Is suet available for you easily?

[Hans89]

A question for all you RAFers around the world: Can you easily find suet and where? Grass-fed / non-grass-fed, whatever... Is it normal to buy it in your country?

Here in Germany I can find grass fed meat, not so easy but possible after some research. The biggest problem for me, however, is finding appropriate fat. I can now regularly get some suet and caul fat from lambs, but that's it. I can occasionally get some fat from pigs... the kind they make lard from... not sure about the English word. But far from enough to get by. Now for the first time in a year, I've been able to get beef suet. I had to convince the seller that it is edible... He wouldn't believe me... maybe still doesn't.

Anyway... I'm really quite afraid that if my supplier for lamb closed down or if I'd have to move to another city, I wouldn't be able to find an even acceptable source of fat. Which has me kind of worry.

[TylerDurden]

I find raw suet very difficult to get hold of. I don't like the taste anyway so I usually don't bother asking unless I know it's available. 

[djr_81]

It's the second easiest fat for me to get ahold of following marrow.
It seems a lot more vendors are holding on to suet now for sale as they're finding a market for it.

[Hans89]

@ Tyler

So what fat do you rely on? Bone marrow and back fat? I can't imaging eating all the fat I need as marrow, plus I don't think I would be able to afford it (really expensive here) or even find that much.

[djr_81]

Tyler eats omnivorously so isn't quite as dependent on fats as someone eating carnivorously.
I do think he gets most of his fat as marrow though...

[Paleo Donk]

If Lex and djr would stop ordering so much high-fat ground beef (!!!!) then I might be able to get my hands on some suet regularly. I should look around more though, theres gotta be other farms besides Slankers that ship suet. I have gotten a hold if it once out of my 4 times I've ordered. It doesn't have much of a taste but best of all is very easy to eat and keeps very well in open air. I've had a chunk sitting out now for about 10 days with no noticeable smell, its just dried out a bit.

[ys]

back fat is absolutely my favorite, but it is hard to get a hold of.  suet is OK.  i do not like marrow that much.

in all, it depends what kind of meat you are eating.  beef in general is very lean so i add suet to it.  lamb, on the other hand, is very fatty even it it is grass-fed.  arm roast cuts and leg of lamb are really fatty. i do not add any extra fat for those cuts.

tongue is also very fat, 65% fat in caloric content, i also do not add any extra fat to it.
most cold sea water fish is very fat by themselves.

egg yolks are 75% fat (in caloric content).

i also use butter sometimes.  butter is the best digestible fat for me but i use it sparingly.

[TylerDurden]

@ Tyler

So what fat do you rely on? Bone marrow and back fat? I can't imaging eating all the fat I need as marrow, plus I don't think I would be able to afford it (really expensive here) or even find that much.

Marrow is very cheap in the UK, for me. Have you tried raw tongue? That's very easy to get for me and is very fatty indeed. (I can't get back-fat/hide-fat).

[Hans89]

Marrow is very cheap in the UK, for me. Have you tried raw tongue? That's very easy to get for me and is very fatty indeed. (I can't get back-fat/hide-fat).

I'll order lamb's tongues on a regular basis then. How much marrow do you typically eat in a day? And I'm wondering: Is it in the bones or do they take it out for you? I eat like 100-150g of suet / caul fat to my meat daily. Can't imagine eating that much of marrow, though I haven't tried.

[Hans89]

Tyler eats omnivorously so isn't quite as dependent on fats as someone eating carnivorously.

I'd like to do that, too, especially to have more options like when I'm traveling, but it seems like animal flesh and eggs are the only thing my system wants to take in without complaining... So I might have to go carnivorous.

[PaleoPhil]

My local Healthy Living health foods store carries 100% grassfed suet and there are now two farms selling it there, plus a grain-finished organic version, so there seems to be increasing demand for it. Make sure you get 100% grassfed and not organic or supermarket versions, as the 100% grassfed tastes much better.

There is now also pork leaf fat and ready-made lard, but I don't care for the taste of these (I suspect the pigs aren't fed 100% biologically appropriate diets).

[djr_81]

If Lex and djr would stop ordering so much high-fat ground beef (!!!!) then I might be able to get my hands on some suet regularly.

I haven't ordered any in a while PD. I've got local sources for my meat, and know it's hard for many to find quality local, so I cut way back on my order size from Slankers. I've also now got a local farm I can get good suet and organs from as of last week so it won't be me causing problems.
AFAIK they use the beef fat for the high fat ground and not the suet. At least that's what Caroline said when I asked.

I'd like to do that, too, especially to have more options like when I'm traveling, but it seems like animal flesh and eggs are the only thing my system wants to take in without complaining... So I might have to go carnivorous.

I'm right there with you Hans, hence why I'm eating carnivore.

[PaleoPhil]

I'm right there with you Hans, hence why I'm eating carnivore.

Me three. I also wish I could eat like Tyler and thus have more food options.

What really stinks is being forced for health reasons to restrict my diet, then have insult added to injury when some people (I'm not referring to Tyler in this, not right now anyway ) insult me for eating raw carnivore, as though I wanted to do it and was doing it for no good reason. On the bright side, the more I eat this way the more I come to like it.

[TylerDurden]

I'll order lamb's tongues on a regular basis then. How much marrow do you typically eat in a day? And I'm wondering: Is it in the bones or do they take it out for you? I eat like 100-150g of suet / caul fat to my meat daily. Can't imagine eating that much of marrow, though I haven't tried.

  I can't always get raw marrow, but when I can  I get something like 3-7 kilos of bone-marrow a fortnight(of course, this includes the weight of the bone; and they expect you to remove the marrow by yourself). In the past, when I really focused on marrow as an extra raw fat, I would easily have 100-150g of raw marrow a day.