Traditional Cooking Fats Guide — Tallow, Ghee, Lard, Butter

All of our guides to the traditional fats we cook with — beef tallow, ghee, butter, lard, coconut, olive and red palm oil. Compare the fats: every fat-versus-fat comparison, including tallow vs butter, tallow vs ghee, tallow vs suet and ghee vs olive oil. Shop the pantry → Our picks

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All of our guides to the traditional fats we cook with — beef tallow, ghee, butter, lard, coconut, olive and red palm oil.

Compare the fats: every fat-versus-fat comparison, including tallow vs butter, tallow vs ghee, tallow vs suet and ghee vs olive oil.

Shop the pantry → Our picks for traditional fats, oils and cookware.

Beef tallow

Beef Tallow — The Forgotten Cooking Fat That Makes Everything Better — Beef tallow is rendered beef fat — the highest smoke point of any cooking fat, neutral flavour, and the reason McDonald's fries used to taste different.
The Best Beef Tallow Brands — Pasture-Raised, Wagyu, and Commercial Grade — Best beef tallow brands reviewed: Fatworks, SCP Wagyu, Epic, Nourished Essentials.
How to Render Tallow at Home — Wet and Dry Methods — How to render beef tallow at home using the wet or dry method. Which fat to buy, how to strain and store it, and how to cook with it.
What Is Tallow — How to Render It and Cook With It
Best Beef Tallow Brand 2026: Fatworks vs Epic vs Ancestral Supplements Compared — The best beef tallow brand is Fatworks grass-fed tallow — clean flavour, glass jar, grass-fed sourced.
Cooking With Beef Tallow: Temperature Guide, Best Dishes, and How to Get Started — Cooking with beef tallow means matching the right temperature to the right dish.
How to Season Cast Iron With Tallow: The Ancestral Method — Tallow is the best fat for seasoning cast iron. Its high saturated fat content polymerises into a hard durable coating that outperforms flaxseed oil, grapeseed oil, and vegetable shortening. Complete step-by-step guide.
Why Does My Beef Tallow Smell Like Barnyard? (And How to Fix It) — Grass-fed beef tallow naturally smells earthier than grain-fed. A strong barnyard odor means impurities are trapped. Here is the 3-step salt-water wash tha
Is Beef Tallow Good for Cooking? The Complete Guide — Yes. Beef tallow has a 420°F smoke point, resists oxidation under heat, and outlasts every seed oil in storage. The complete guide to cooking with tallow.
Tallow Rendering Equipment — What You Actually Need — 5 things to render beef tallow at home — from the $8 cheesecloth to the $100 Instant Pot upgrade. What each piece does and what to buy at each budget.

Cook with it: every beef tallow recipe on the site, grouped by technique (frying, searing, roasting, braising, rendering and storage).

Ghee and butter

The Complete Guide to Cooking With Ghee — Everything You Need to Know — Ghee is clarified butter with the milk solids removed — higher smoke point, longer shelf life, deeper flavour.
The Best Ghee Brands — Grass-Fed, Cultured, and Traditional — Best ghee brands reviewed: Ancient Organics, Fourth and Heart, Organic Valley, Bulletproof, and more. Which grass-fed ghee is worth buying and why.
Ghee vs Butter — Which Ancestral Fat Wins for Cooking
What Is Ghee? Complete Guide to the MAHA Cooking Fat — Ghee is clarified butter with milk solids removed — higher smoke point, richer flavour, lactose-free. The complete guide to ghee for MAHA cooking.
How to Make Ghee at Home — the Complete Guide With Tallow vs Ghee Comparison — Making ghee at home takes 30 minutes and produces a better product than commercial ghee.
Is Butter a Seed Oil? — Butter is not a seed oil. It is made from churned dairy cream, not from a plant seed. Here is how butter compares to seed oils and why it is one of the most important MAHA cooking fats.
Best Ghee Brands in the USA 2026: Fourth and Heart vs Ancient Organics Ranked — The best ghee brand in the USA is Fourth and Heart for everyday cooking and Ancient Organics for the finest quality.
What Is Niter Kibbeh — Ethiopia's Spiced Clarified Butter — Niter kibbeh is spiced clarified butter — ghee infused with onion, garlic, ginger, cardamom, fenugreek, and turmeric during the clarification process.
Compound Butter — 10 Herb and Spice Butters for Ancestral Fat Cooking — Compound butter is softened butter combined with herbs, spices, garlic, or citrus and rolled into a log for the fridge.
Why Ghee Is Better — The Nutritional and Culinary Case
Can You Fry in Butter? The Smoke Point Answer — Can you fry in butter? Yes, with limits. Whole butter smokes at 350°F. Clarified butter (ghee) has a 485°F smoke point and works for all frying.

Lard

What Is Lard? The Ancestral Fat That Belongs Back in Your Kitchen — Lard is rendered pork fat — not hydrogenated shortening, not bacon grease.
Lard vs Tallow: Which Ancestral Fat to Use and When — Lard vs tallow — use lard for pastry, tortillas, and wok cooking. Use tallow for roasting, searing, and deep frying.
Is Lard a Seed Oil? The Clear Answer — Is lard a seed oil? No — lard is rendered pork fat, an animal fat. Seed oils come from plant seeds.
Lard Pie Crust — The Flakiest Seed Oil Free Pastry — Lard pie crust — the flakiest, most tender pie pastry. No shortening, no vegetable oil. Lard produces layers butter cannot. Seed oil free.

Coconut, olive and palm oil

Is Coconut Oil a Seed Oil? — Coconut oil is not a seed oil. It is pressed from coconut flesh, not a seed. Here is how it compares to seed oils and which cuisines use it as an ancestral fat.
Is Olive Oil a Seed Oil? — Olive oil is not a seed oil. It is pressed from the olive fruit, not a seed. Here is why it differs from canola and vegetable oil and how to use it in seed oil free cooking.
West African Fats Guide — Palm Oil, Shea Butter and What Is Seed Oil Free
What Is Red Palm Oil — West Africa's Ancestral Cooking Fat — Red palm oil is the deep orange-red unrefined fat pressed from the flesh of the African oil palm.

Choosing and using fats

Best Oil for Frying Without Seed Oils: Tallow vs Lard vs Ghee vs Avocado Oil — Tallow, lard, ghee or avocado oil? Sourced smoke points and fat profiles, which to use for each frying job, and what to buy.
African Food Culture — Why the Continent's Cuisines Were Built on Ancestral Fats — African cuisine across all regions was built on ancestral fats — palm oil, shea butter, ghee, coconut oil, tallow.
Cooking Fat Smoke Points — The Complete Guide to Which Fat to Use and When — Complete smoke point guide for seed oil free cooking — beef tallow, ghee, lard, butter, coconut oil, olive oil, and avocado oil.
Best Seed Oil Free Brands: The Complete 2026 Guide — The best seed oil free brands are Primal Kitchen, Siete, Chosen Foods, Fatworks, Fourth and Heart, and Kerrygold.
What Is the Healthiest Cooking Oil? — The MAHA Answer — What is the healthiest cooking oil? The MAHA answer: beef tallow, ghee, lard, butter, coconut oil, and olive oil — the fats humans used before seed oils existed. Full guide.

Cook with these fats

British fish and chips in beef dripping
Instant Pot bone broth
The best seed oil free cookbooks (books built around tallow, lard and butter)
Savannah Ryan's cookbooks

Frequently asked questions

Is beef tallow the same as lard?

No — tallow is rendered beef fat; lard is rendered pork fat. Both are ancestral cooking fats with high smoke points, but they have different flavour profiles and different typical cooking applications. Tallow is more neutral; lard has a slightly porky note. Read more: what is tallow

Is tallow sustainable?

Tallow is a byproduct of beef processing — it would otherwise be discarded. Using tallow is one of the most sustainable choices in the kitchen because it utilises fat that the beef production system already produces. Read more: what is tallow

Can I use tallow for baking?

Yes — tallow can substitute for shortening or lard in pastry and biscuit recipes. It is less commonly used for sweet baking because of its subtle beefy note, but it works well in savoury pastry and biscuits. Read more: what is tallow

What does beef tallow taste like?

Mild beef fat flavour at low ratios â similar to butter but with a deeper, savoury note. At high ratios it is distinctly beefy. Most people find it neutral in small amounts and pleasantly rich in larger ones. Read more: cooking with beef tallow

Is cooking with beef tallow healthy?

Tallow is primarily saturated fat, which is stable at cooking temperatures and does not oxidise the way polyunsaturated seed oils do. The MAHA movement and the 2026 US Dietary Guidelines both support ancestral fats including tallow over industrial seed oils. Read more: cooking with beef tallow

Can you fry in beef tallow?

Yes. Tallow's 420Â°F smoke point makes it suitable for deep frying at standard temperatures of 350-375Â°F. It produces a crispier result than many seed oils because of its saturated fat structure. Read more: cooking with beef tallow