If you have an affinity for french fries, you’ve probably heard restaurant chefs and fast food chains discuss what they’re cooking their fries in. Two popular types of fat that are used worldwide for crisping up fries and other deep-fried snacks are beef tallow and lard. And while yes, they are both types of fat, they are not the same thing.
Beef tallow is rendered beef fat, which typically comes from cattle or sheep fat. The fatty tissue from the animal is removed, cooked at a high temperature, and clarified. The final product is the tallow, which is made up of 50% saturated fat, 42% monosaturated fat, and 4% polyunsaturated fat. It has a hard texture, like a stick of frozen butter, and a rich, beefy flavor. Lard, on the other hand, is rendered from pork fat. The lard is separated from the other fat elements like the beef tallow, but without the trans fat. It can come from a variety of areas on the pig, such as the belly, butt, and shoulder, and has a softer, more spreadable texture and neutral flavor.
Nutritionally, tallow and lard also differ greatly. The tallow contains vitamins A, B, E, K, and B12, and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), which can help to reduce body fat and enhance the immune system. Lard doesn’t have as much nutritional value as tallow, but it is high in vitamin D.
Different ways to use beef tallow and lard in home cooking
Because of its unctuous flavor, beef tallow ends up being a great ingredient to enhance the flavor of fried or sauteed recipes, as well as in pie crusts and pastries. A simple fried rice loaded with vegetables can be bumped up by using beef tallow to add a beefy flavor, even if there’s no actual beef in your recipe. For a sweet or savory pie, swap out butter for beef tallow in your next pie crust for a crust with a flakier texture and stronger, more luxurious flavor. And, of course, you can make your frozen french fries stand out in the crowd by frying them up in beef tallow for a richer flavor that regular oil and salt just can’t achieve.
Lard’s soft texture and neutral flavor make it an ideal ingredient for sweet and savory cooking. Cooking a steak in lard rather than butter or oil can give the meat a richer, meatier flavor and a beautiful crust on the outside. And just like with beef tallow, the structure and stability of the fat in lard makes a pie crust even more flaky and crumbly than butter, meaning your go-to lemon blueberry pie or apple strudel will have an unforgettable texture and flavor you’ll be raving about bite after bite. Or you could make “fatty bread,” a popular Hungarian snack made with lard spread on crusty bread and topped with onions.
