The American cowman and beef: Beef has a pretty short history in America, compared to the Middle East and other countries. However, the association between the Americans and bovine meat has been an intimate culinary experience from the beginning. Though domestication of cattle began as early as 6500 B.C., Americans woke up to the cattle revolution only around 1870. During this period, cattle cars and refrigerated cars were introduced in railroads to make distribution of beef easier and simpler. From then on, beef became popular in the country and was used for a variety of things – in soap making, candle making, industrial applications, leather business, cooking and a variety of delicacies. The beef industry grew by leaps and bounds so much so that the USDA estimates that the industry records at least 1% growth every year.

The image of the American cowman needs special mention. In a country of red meat lovers, the American cowman represented a happy and peaceful image of a man with an idyllic farmland full of money-worth cattle.

From farm to table: It can be remembered that only recently beef has met with bad rap owing to its high content of saturated fats. Earlier, it was only beef and beef all over. McDonald’s cooked its French Fries with tallow made from beef and the favorite American hamburger had beef as its primary ingredient. Beef is used as suet in bird feed, in cooking (in making puddings) and other things.

Before we proceed further, what exactly is beef? Beef is meat from full-grown cattle about 2 years old. A live good steer weighs about 1000 pounds, while a calf weighs about 700 pounds. While beef is red in color (that is why the name ‘red meat’), baby beef or calf beef is light red in color. There are at least 50 breeds of beef of which the major breeds are Angus, Hereford, Charlois and Brahman. It is mandatory that cattle raised by farmers should be inspected by the U.S. food authorities. However, grading of cattle (for beef produce) is not mandatory. The top USDA-graded beef sold at retail level are Prime, Choice and Select. Marbling (white flecks within the beef fat) determines the quality of beef. Cuts of beef also vary depending on from where it is extracted – chuck, loin, rib and round cuts are the popular ones. Suet is raw beef fat present around the loin and kidney regions of beef.

From table to tallow: Tallow is rendered form of beef suet. As mentioned earlier, suet is raw beef fat freshly cut from kidneys and loins. Suet is different from meat from other parts of the cow and hence, has special value. When rendered (by industrial or homemade process), suet is cleansed of impurities and meaty things to become tallow. Beef tallow is the result of melting suet and then, cooling it to separate it from impurities.

Tallow has a variety of uses – it is an important ingredient in soap making; it can be used in candle-making; it can be used as a harder cooking oil; it can be used as pet food and recently tallow has found a special role as feedstock for biodiesel production. Beef tallow is solid at room temperature as it has a high smoke point. Owing to its high cloud point, it is used for deep frying of food stuff. Tallow from grass fed beef has high ratio of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which has effective anti-cancer properties. Though beef has a high degree of saturated fats, there are studies that prove that humans need at least 50% saturated fats to keep the heart hale and healthy. Considering all these and the increasing demands, it can be said that beef is dear to millions of Americans.

Beef has been gaining a lot of bad rap these days. Too much has been said to prove that beef or beef tallow is not as good as we think. True. It is not as good as we think because what we eat today is not the beef or tallow our ancestors ate. Our ancestors fed themselves with natural and organically raised cattle, not the CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) monitored cows.

Benefits of red meat: Beef has several credits to it. First, it offers the biggest boost of protein per ounce of traditional food. Next, it is an excellent source of niacin, vitamins B6, B12, K2, selenium, iron, phosphorus, potassium and riboflavin. It is a rich source of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which is said to have anti-cancer properties. It is also high on omega-3 fatty acids. With all these and our pro-fat leanings, we cannot possibly forgo beef in our diet and tallow in our day-to-day use. But there are certain things we need to be careful about while using beef. The first thing is to find out whether your beef fat is from grass fed or grain fed cow.

Happy cow is dead: If you have an image of a happy cow grazing grass in an absolutely peaceful and serene state, you are at fault. Almost no cow is happy now. At least the American CAFO regulations and the grain feed make it so. The grass fed cow is different from its grain fed cousin in the following ways:

1. CLA quotient: Only grass fed, organically-raised cows contain conjugated linoleic acid. Industrial cows do not. The CLA quotient has anti-cancer properties and can help decrease the risk of insulin resistance.

2. Omega-6 and Omega-3 ratios: In grass fed cows, the ratio of Omega-6 is to Omega-3 fatty acids is 1:1, whereas in the industrial ones, the ratio is 6:1.  The latter is an alarming and skewed up ratio that can lead to inflammation or can be a possible precursor of chronic conditions.

3. E.Coli presence: Grass fed and finished beef is less likely to be infected with acid-resistant E.Coli bacteria that can set a series of digestive problems in humans. However, you need to check if the cow is fully grass fed. Sometimes, farmers switch over to CAFO rules and industrial, grain diet after few months of grass feeding. This makes the cow lose all its initial omega-3 resources and other nutritional benefits.

4. Antibiotics, pesticides: Because of the CAFO conditions and poor grain diets, most of the cows are prone to sickness. To avoid this, they are administered with preventative doses of antibiotics. This causes antibiotic resistance in us, resulting in ineffective medical treatment. Some administer toxic pesticides in growing feed for livestock. Often these carry hormone-disruptive and cancer-causing substances into the human body.

5. Hormone implants in cattle: Industrially-reared cows are often subjected to growth hormone implants in order to provide continual hormonal supplements for animals. This may have a huge impact on humans taking heavily-hormoned cows. The American livestock is especially full of such hormone implants.

With all these in practice, the grain fed American cow is indeed overloaded with impurities and fat. This is why the humanely-raised, grass fed organic cattle offers all the health benefits of the traditional beef taken by our ancestors.

1. How to determine tallow quality? Depending on the accepted quality grades, tallow can be classified into four categories – edible, inedible, prime and stock feed. Based on their quality, tallow is variously used in soaps, candles, salves and in animal feeding. The color and the amount of free fatty acids present in tallow determine its quality. Edible and prime tallow can be used in cooking and consumed by humans. Inedible tallow is used in soaps and candles. Stock feed tallow is used as feed to pig and chicken.

2. Edible Tallow: This is the purest form of tallow and is used as a deep frying oil. Edible tallow is completely removed of impurities and should not contain more than 1% of solid matter (such as bones or muscles) and no more than 2% water as it can become rancid quickly. The bovines slaughtered for edible beef tallow should be free of diseases or any ill-health conditions. Prime tallow also is edible. Wet rendering of fat to a temperature of 130 to 140 Fahrenheit frees regular tallow of impurities, resulting in prime, edible tallow. Higher temperatures for production cause undesirable colors.

3. Inedible and stock feed tallow: Inedible tallow is just ordinary tallow used in the making of soaps and candles. To make soaps, tallow is mixed with lye and heated to a particular temperature. Tallow soaps are harder, give rich lather and cleanse well. The purity of tallow affects the colorization of soaps. Tallow candles are prepared by dipping a wick into melted tallow repeatedly. The finer and more perfect the tallow, the greater and brighter the candle will glow. Sometimes beeswax is added if the tallow is soft or too unstable for candle making.

4. Dry rendering of tallow: Tallow that is used for human consumption or soap or candle preparation is often bleached to remove all impurities. Sometimes dry rendering is also used to prevent rancidity. In dry rendering, fat is heated directly to a temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit. But this type of treatment leads to permanent discoloration of tallow fat.