Costco had a GREAT price on USDA prime short ribs, so i treated myself and I made short ribs. While delicious, they gave up a lot of fat in the cooking process. I am not fat-phobic, but rather think skimming most (but not all!) of the fat drastically improves the dish in terms of flavor and mouthfeel.
With short ribs, a lot of the weight of what you buy is fat and bones. I am making bone broth with the short rib bones (and a chicken carcass), and after that will grind the bones for fertilizer. Out of respect for the animal who died so i could eat short ribs (and also our of respect for my pocketbook and the time it took to earn the money for said short ribs), I want to be similarly frugal and thorough about using the beef fat.
What can I use this stuff for? It's been mingling with root vegetables and lemon slices and herbs while it was cooking, so it's not a pure rendered meat fat like lard.
Can I still make biscuits with this fat, or a pie crust, or any other culinary application? I add bacon grease to my biscuits and pie crust all the time, and i know yorkshire pudding uses the hot drippings, so I assume SOMETHING can be done...
And remember folks, animal fat should NEVER go down a garbage disposal, and will make your compost piles stinky (and attract critters). if you toss your fat, it's best to let it cool until solid, then chuck it in the OUTSIDE trash right before trash day.
June 05, 2017 at 03:15PM
