Mutton fat......what shall I make with it........ ,

I never cook joints of meat with direct heat, as in roasting in the oven, although I do roast off small cuts like belly of pork. Instead, I always cook the joint first, either in the pressure cooker, or in a pot of water which has seasonings and vegetables added to it. So what I do is this...

- Day One: Joint got out of the freezer. Left to unthaw for a day. (If short of time I will put it straight into the pressure cooker still frozen. The only downside to this is that the meat does not have seasonings merge into it.) 

- Day Two: Joint put in big pot of water, together with bay leaves, onions, celery, carrots, and maybe a stock cube or two. Brought to the boil, then simmered for as long as it takes for me to remember that I have a pot cooking away on the stove. This could take a couple of hours, or more, depending on how forgetful I am. Eventually pot taken off stove, and the contents left overnight to cool down.

- Day Three: Now this is when I find out what state of being the meat is in as I fish about in the now cold liquid. If I have remembered to take the pot off the stove after a couple of hours or so, then the meat will still be intact, with the bone still in. I drain it, then into the oven for a few minutes to roast off it goes. If I have been forgetful about taking the pot off the heat, then the meat will have fallen off the bones, although will most likely still be in a big chunk. Not to worry, can still use it as a roast. If the meat has broken up into small pieces? Oh, that's easy. Can use it is a stir fry, or braised, or minced, but we shall not be having a roast that day. 

The pot roast liquid can end up as:....

- if I am feeling super duper efficient I might put it into canning jars, to be used later as stock for soups.

- or I might put it into the freezer, again to be used later as stock.

However, none of the above are likely because I have a habit of forgetting about the pot of liquid once the meat is taken out of it, and it has been known to sit around the kitchen for a further day or so, or even longer sometimes, thereby putting the liquid into a 'not quite as fresh as it ought to be' therefore making it unsuitable for canning or freezing.

So what normally happens is this.....

- if the meat is chicken, sheep, or rabbit, then the liquid is put into the pig food pot where it joins with all the cooking water of the day, plus various vegetables and pasta,  to produce  breakfast for the pigs for the morrow.

- if the meat is pork, then it is mixed up with the dog food. Nothing is wasted. 

Now:.......

Always there is a layer of fat upon the liquid of the pot roast, (see photo at start of post) which I mostly disregard, so it stays with the liquid wherever it's destination. However..........a recent browse on the internet had brought to my attention a rather interesting idea to pursue......so I skimmed off the fat, then melted it down in a saucepan over a low heat. Once melted, I put it through a sieve, and this is what I got........

........ doesn't it look just yummy? Like white chocolate? All velvety and mouth wateringly seductive?

But....what is this? Are you declining my offer of eating such a treat? Oh well, I must stop teasing you and own up to what is in these pots.....

Face cream! Yes,.......face cream!!!!! 

So what I did was:......

- melt the tallow (which is the sheep fat which was floating on the surface of the now cold pot roast liquid....it has to be fat from a lamb or sheep....apparently pork fat won't do)

- when cool enough to handle, but before the liquid solidified, I put it into jars via a muslin lined sieve, I then added some olive oil, not much, just a bit, then some drops of lavender oil. And hey presto!! Face cream.....

How cool is that! But,  "does it work", I hear you say. Actually, surprisingly, it does. But I don't slather it on, just dip the tip of my finger in the 'ointment', which is enough to cover the skin of my face. 

However, and this might be the only thing which might put you off, is that the lavender oil seems not to have been able to completely conquer the vague aroma of animal fat, not that it is unpleasant, but it might be off putting to someone not used to farm life and the harvesting of one's own meat. 

So, I shall not be making a fortune out of this latest smallholding experiment of mine by selling it on to the public as a beauty product. I shall have to keep it all to myself! 

In love and light

Vx