How to Clarify Beef Dripping
Ingredients
Directions
Melt and set
Break the dripping into small pieces and place it in a large basin.
Pour a kettleful of boiling water over the dripping.
Let it stand until completely cold.
Purify
Cut the solidified fat from the basin and scrape off the dark underside.
Empty and wash the basin, then break up the fat again.
Pour another kettleful of boiling water over the fat and repeat the process.
Do this a third time for perfectly pure beef dripping.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Beef dripping
- The fat being purified; once residue is removed it sets clean and pale.
- Boiling water
- Melts the fat so impurities can separate and sink below it as it cools.
The step that matters
Scraping off the dark underside. The dark layer under the solidified fat holds meat residue and impurities. Leaving any behind darkens the fat and shortens its keeping quality, so it should be scraped away fully before the fat is melted again.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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