What Is Suet? A Guide to Suet and Its Alternatives

Suet is a cooking ingredient and type of animal fat that collects around the kidneys of cows, sheep, and mutton. Suet has a mild flavor and high levels of triglyceride stearin, which gives it the ability to lend a spongy, light texture to baked goods like pie crusts, dumplings, and pastries. The ingredient also has a high smoke point, perfect for deep-frying foods.

Suet cakes and nuggets are also common nutritional supplements for birds. If you are a birder or bird watcher who wants to attract wild birds and songbirds—like woodpeckers, wrens, bluebirds, kinglets, nuthatches, jays, starlings, chickadees, and goldfinches—you can make your own suet birdseed. Simply melt suet and mix it with peanut butter, oats, or cornmeal to create homemade suet birdseed for year-round use.

Suet is made from the fat of cows and sheep; specifically, the fat crumbles that collect around the kidneys. Butchers often classify suet by the type of animal from which it came. For instance, suet from beef fat is known as beef suet. To remove any impurities, butchers boil suet chunks in water and sell the hard fat that separates.

Shredded suet is a common product sold at supermarkets and local butcher shops because recipes often call for it in this form. Butchers can also process rendered suet by melting it at a low heat to make tallow.

Traditional British and Scottish cooking is full of dishes that call for suet to lend a moist texture and subtle beef flavor to many foods.

1. 1. Christmas pudding: British Christmas pudding is a dense, sticky cake that combines tangy fruit flavors with aromatic spices. The suet enhances the flavor of the pudding mixture by adding a dark richness to the taste.
2. 2. Dumplings: Suet dumplings are dense English dough balls that home cooks immerse in hearty winter stews. Create soft, thick suet dumplings simply by combining suet with flour.
3. 3. Haggis: Haggis is a traditional Scottish pudding consisting of sheep meat, spices, stock, and onions. Suet intensifies the savory flavor of this rich, meaty dish.
4. 4. Mincemeat pies: Recipes for mincemeat pies, which feature a light pie crust filled with a mixture of fruits and spices, often call for suet. Learn how to make mincemeat.
5. 5. Spotted dick: This traditional English pudding has a rich texture and flavor resulting from steaming during the cooking process. The addition of suet makes this cake even more moist and decadent.
6. 6. Steak and kidney pudding: This traditional British dish calls for ox kidney and steak steamed inside a moist suet-based pastry crust.

Suet may be difficult to find at grocery stores in the US, but there are fat alternatives that can mimic its properties in your favorite suet recipes. To make these fat alternatives better resemble suet, use a food processor to break them up into a shredded consistency.

1. 1. Beef suet: Beef suet is specifically made of beef fat and can come from any part of the animal (rather than the kidneys exclusively). Make this suet alternative by boiling and separating the fat from any cut of beef.
2. 2. Frozen butter: Use shredded frozen butter as an alternative to suet in pie crusts. It’s important to note that butter has a lower melting point than suet and will melt much faster. Butter can also give your foods a greasy texture, so other suet alternatives may be more optimal.
3. 3. Pork fat: Also known as lard, pork fat is similar to suet because it is an animal fat with a high melting point. Consider using lard if you’re trying to create a flaky pie crust or pastry and don’t have suet. However, lard has an unmistakable pork taste, so it won’t lend your dish the mild flavor that suet would.
4. 4. Vegetable shortening: Vegetable shortening has a mild flavor like suet and hardens in the refrigerator, making it simple to shred and add to foods that call for shredded suet. Shortening consists of sunflower oil, palm oil, and wheat flour, which create a similar, crumbly texture to suet. Like suet, shortening is a solid fat that is useful for baking and deep-frying foods because it has a high smoke point.

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