[Sca-cooks] suet Vs. fat

galefridus at optimum.net galefridus at optimum.net
Wed Feb 2 09:05:05 PST 2011


> Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2011 23:56:49 -0600
> From: Stefan li Rous 
> To: Cooks within the SCA 
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] suet Vs. fat
> Message-ID: <6C5D97CE-E167-4775-A950-4BAAFA5DEFD8 at austin.rr.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> Galefridus said:
> <<< A similar distinction exists wrt sheep fat. A lot of Islamic 
> recipes call for tail fat, which is not to be confused with the 
> muscle fat. Sheep store fat in their tails (and around their 
> hocks in some breeds). >>>
> 
> We've talked a little bit about fat from sheep tails previously. 
> This file in the FOOD section has some of our discussions on it:
> cooking-oils-msg (78K) 6/10/07 Period cooking and food oils.
> http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/cooking-oils-msg.html
> 
> Unfortunately, I don't remember any discussions that the tail 
> docking removed the tail fat also, but this file might have some 
> info on possible sources. Doing a search on "tail fat" in the 
> Florilegium does turn up a number of recipes calling 
> specifically for that ingredient.
> 
> Stefan

I had this discussion on the Authentic Cooks list, I think.  In conversations with several local Halal butchers, many told me that "back home" (Turkey, Syria, etc.) sheep with fat tails were quite common, but that they hadn't seen any since coming to the US.  In conversations with breeders at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, I found that the common practice in the US is to dock tails, primarily for reasons of hygiene.  

> Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2011 06:51:54 -0800 (PST)
> From: V O <voztemp at yahoo.com>
> To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] suet Vs. fat
> Message-ID: <159576.44636.qm at web110816.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
> 
> A friend of mine who?has done some reserch into this?mentioned in a disscussion 
> we had about middle eastern cooking, that this breed of sheep (fat tail) 
> mentioned in this type of cooking is no longer around.? So, would it be the same 
> from a modern breed of sheep?? Does anybody know if that breed 'is" still 
> around, or would it be just something avaliable in the country or local area 
> where they still are?? 
> 
> 
> Mirianna

As has already been stated, there are numerous breeds of fat-tailed sheep that are still available.  One of the most common is Karakal, but there are others.  Again, I saw a number of them and spoke with folks that specialize in heritage breeds at the above-mentioned sheep and wool festival.

-- Galefridus



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