Ingredient: Suet
Category: Meat - Fats
Season: All
Suet is raw beef or mutton fat , especially the hard fat found around the loins and kidneys.
The solid, dense fat that encloses beef kidneys is true suet, and a substance very hard to obtain in its whole form as butchers no longer receive suet intact, with the kidneys in the middle.
Suet has a melting point of between 45° and 50°C (113° and 122°F.), and congeals between 37° and 40°C (98.6° and 104°F.).
Its low melting point means that it is solid at room temperature, but easily melts at moderate temperatures, such as in steaming
It consists mostly of saturated fat.
Suet is made into tallow in a process called rendering, which involves melting and extended simmering, followed by straining, cooling and usually a repetition of the entire process.
Suet should not be confused with Beef Dripping, which is the collected fat and juices from the roasting pan when cooking roast beef and is not rendered.
The primary use of suet is to make tallow, although it is also used as an ingredient in cooking.
Suet is essential in making the pastry for steamed steak and kidney pudding
The suet crust pastry lines a pudding bowl, the meat added and a lid of suet crust pastry tightly seals the meat.
The pudding is then steamed for approximately four hours, before serving in the bowl on the table.
Suet pastry is soft in contrast to the crispness of shortcrust pastry. |