For the Birds

So I just want to reassure all of my loyal fans (search bots) that I'm still cooking, still eating, and still writing (rarely) on this blog. Unfortunately, I eat everything too quickly to publish pictures, and I'm on to the next dish before I can think about writing about it. There is an exception today: homemade suet.

In the process of making harira (you'll want to look that one up again), I ended up with a good half pound of lamb fat. What to do with all that flavor? I certainly wasn't going to dig in myself, but having just run out suet in the bird feeder, I decided to render it and make a little treat for my feathered neighbors.

Into the pot went all the lamb fat, cut into small pieces, and a half cup of water. I simmered the whole thing for about an hour until I had mostly melted fat and just barely a little bit of water. I didn't want to start deep frying the cracklin's in lamb fat...

Wait, that would have been delicious.

OK, well that opportunity is gone. Having rendered all the goodness I could, I strained out all the leftovers and let the liquid separate and cool in the freezer. After not too long, the fat had formed a nice creamy head, and the artist formerly known as water was now a gorgeous gelatin that I added to the harira.

The fat went back in the pan on low heat with a cup of mixed birdseed and sesame seeds, and it was all warmed up just to melt the fat. I poured the mixture into a mold and it's now hanging in the suet feeder waiting for my first customers.