Animal Fats

Dragonwolf

While looking to get my hands on pork fat to render some lard, I had some (semi-)random thoughts:

What are goat and sheep's fat called (do they have a name)?

Anyone use goat and/or sheep fat for cooking? If so, how does it differ from lard and tallow?

Akimajuktuq

I haven't. But goats are fairly lean. I have never gotten big pieces of fat from a goat. Lambs usually are fatty depending on their age and how they are raised but not mutton I don't think (my grandparents ate mutton but I don't think I've had it). I can only get packaged small pieces of lamb here so not enough fat to get creative with.

I sure wish I could get goat and mutton as a whole carcass! (At least I might be getting a seal soon.... talk about fat!)

TriLifter

I rendered duck fat at Christmas...still using that stuff! Love it!

ahviendha

I rendered duck fat at Christmas...still using that stuff! Love it!

i can't believe i have lived my whole life without using duck fat. i made some roasted chili duck breast last week and the fat tasted better than bacon. unbelievable. too bad it's $10 a breast!

Dragonwolf

I rendered duck fat at Christmas...still using that stuff! Love it!

i can't believe i have lived my whole life without using duck fat. i made some roasted chili duck breast last week and the fat tasted better than bacon. unbelievable. too bad it's $10 a breast!

Yeah, that's the big thing keeping me from duck (or goose, for that matter). I hear duck fat is awesome, but that price tag...eesh.

Dragonwolf

I haven't. But goats are fairly lean. I have never gotten big pieces of fat from a goat. Lambs usually are fatty depending on their age and how they are raised but not mutton I don't think (my grandparents ate mutton but I don't think I've had it). I can only get packaged small pieces of lamb here so not enough fat to get creative with.

I sure wish I could get goat and mutton as a whole carcass! (At least I might be getting a seal soon.... talk about fat!)

OMG, talk about fat, indeed! You must update us on the seal fat if you get it!

Akimajuktuq

I haven't. But goats are fairly lean. I have never gotten big pieces of fat from a goat. Lambs usually are fatty depending on their age and how they are raised but not mutton I don't think (my grandparents ate mutton but I don't think I've had it). I can only get packaged small pieces of lamb here so not enough fat to get creative with.

I sure wish I could get goat and mutton as a whole carcass! (At least I might be getting a seal soon.... talk about fat!)

OMG, talk about fat, indeed! You must update us on the seal fat if you get it!

Not too many people eating seal in my community anymore.... the best food in the world just fed to dogs that live their entire lives on max 10 foot chain.

Yeah, I hope the young guy who promised actually brings me one. It's a very strong flavour and will take much effort to get used to. But the omega 3s are off the charts. Seal and whale are literally the most nutritious foods on the planet. I'd like to get a qulliq too (soapstone device for burning fat).

The duck I received in my food order from Yellowknife was only about $15 (and it wasn't very fatty), but yeah, the price of goose is crazy. I LOVE goose. Too bad I can't wander farther out in the wilderness here because goose/duck hunting season is a BIG deal. But then I'm not Inuit (and I have no rights to harvest for my Inuit child) so that kinda makes things more complicated.

bostonwolf

I rendered duck fat at Christmas...still using that stuff! Love it!

i can't believe i have lived my whole life without using duck fat. i made some roasted chili duck breast last week and the fat tasted better than bacon. unbelievable. too bad it's $10 a breast!

Yeah, that's the big thing keeping me from duck (or goose, for that matter). I hear duck fat is awesome, but that price tag...eesh.

It's worth trying at least once. We cooked a good for Christmas a few years ago and I had two pint jars of fat that I rendered from it.

And though not Paleo, french fries cooked in duck fat have to be tasted to be believed.

FitToLead

OMG, Seal heh. wow that would be interesting. I remember looking at dead whales before whaling stopped in Australia- and all that fat- never used for eating.

I am excited about making my own duck fat now- thanks guys, that's cool

HaggisWhisperer

The duck I received in my food order from Yellowknife was only about $15 (and it wasn't very fatty), but yeah, the price of goose is crazy. I LOVE goose. Too bad I can't wander farther out in the wilderness here because goose/duck hunting season is a BIG deal. But then I'm not Inuit (and I have no rights to harvest for my Inuit child) so that kinda makes things more complicated.

I managed to get 6 free range ducks mail order - they were fab, they came parceled up with 2 plastic baggies in the cavity, one with the giblets and one with lumps of the extra fat. That was before I changed my diet though and I put them straight in the bin (the fat, not the giblets).

Out of nosiness, will your daughter have hunting rights when she is older?

Akimajuktuq

The duck I received in my food order from Yellowknife was only about $15 (and it wasn't very fatty), but yeah, the price of goose is crazy. I LOVE goose. Too bad I can't wander farther out in the wilderness here because goose/duck hunting season is a BIG deal. But then I'm not Inuit (and I have no rights to harvest for my Inuit child) so that kinda makes things more complicated.

I managed to get 6 free range ducks mail order - they were fab, they came parceled up with 2 plastic baggies in the cavity, one with the giblets and one with lumps of the extra fat. That was before I changed my diet though and I put them straight in the bin (the fat, not the giblets).

Out of nosiness, will your daughter have hunting rights when she is older?

Yeah, I turfed duck fat before too! Shame on me (and Dr. Cordain!). I don't even get the giblets though.

Yes, my child is a Nunavut Beneficiary so is recognized as an Inuit with full harvesting rights but the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement forgot to determine the "what ifs" for Inuit children in non-Inuit families. Crappy really. Those kids, while they are too young to hunt on their own, fall through the cracks of bureaucracy. Her father provides NOTHING and he can't even sign over half of his harvest rights unless we were living in the same house. Lots of BS. Most people in the community would turn a blind eye if they saw me hunting but there's a few people here in certain positions that could cause me some grief and would love to do so. But I have to say that if an animal that I wanted to eat walked out in front of me.... my child's health would come before the BS red tape. I've tried to get permission following all the rules and it didn't work, so honestly, I feel justified in doing whatever I need to do. The fact that my child is always with me on the land would likely keep me out of hot water if I harvested something anyway.

That makes me sound like a bad guy, but keep in mind I haven't killed anything in 3 years of living here (except finishing off the ground squirrel my dog mauled- and I ate it!).

@FittoLead: What did the Aussies do with the whales that were killed if they fat wasn't eaten??? I know up here the whaling industry was getting the fat to use in cosmetics and heating/lights, and baleen for corsets and stuff, and the meat was wasted. Similar thing? (Inuit were/are seeking only the fat too, but the impact on the whale population from subsistance harvest was/is negligible.)

Dragonwolf

Yes, my child is a Nunavut Beneficiary so is recognized as an Inuit with full harvesting rights but the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement forgot to determine the "what ifs" for Inuit children in non-Inuit families. Crappy really. Those kids, while they are too young to hunt on their own, fall through the cracks of bureaucracy. Her father provides NOTHING and he can't even sign over half of his harvest rights unless we were living in the same house. Lots of BS. Most people in the community would turn a blind eye if they saw me hunting but there's a few people here in certain positions that could cause me some grief and would love to do so. But I have to say that if an animal that I wanted to eat walked out in front of me.... my child's health would come before the BS red tape. I've tried to get permission following all the rules and it didn't work, so honestly, I feel justified in doing whatever I need to do. The fact that my child is always with me on the land would likely keep me out of hot water if I harvested something anyway.

That makes me sound like a bad guy, but keep in mind I haven't killed anything in 3 years of living here (except finishing off the ground squirrel my dog mauled- and I ate it!).

That sounds like my stepdad at some point before he met my mom. He's on disability and can't work a typical job (too much of doing something and he's in bed in pain for three days), but he's an active hunter. Disability insurance isn't really enough to live on, and they lived in a small town, so even his wife's income at the time made things really tight for them, so he had no qualms harvesting a couple of deer out of season in order to put food on the table. I think he may have gotten a slap on the wrist from the game commission due to the circumstances (letter of the law vs spirit of the law type of thing).