Suet

Suet is the hard fat found in beef, lamb, or mutton near the loins and kidneys. It melts between 45 and 50 °C (113 and 122 °F) and hardens between 37 and 40 °C (99 and 104 °F). Because it burns at a high temperature, suet is great for deep frying and making pastry.

People use suet to make tallow. It is also a key part of cooking. In Britain, suet is important in traditional foods like Christmas pudding. To make tallow, suet is rendered by melting and long simmering, then it is strained and cooled. Sometimes this is done again to make the tallow even better.

Etymology

The word suet comes from old languages. It started in Anglo-Norman as siuet, suet. Then it came from Old French sieu, seu. This goes back to the Latin word sēbum, meaning "tallow" or "grease." The Latin word sēbum has roots in a Proto-Indo-European word meaning "pour out, trickle." This links it to words like sap and soap.

Main article: tallow

Use

In cuisine

Suet is the fat from around the kidneys of beef, lamb, or mutton. Before using it, the non-fat parts must be removed. It should be kept cold and used within a few days.

Suet makes pastries soft, unlike regular pastry. It is used in many traditional British dishes, like sweet baked puddings such as jam roly-poly and spotted dick, as well as savory dishes like dumplings and steak and kidney pudding. Suet is also used in mincemeat, sometimes called 'fruit mince'.

Because suet has a lot of energy, explorers in cold weather add it to their food to help meet their needs.

Red-breasted nuthatch feeding on suet

Suet-based recipes

In bird feed

Cakes of suet are popular for feeding wild birds. They can be made with other fats like lard and often include rolled oats, bird seed, cornmeal, raisins, and unsalted nuts.

Properties of common cooking fats (per 100 g)
Type of fat	Total fat (g)	Saturated fat (g)	Monounsaturated fat (g)	Polyunsaturated fat (g)	Smoke point
Butter	81	51	21	3	150 °C (302 °F)
Canola oil	100	6–7	62–64	24–26	205 °C (401 °F)
Coconut oil	99	83	6	2	177 °C (351 °F)
Corn oil	100	13–14	27–29	52–54	230 °C (446 °F)
Lard	100	39	45	11	190 °C (374 °F)
Peanut oil	100	16	57	20	225 °C (437 °F)
Olive oil	100	13–19	59–74	6–16	190 °C (374 °F)
Rice bran oil	100	25	38	37	250 °C (482 °F)
Soybean oil	100	15	22	57–58	257 °C (495 °F)
Suet	94	52	32	3	200 °C (392 °F)
Ghee	99	62	29	4	204 °C (399 °F)
Sunflower oil	100	10	20	66	225 °C (437 °F)
Sunflower oil (high oleic)	100	12	84	4
Vegetable shortening	100	25	41	28	165 °C (329 °F)

Availability

Pre-packaged suet sold in supermarkets is dried and mixed with flour so it stays good at room temperature. If you use it in recipes that need fresh suet, be careful because the flour and fat can change. Today, most recipes use this packaged suet.

You can also find vegetable suet, which is made from vegetable oil instead of animal fat.

Cultural and religious restrictions

Main article: Chelev

In Jewish law, eating suet is not allowed. This rule only applies to certain animals used in special rituals, not to wild animals like deer. The famous teacher Maimonides explained in his book The Guide for the Perplexed that this rule helps people learn to control themselves around tasty foods.