free fat

on friday i went down to pick up some back ribs we'd bought from a local farm who was selling them at discount. the place i picked them up was in the old meatpacking district, just west of Little Italy. i was so cold by the time i got there i was dancing to try to keep circulation in my feet. and it wasn't warm inside either! so after leaving there i had to find a place to go in and warm up for a while. the first place i went in was a little butcher shop/grocery called "Nicholas Quality Meats". i just looked around at all the cheap products while i tried to warm up. gallon jars of pickles, a wall of herbs and spices in 1lb, clear plastic containers... i noticed tubs of lard (half gal.) for $5.99 and tubs of 'I Can't Believe It's Not Butter' (1 lb. more in half gal.) for $8.99. i know which one i would buy (if i had no better option), even though it contains some hydrogenated lard and also preservatives...
i decided to ask about whether they sell just the fat of the meat they butcher, so i could render it at home. when i talked to the owner, the only one who spoke english well, he told me he had some beef fat and proceeded to put a bunch in a bag for me. as he did this he said he was thinking of using it to fry with himself. very sensible i agreed. but i think he was not used to being so open about this choice of his. i was thinking i would offer to pay $1 a pound or something but he said just to take it for free! how nice. i told him i would bring him a loaf of sourdough bread if i was in the area again. he said his wife used to make bread at home but now she doesn't have the time. i am more fortunate, and yet he was the one being generous with me.











these scraps are of course of questionable quality (probably not grass fed or free of hormones), but i wanted to make use of it since it was free. i ended up eating way too much of the fat the day i rendered it and the day after. i fried up the pieces with meat attached. this may have led to the upset stomach. i wonder if it has to do with toxins that are in the fat or just with eating too much fat?












this suet (beef fat) yielded a bit more than a pint of tallow. i might use this for some deep frying later! i'll need to combine it with more, maybe just another pint, to have a good size bath. neither jana or i have done deep frying before!

p.s. next i went to a nearby Starbucks and enjoyed some Tazo 'green tips' tea, for which i paid $2.16 and a $1 tip. i didn't really see how screwed up this is until just now...