Reserving Cooking Fat

I came across an idea to reserve the fats from cooking to use as a side fat! There are certain cuts which I cook in the crock-pot, such as short ribs, tongue, heart, brisket, and oxtail. I just put them in an empty crock-pot and let them cook all day. Afterwards, I pack the meat away in the fridge. If you pour off the juices into a tupperware container and refrigerate, the fat will rise to the top and harden. You can then take that fat off, wipe underneath where it was touching the liquid, and save that to eat on the side of too-lean cuts. You can make broth with the liquid, if you are so inclined, but I have gut problems with broth, so I don't use it.

This actually seems to work pretty well so far! It's not too waxy like tallow is, since it still has the more unsaturated fat content of regular beef fat, instead of the higher saturated content of tallow which is waxier.

It might seem strange at first to just eat it, like a candy bar, but when salted, it really is quite good!

This also works for the juices left when cooking ground beef or ground lamb, there will just be less of it.

Grassfed brisket with reserved fat, smoked salt and sea salt flakes