When: July 13
National Beef Tallow Day on July 13th celebrates a fat that was once the backbone of Western cooking before being displaced by vegetable oils in the 20th century. Beef tallow — rendered fat from around the kidneys of cattle — has a high smoke point, extraordinary stability, and a rich, beefy flavor that transforms anything cooked in it. Its rehabilitation in the culinary world has been one of the more interesting food culture reversals of the past decade.
McDonald's original fries were cooked in beef tallow — and many food scientists argue the switch to vegetable oil in 1990 was the moment fast food fries lost their soul.
Before Crisco, before vegetable shortening, before any of the shelf of cooking oils in a modern grocery store, there was rendered animal fat. Beef tallow, lard from pigs, poultry schmaltz — the fats produced from the animals being raised for meat were the primary cooking medium in European and American kitchens for centuries. They were shelf-stable at room temperature for months, had high smoke points suitable for frying, and contributed flavor that vegetable oils never matched. Tallow was also used for candles, soap, leather treatment, and axle grease. It was the original multipurpose material. The shift began in 1911, when Procter & Gamble introduced Crisco — a hydrogenated vegetable shortening that the company marketed aggressively as "cleaner" and more modern than lard. The marketing was successful. Crisco came with recipes, home economics endorsements, and messaging that positioned animal fats as old-fashioned and unsanitary. By mid-century, the anti-fat dietary recommendations...