Suet or the fat from around the kidneys and loin of beef and mutton. It has a high smoke point, and usually used for making pies and pastries.

Suet is usually rendered to remove the impurities from the fat. It’s then called tallow, but the 1800s cookbooks I’ve gone through just call it suet.

Additionally, suet can be used to make soap and candles, as well as seed cakes to feed wild birds.

SUET
Choose the firmest part as soon as it comes in, and pick it free from skin and veins. Set it in a nice saucepan at some distance from the fire, that it may melt without frying, or it will taste. When melted, pour it into a pan of cold water. When it comes to a hard cake, wipe it very dry, fold it in fine paper, and then in a linen bag. Keep it in a dry cool place. Suet prepared in this way will keep a twelvemonth. When used, scrape it fine, and it will make a good crust, either with or without butter.

TO KEEP SUET FOR SEVERAL MONTH
Chop the suet you wish to preserve until summer as fine as for mince pies or puddings. Then add a tablespoon of salt to three tablespoons of suet. Mix all well together and put it in jars. Keep it tied up close, as exposure to the air makes it strong. It should be soaked an hour before you wish to use it, to remove the salt taste.

SUET FOR COOKING
Suet is also tried out* and used for cooking. All scraps of fat—cooked or uncooked—as well as any drippings from beef, veal, pork, and chicken, should be saved and used in cooking. The fat from mutton has a peculiar flavor and so cannot be used in food, unless cooked with certain flavoring materials. It may be saved for soap-making. Fat from soup and drippings need only be clarified before using for cooking. Suet and other uncooked fat of meat must be first tried out.

*tried out or try out – melting fat to skim out the impurities so it is clean to cook with.

HOW TO TRY OUT SUET
Cut the suet in small pieces, place in top of double boiler, cover, and cook over hot water until all the fat is tried out. Strain through a cheese cloth. This can be done in the oven if the top of the range is crowded.

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SUET DUMPLING RECIPES

SUET DUMPLINGS
Take a pound of suet, or the outward fat of loins or necks of mutton, and shred it very fine. Mix it well with one and one-fourth of flour, two eggs, a sufficient quantity of milk to make it, and a little salt. Drop the batter into boiling water, or boil the dumplings in a cloth.

SUET DUMPLINGS No. 2
Rub into one quart flour, one-half pound beef suet, free of skin, and chopped very fine. Add a little salt, one teaspoon of soda dissolved in buttermilk, one pound fruit, either apples, dried cherries, or dried peaches cut very fine, and sufficient water to make it into dough. Make it into dumplings half an inch thick, boil two or three hours, and eat with a sauce made of butter, sugar, and wine.

SUET DUMPLINGS WITH CURRANTS
Take a pint of milk, four eggs, a pound of suet shred fine, a pound of currants well cleaned, two teaspoons of salt, and three of beaten ginger. First, take half the milk and mix it like a thick batter, then put in the eggs, the salt, and ginger. Next, the rest of the milk by degrees, with the suet and currants, and flour enough to make it like a light paste. Make them up about the bigness of a large turkey’s egg, flatten them a little, and put them into boiling water, moving them softly that they do not stick together. Keep the water boiling; a little more than half an hour will do them.

SUET DUMPLINGS WITH EGGS
Mix up a pint of milk, two eggs, three-fourths pound of beef suet chopped fine, a teaspoon of grated ginger, and flour enough to make it into a moderately stiff paste. Make the paste into dumplings, roll them in a little flour, and put them into boiling water. Move them gently for a little while to prevent their sticking together. If the dumplings are small, three quarters of an hour will boil them; if large, the time must be proportioned to their size. They will boil equally well in cloths, which is often preferred for keeping the outside drier.

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SUET PUDDING RECIPES

SUET PUDDING
Shred a pound of suet. Mix with it one and one-fourth pound of flour, two eggs beaten separately, some salt, and as little milk as will make it. Boil the pudding four hours. It eats well the next day, cut in slices and broiled. The outward fat of a loin or neck of mutton finely shred, makes a more delicate pudding than suet.

SUET PUDDING WITH EGGS
To a pound of beef suet chopped very fine, add six large spoons of flour, a teaspoon of grated ginger, and a teaspoon of salt. Gradually mix with these ingredients a quart of milk and four eggs well beaten. Boil it three hours in a buttered basin, or two hours and a half in a cloth well floured.

VEAL-SUET PUDDING
Cut the crumb of a threepenny loaf into slices, boil and sweeten two quarts of new milk, and pour over it. When soaked, pour out a little of the milk; mix it with six eggs well beaten, and half a nutmeg. Lay the slices of bread into a dish, with layers of currants and shredded veal suet; a pound of each. Butter the dish well, and bake it; or if preferred, boil the pudding in a basIn.

Photo credit

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