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I enjoy the fat(saturated) that comes out of meat and chicken so decided to try tallow(the fat from suet that the butchers usually discard) and add more of it to my my curries. However I noticed that tallow tastes overpoweringly different from just fat of meat, why is this so when it seems the dripping are essentially the same thing, or is there a reason why they taste different?

Is there a way to neutralise the taste of tallow? I added it directly to a curry and it changed colour blending with the curry however on tasting I could tell it was the strong flavour of tallow rather than the flavour of the curry.

James Wilson
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    You'll have to define what you mean by your various categories. You're comparing "saturated fat", a precise but broad term from organic chemistry, with "tallow", a vague term used in the context of trades such as candlemaking. You should clarify your question, so you're not asking why margarine tastes different from industrial lubricant. – Sneftel Sep 13 '19 at 08:16
  • Also how much tallow do you use in your curry x how do you add fat otherwise? That can make a big difference. – Luciano Sep 13 '19 at 12:12
  • @Luciano well it shouldn’t. For a start I just added two teaspoons of the tallow to my curry and mixed it with the sauce, yet the taste was overpowering, hence me wondering why such a big difference in taste. Two teaspoons of normal thick meat fat would not be as powerful. – James Wilson Sep 13 '19 at 15:47
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    Two questions: 1) Are you sure that your tallow is rendered from suet rather than muscle fat? 2) If you are sure that it's rendered suet, is it rendered from fresh suet? (Reason for the questions is that muscle fat usually has a stronger taste than suet, and older suet has a stronger flavor than fresh suet.) – Cindy Sep 13 '19 at 17:19

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Tallow is rendered fat, usually beef. Off flavors can occur quite easily when rendering fat if it is not done carefully. Do you know how the fat was rendered? Did you do it yourself? What was your process? I'm not sure you are describing tallow in your question, though, because you are describing fat that is discarded by butchers. So, you'll want to clarify. I will also add that it is not unusual that fat from different parts of the animal would taste quite different.

moscafj
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