trump administration but broader society. Just look at the number of "cereal, but for MEN" products that have cropped up in the last couple years. Relatedly, it is crazy to me that people don't see the value in gender studies as an academic field when so much of the past couple years has revolved around gender.

Gender studies as a field is absolutely riddled with gender bias. I view it with scepticism because I don't think it will treat my gender or my sex fairly, not because I think there's no need for it.

The "X for MEN" trend, for example, exists in the context of decades of "X for WOMEN" products. The Man Shake (TM) is a product that only exists because Slimfast (TM) has already convinced the world that meal replacement shakes are for women.

I can see why The Man Shake is stupid, but I don't understand how Slimfast was any better. Nor do I understand why The Man Shake is masculinisation but Slimfast isn't feminisation. Nor why one should be seen as exploitative advertising targeting insecurities, while the other is an intentional political effort.

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#137

Post by bluGill »

tombert wrote: post #21
bowmessage wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remove whatever politics you might believe from the equation. Is beef tallow a better option for a cooking fat? I think it is.

It's probably still better to avoid eating french fries regardless of what they're fried in. That would probably lead to better health outcomes regardless. Unless you're claiming that it tastes better, then sure, beef tallow is pretty tasty.

If you are eating french fries once or twice a year they probably are not bad for you (by enough to matter, and perhaps even good if they give some micro nutriant you are not getting elsewhere). And then by all means eat them friend in beef tallow because that tastes better.

If you are eating french fries twice a week - which seems to be common - they are bad for you. Clean up your diet, eat a larger variety of food.

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#138

Post by jader201 »

bluGill wrote: post #122
Workaccount2 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't worry, they are already salivating at the idea of a tallow renaissance, where they can do a viral marketing blast of "McDonalds Tallow fries"

Maybe. Tallow is more expensive so they are probably happy to charge less for fries to the majority that wouldn't pay extra for it. Keeping two different sets of fries is more headaches than they are likely to want to have.

Why both?

Just go back to beef tallow fries. Even if it’s more expensive, the marketing could bring back more customers.

Worst case, they could increase the cost, and people would probably still pay it, given the current hype around tallow and people’s love for the former tallow fries.

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#140

Post by hluska »

lylejantzi3rd wrote: post #23

Tallow is popular right now, but plain old butter is just as good, easier to work with, and doesn't make everything it touches taste like beef.

That’s really the purpose of beef tallow. It starts at suet, which both butcher shops I frequent consider a waste product, then you chop or grind the suet, render it down for around eight hours and use it for cooking. It adds flavour where there wasn’t flavour or where the existing flavours didn’t pair as well with other foods.

It works really well with certain foods. As an example, poutine is quite popular now. A classic poutine calls for a brown sauce, which is a gravy made with equal parts beef and chicken stock. If you cook the fries in beef tallow, you get the full depth of the brown sauce.

Or if someone you really like is coming over for a steak and some beers make steak frites. Blanch the fries first, let them dry completely, deep fry them, let them cool and then when the steaks are cooling, put some tallow in the cast iron, let it flash and then drop your fries in to fry them a final time.

This concludes this week’s episode of Cooking with Greg where I impart food knowledge that tried to kill me. Tune in next week when I talk about more of the reasons I had a heart attack in my late thirties. :)

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