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I purchased a package of "beef fat" from the grocery for making tallow. I cut it up into one inch cubes and placed in the slow cooker for 4-5 hours. I ladled off the fat and double filtered it through cheesecloth. The liquefied fat was not as clear as it appeared in an instructional video I'd watched, and in its solid state there's a slightly unpleasant smell. This was my first attempt at making tallow, so I didn't know what to expect.

Does the anatomic location of the fat portion matter?

wilberteric
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    Are you sure it was fresh? Of course anatomic location matters when it comes to taste (don't know if it prevents making tallow), but in no way should it give "slightly unpleasant smell". Of course, unpleasant is subjective. – Mołot Nov 02 '16 at 15:47
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    By "don't know what to expect", do you mean you have never tasted/smelled tallow before? It is not a neutral fat, it has a slight odor of its own. And it is normal for people to not like a smell the first time they are exposed to it, especially smells of animal origin. – rumtscho Nov 02 '16 at 16:22
  • Yes, I'd never smelled/tasted it before. – wilberteric Nov 02 '16 at 17:12

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The source of the fat can make a difference in taste, texture, color, clarity, and fat composition. (And that's not just the part of the cow, but also the breed of cow, how old it was, its diet, etc.) The kidney fat, for example, is a particular area used from cows that produces a particular kind of desirable fat, but it's not necessary for making tallow in general.

As for odor, it's hard to say. Rendering animal fats in general often tends to produce pretty smelly odors. That's pretty normal. You'll have to see whether the flavor is acceptable to you. (I'd mainly be worried about odors from the fat before you started cooking it; in that case, it might be a sign the fat was old or even spoiled. But odors during and after cooking can happen: a lot of smelly molecules are fat-soluble, so they may be released when it is cooked.)

Athanasius
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