Hello, again. I had a question and knew yall could help. I need to know how to make suet. Mine isn't the correct consistancy. (Too runny) I wasn't sure if cornstarch could be used or if it would hurt the birds. Any info. would help. Thanks! Chris in N.C.

-- chris (jbrown@ecinet2000.com), October 16, 1999

Answers

Bird Suet is supposed to be rendered fat, sometimes mixed with bird seeds. If you have fat you don't want to use for cooking, candle making, soap making, or other projects, giving it to the birds is a good idea. Render it by boiling. Pour off the liquid fat and let it harden. The hardness depends on what animals the fat comes from. The hardest fat seems to come from deer and goats. Softer stuff comes from sheep, and cows. Lard from pigs is softer. But Goose and chicken fat is the softest of all. If you make suet from the softer fats, it will be runny at room temperature, around 70 - 80 degrees. You can make it more solid by mixing in harder fats (I like using deer fat for this because I don't like the taste or smell of deer fat, but I have a lot of it on hand). Just mix them together while they are still liquid. Or just chill your runny suet. If it was made from fat, it should firm up nicely at cold temperatues. Good luck.

-- Kathy (redfernfarm@lisco.com), October 16, 1999.

I think you're trying to get too technical. You're rendering it (melting it) and ading some sort of goodies, aren't you? Just go to your local butcher and ask for suet. I'm talking about the guy you bring your animals to for butchering. If you don't have animals, ask around - that guy is out there somewhere. We have our piggies butchered by the fellow who does our neighbors beef. The suet is the internal fat of beef animals, and we always get all we need free. Supermarkets hereabouts are now charging 69 cents a pound for it, but only the yuppies buy it. External fat is OK, but not as good. Fat or other animals is also acceptable, but we render all the leaf (internal)fat from our pigs into lard. (Best pie crust in the world: 2 cups flour, 2/3 cup lard, and enough water for the right consistency. Believe me!) Now go feed the birds, and make your husband/wife (Chris is not gender specific!) a fine pie. And have fun - that's what it's all about. Your friend in Maine - Brad

-- Brad Traver (homefixer@mix-net.net), January 20, 2000.

Chris, mix chunky peanut butter, bird seed, and hog lard. Keep it cool. Brad hit it right on the money,, However, THE best pie crust is Hog Lard just as he said, but you add one egg and one table spoonful of cider vineger. JR

-- James R. Jones (jr3star@earthlink.net), February 22, 2000.

I used to get 'fancy' with the suet too, rendering, adding peanut butter, seeds, whatnot -- the birds didn't like it. They liked the real thing, big chunks of raw suet in a bag. 'Fancy' to them was if you were kind and ran it through the meat grinder first so they could peck it easier. One instance were simpler is better.

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), October 04, 2000.