Suet

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Suet

Suet (/'su?.?t/) is raw beef

Beef

Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle . Beef is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of Australia, European cuisine and the Americas, and is also important in Africa, East Asia, and Southeast Asia....
or mutton

Lamb (food)

Lamb, hogget, and mutton are the meat of domestic sheep. The meat of an animal in its first year is lamb; that of an older sheep is hogget and later mutton....
fat

Fat

Fats consist of a wide group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and largely insoluble in water. Chemistry, fats are generally ester of glycerol and fatty acids....
, especially the hard fat found around the loin

Loin

The loins are the sides between the lower ribs and pelvis, and the lower part of the back. It is often used when describing the anatomy of humans and quadrupeds ....
s and kidney

Kidney

The kidneys are Organ that have numerous biological roles. Their primary role is to maintain the homeostasis balance of bodily fluids by filtering and secreting Metabolomics#Metabolitess and minerals from the blood and excreting them, along with water , as urine....
s.

Suet has a melting point

Melting point

The melting point of a solid is the temperature range at which it changes states of matter from solid to liquid. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase exist in equilibrium....
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.

primary use of suet is to make tallow

Tallow

Tallow is a rendering form of beef or mutton fat, processed from suet. It is solid at room temperature. Unlike suet, tallow can be stored for extended periods without the need for refrigeration to prevent decomposition, provided it is kept in an airtight container to prevent oxidation....
, although it is also used as an ingredient in cooking.

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Encyclopedia

Suet (/'su?.?t/) is raw beef

Beef

Lamb (food)

Lamb, hogget, and mutton are the meat of domestic sheep. The meat of an animal in its first year is lamb; that of an older sheep is hogget and later mutton....
fat

Fat

Loin

The loins are the sides between the lower ribs and pelvis, and the lower part of the back. It is often used when describing the anatomy of humans and quadrupeds ....
s and kidney

Kidney

Melting point

Uses

The primary use of suet is to make tallow

Tallow

Rendering (industrial)

Rendering is a process that converts waste animal biological tissue into stable, value-added materials. Rendering can refer to any processing of animal byproducts into more useful materials, or more narrowly to the rendering of whole animal fatty tissue into purified fats like lard or tallow....
, which involves melting and extended simmering

Simmering

Simmering is a cooking technique in which foods are cooked in hot liquids kept at or just barely below the boiling point of water , 100Celsius ....
, followed by straining, cooling and usually a repetition of the entire process.

Unlike tallow, suet requires refrigeration

Refrigeration

Refrigeration is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space, or from a substance, and moving it to a place where it is unobjectionable....
in order to be stored for extended periods, (but pre-packaged suet does not).

Suet is essential to use in making the pastry for steamed steak and kidney pudding

Steak and kidney pudding

File:SteakKidneyPudding.jpgSteak and kidney pudding is a dish made by enclosing diced steak and beef, lambs or pigs kidney pieces in gravy in a suet pastry....
. 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.

Suet should not be confused with beef dripping

Dripping

Dripping, also known as beef or pork dripping, is an animal fat produced from the fatty or otherwise unusable parts of cow or pig carcasses....
, which is the collected fat and juices from the roasting pan when cooking roast beef and is not rendered.

Availability

Suet can be bought in natural form in many supermarkets. As it is the fat from around the kidneys, the connective tissue, blood and other non-fat items must be removed. It then needs to be coarsely grated to make it ready to use. It must be kept refrigerated prior to use and used within a few days of purchase, just like meat.

Pre-packaged suet sold in supermarket

Supermarket

A supermarket is a self-service Retailing#Retail types offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments....
s is dehydrated

Dehydration

Dehydration is the removal of water from an object. In Physiology terms, it entails a relative deficiency of water molecules in relation to other dissolved solutes....
suet. It is made mixed with flour to make it stable at room temperature. Because of this, some care is needed when using it for older recipes that call for fresh suet as the proportions of flour to fat can alter. Most modern recipes stipulate packaged suet.

Vegetable suet is available in supermarket

Supermarket

A supermarket is a self-service Retailing#Retail types offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments....
s in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
, made from fat such as palm oil

Palm oil

Palm oil is an edible Vegetable fats and oils derived from the fruit of the Arecaceae Elaeis oil palm. Previously the second-most widely produced edible oil, after soybean oil, 28 million tonnes were produced worldwide in 2004....
combined with rice flour

Flour

Flour is a powder made of cereal grains. It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many civilizations, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history....
. It resembles shredded beef suet, and is used as a vegetarian

Vegetarianism

File:Foods.jpgVegetarianism is the practice of a diet that excludes meat , fish and poultry.There are several variants of the diet, some of which also exclude egg and/or some products produced from animal labour such as dairy products and honey....
substitute in recipes, but with slightly different results from animal suet.

Woodpecker

Woodpecker

Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks....
s, goldfinch

European Goldfinch

The Goldfinch or European Goldfinch is a small passerine bird in the finch family....
es, junco

Junco

The Juncos , genus Junco, are small American sparrows. Their systematics are still very confusing after decades of research, with various authors accepting between three and twelve species....
s, cardinal

Cardinal (bird)

The Cardinals or Cardinalidae are a family of passerine birds found in North America and South America. The South American cardinals in the genus Paroaria are placed in another family, the Thraupidae ....
s, thrush

Thrush (bird)

The Thrushes, family Turdidae, are a group of passerine birds that occur mainly but not exclusively in the Old World....
es, jay

Jay

The jays are several species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the crow family Corvidae. The names jay and magpie are somewhat interchangeable, and the evolutionary relationships are rather complex....
s, kinglet

Kinglet

The kinglets or crests are a small group of birds sometimes included in the Old World warblers, but are frequently given family status because they also resemble the titmouse....
s, bluebird

Bluebird

The bluebirds are medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the genus Sialia of the thrush family Turdidae.These are a few of the relatively thousands thrush genera to be restricted to the Americas....
s, wren

Wren

The wrens are passerine birds in the mainly New World family Troglodytidae. There are about 80 species of true wrens in about 20 genus, though the name is also ascribed to other unrelated birds throughout the world....
s, and starling

Starling

Starlings are found around the World, from Europe, Asia and Africa, to northern Australia and the islands of the tropical Pacific. Several European and Asian species have been introduced to these areas as well as North America, Hawaii and New Zealand, where they generally compete for habitat with native birds and are considered to be invasive spec...
s are all known to favour suet-based bird feeders.

Suet recipes

Haggis
Haggis

Haggis is a traditional Scotland dish.There are many recipes, most of which have in common the following ingredients: sheep's 'Offal' , minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and edible salt, mixed with Stock , and traditionally Boilinged in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours....
Windsor pudding
Steak and kidney pudding
Steak and kidney pudding

File:SteakKidneyPudding.jpgSteak and kidney pudding is a dish made by enclosing diced steak and beef, lambs or pigs kidney pieces in gravy in a suet pastry....
Dumpling
Dumpling

Dumplings, as defined in a standard English dictionary, fall in two main categories: these are either "piece[s] of dough, sometimes filled, that are cooked in liquid such as water or soup" or alternatively "sweetened dough wrapped around fruit, such as an apple, baked and served as a dessert." More generally, dumplings may be any of a wi...
s
Suet Crust Pastry
Pastry

Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baking made from ingredients such as flour, butter, shortening, baking powder or Egg s. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked goods are called "pastries"....
Christmas pudding
Christmas pudding

Christmas pudding is the dessert traditionally served on Christmas day. It has its origins in England, and is sometimes known as plum pudding, though this can also refer to other kinds of boiled pudding involving a lot of dried fruit....
Suet Cakes (for birdfeeding
Birdfeeding

Bird feeding is the activity of feeding wild birds, often by means of a bird feeder....
)
Mincemeat
Mincemeat

Mincemeat is a mixture of chopped dried fruit, distilled spirits and spices, and sometimes beef suet, beef, or venison. Originally, mincemeat always contained meat....
Spotted dick
Spotted dick

Spotted dick is a steamed suet pudding containing dried fruit , commonly served with either custard or butter and brown sugar. Spotted refers to the dried fruit and Dick may be a contraction/corruption of the word pudding or possibly a corruption of the word dough. Another explanation offered for the latter half of the na...
Kishka/Kishke
Kishka (food)

Kishka or kishke refers to various types of sausage or stuffed intestine with a filling made from a combination of meat and meal, often a grain....
Chili con carne
Chili con carne

Chili con carne is a Spice stew made from chili peppers, meat, garlic, onions, and cumin. Traditional chili is made with chopped or ground beef....
Rag Pudding
Rag Pudding

Rag Pudding is an old fashioned savoury dish originated in Oldham, popular in Lancashire , England. A traditional Rag Pudding broadly consists of minced meat and onions wrapped in a suet pastry which is then boiled or steamed ....
Jamaican patty
Jamaican patty

A Jamaican patty or pattie is a pastry that contains various fillings and spices baked inside a flaky shell, often tinted golden yellow with an egg yolk mixture or turmeric....

Suet

Uses

Availability

Suet recipes

See also