I'd like to order me up some fat please....

This morning I went to the grocery store to pick up our milk order.  Yes, you read that right...a milk order.  I could do an entire post on just ordering 14 gallons of milk a week, which I should tell you come in half gallon glass bottles.  So in theory I'm really bringing home 28 half gallon glass bottles which brings on some wickedly funny looks...but alas, I'll save that one for another day.  Trust me, you'd like it....

Anyway.  I was at the grocery and it just so happens that our local butcher is in the back.  So I bee-bopped myself on down there and looked him straight in the eye and here's how our conversation went...

"Hi, how can I help you?"
"Well, I was hoping that I could order me up some fat."
"Fat?"
"Yes, fat."
"Fat."
"Umm, yeah, I think that's what it's called.  You know, the stuff you cut off all the meat you put in the windows here."
"You want the fat?  Not the meat."
"Yeah, that's right."
"Do you mind if I ask you what you're going to do with it?"
"Well, I'm going to cook it and then eat it."
"What?"
"Okay, maybe I should have used the word render instead of cook.  But still, I'm going to eat it."
"Eat it?"
"Yep."
"The fat."
(giggling slightly)  "Is this in English?"

Tallow, people.  It's called tallow.  I'm going to try my hand at making it.

Tallow is basically the same thing as lard, only it comes from a cow instead of a pig.  It's what they call an "old-fashioned" fat, which is a healthy alternative to vegetable shortenings and canola oil.  There are a lot of excellent properties that tallow contains which your body actually needs.  And it is so much easier for you to process this "natural fat" than that ol' yucky hydrogenated stuff.

So bring on the freaky looks, bring on the recipe (tallow recipe here), and let's get to ordering up some fat, please....