22 BULLETIN 469, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



used in the place of paraffin, which it closely resembles in consistency, 

 to seal the tops of jelly glasses. To cite another instance, a spoonful 

 of salad oil may be poured on top of the liquid in an opened bottle 

 of pickles or olives. This excludes air and so helps to keep the ma- 

 terial in good condition until used. 



RENDERING AND CLARIFYING FATS. 



Beef or mutton suet and scraps of fat contain more or less muscle 

 or connective tissue, which must be removed by rendering before the 

 fat is available for most culinary uses. The household method of 

 rendering generally consists in cutting the material into small pieces 

 and heating it in an open kettle until the fat has separated out quite 

 completely from the particles of tissue, which usually have become 

 shriveled and browned. This tissue (called "scraps" or "crack- 

 lings") is then removed by straining, being pressed to remove the 

 fat more completely. The scraps or cracklings are utilized in vari- 

 ous ways in different parts of the country, being sometimes eaten as 

 such and sometimes used as shortening. Some housekeepers prefer 

 to render their fat with the addition of water, since they believe 

 there is less danger of burning. However, this necessitates heating 

 the strained fat until the water is driven off to secure a fat of good 

 keeping quality. 



The following method of rendering fats, found to be very satis- 

 factory in the laboratory of the Office of Home Economics, may be 

 applied in the home. The fat is cut finely with an ordinary house- 

 hold meat chopper or sausage grinder and is then heated in a double 

 boiler until completely melted. The melted fat is then strained 

 through a rather thick cloth (medium fine huckaback, for instance) 

 to remove the finely divided bits of tissue. The advantage of this 

 method is that since the material to be rendered is finely divided 

 the fat separates readily from the inclosing tissue at a tempera- 

 ture very little above its melting point, and there is no danger of 

 scorching it as in the older open-kettle method. This is of impor- 

 tance, since recent information shows that fats overheated in render- 

 ing do not keep as well as those which have not been heated too high. 

 Also, there is no odor of scorched fat in the room during rendering. 

 After the fat is rendered it should be carefully heated to make sure 

 that it is free from moisture, and sterilized. This method of render- 

 ing fat is entirely satisfactory when the quantity of fat to be rendered 

 is fairly small. The difficulty of using it on a large scale would de- 

 pend chiefly upon the labor and cost of grinding the fat, for if a 

 double boiler of sufficient size were not available one could be im- 

 provised by setting the kettle containing the fat in a larger kettle 

 containing water. Pieces of wood or other material should be placed 



