# Suet question



## Freyadog (Jan 27, 2010)

I have been watching wartime kitchen and gardens. UK program on YouTube.

The lady makes a crust for a leek pie. The suet is pellets. In order to make this crust do I need to buy the pellets or can I use something else.


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## tropicdoc (May 11, 2012)

*Suet locations*

Suet can be purchased from Amazon and also from James Townsend and sons on the internet. It is not strictly needed; I have used suet but also make good pie crust with lard.


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

*Suet, unrendered fat*

I would think that suet would be inferior to using lard. Lard comes from suet and is rendered from it.


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## catsraven (Jan 25, 2010)

The suet they are talking about is beef suet. Not pork suet. Suet comes from the kidney fat of beef and pork. Although pork suet is usually called leaf fat. It makes the best pastry. You can use lard in pie crust, but I would not use it in a boiled pudding.


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## tropicdoc (May 11, 2012)

catsraven said:


> The suet they are talking about is beef suet. Not pork suet. Suet comes from the kidney fat of beef and pork. Although pork suet is usually called leaf fat. It makes the best pastry. You can use lard in pie crust, but I would not use it in a boiled pudding.


A common brand name for commercial suet is Atora. They sell both animal origin suet and a vegetable version. to be true to the recipes, use the animal version.


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## readytogo (Apr 6, 2013)

Nothing beats fresh non-homogenize lard for a pie shell, if you don`t render your own lard you can probably buy it at the local market or http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_dkyrwmt6x_b


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## ClemKadiddlehopper (Aug 15, 2014)

Freyadog said:


> I have been watching wartime kitchen and gardens. UK program on YouTube.
> 
> The lady makes a crust for a leek pie. The suet is pellets. In order to make this crust do I need to buy the pellets or can I use something else.


 Suet, the fat around beef or mutton kidneys, has a lot of connective tissue running through it. This must be removed as completely as possible before use. Most of it can be removed by picking it apart with your fingers and peeling away the connective tissue. However, some connective tissue will still be left.

If the mostly cleaned suet is chopped fine, it becomes the "pellets" you are most likely describing. I would not use these pellets for a pie crust because they are hard and won't blend well with the flour and the remaining connective tissue is going to cause some quality problems in the pastry as well.

If you are an experienced cook go for it, but if you are just starting out, go the easier route until you get a feel for pastry making. Since it is a simple process to melt and strain the suet, I personally use rendered suet for pastries.

Raw, chopped suet (pellets) is best used in things like mince meat, dumplings ect. whereby, the cooking process will melt the fat and distribute it throughout the recipe.

For a pastry, I personally, would render the suet (melt it down) strain it, cool it and then use it in it's new smoother, cleaner and softer form. Crisco is the processed vegetable version of what it would look like.

Beef and mutton lard (rendered suet) is darker in colour than leaf lard (the fat around pig kidneys) which is snow white. Beef and mutton lard is also much stronger flavoured and is traditionally used for making pastry for savoury pies such as meat and leek pies and will be found in most christmas mince meat recipes.

Dessert pastry is best made with leaf lard as it is snow white and pretty much flavourless so it doesn't over power the fruit fillings.

To answer your question in short form; no, you do not need to buy these pellets. You can use any lard you find convenient. Your pie will not be truly authentic according to your recipe, but it will still be a pie worth eating.


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