# Why is it called Duck Fat but Beef Tallow?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** food-cooking
**Created:** [May 2, 2026, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724 "2026-05-02T15:42:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2026, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/1 "2026-05-02T15:42:05Z")
In this [fascinating thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-tallow-tell-me-about-it/1029687/6), a poster mentions duck fat and beef tallow and other animal fats.
Why is beef tallow called tallow but duck…squeezings…get called duck fat??
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2026, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/2 "2026-05-02T18:29:39Z")
From my understanding, tallow is rendered and clarified beef fat. Suet is hard solid fat from certain areas of the cow. Drippings are from cooking.
When rendered and clairified, duck (and all poultry) fat is often called schmaltz. Regular fat from cooking is just duck fat.
For pork, rendered and clarified fat is lard. Fat from cooking is grease.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2026, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/3 "2026-05-02T18:38:42Z")
> [@Telemark](#):
>
> From my understanding, tallow is rendered and clarified beef fat. Suet is hard solid fat from certain areas of the cow.
Yes, beef fat comes in two different forms.
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### Author:  [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2026, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/4 "2026-05-02T19:41:00Z")
Back when you could buy beef fat in a store, it came in a package labeled “Beef Fat”. It was usually next to the lard. So there is (or was) a product called beef fat. I don’t know if it’s the same thing as beef tallow.
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2026, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/5 "2026-05-02T20:23:55Z")
The etymology of “tallow” means “hard” and it is indeed a hard fat at room temperature.
The schmaltzes are generally soft at room temperature.
My WAG is that that is a large part of why the poultry fats never got included with ruminant fats as “tallow”
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2026, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/6 "2026-05-02T20:32:02Z")
Note that tallow comes from Middle English, while schmaltz comes from Yiddish. (Fat also comes from Middle English.)
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2026, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/7 "2026-05-02T21:04:26Z")
Yes. I use schmaltz precisely because there is no other word in English for the group “poultry fats” … they just get called “duck fat” or “chicken fat” or “goose fat”. Beef and pork fats get special names in English. Why _not_ the schmaltzes? My WAG was its physical structure but maybe it’s their place in the culinary culture?
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2026, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/8 "2026-05-02T21:15:29Z")
It all comes from Norman England, where the rich people spoke French and the poor spoke Anglo-Saxon. So we get French names for the expensive meats that rich people ate, and Germanic names for the cheap meats that poor people ate.
Of course, the dirty work of raising the animals, before they got turned into delicious meat, was all done by the poor Anglo-Saxons, too. So the Anglo-Saxon pig in the sty and the Anglo-Saxon cow in the pasture get turned into French pork and beef on the dinner plate.
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### Author:  [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2026, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/9 "2026-05-02T21:32:07Z")
I wonder if in part it is the rarity of farmed poultry prior to the modern era. Pigs being easy foragers (see all the rules in the medieval period in Europe on such) means it was _comparatively_ common, and the usages for lard manifold. My understanding is that beef would have been quite rare outside the wealthy/landed class, and poultry were valued for eggs, with chicken being predominantly non-laying members which were likely tough and lower in fat than a modern bird.
I remember my grandmother talking about her mother (Eastern European Jews all) carefully saving the fat from a rare roast bird, especially since the more available lard was of course, forbidden in the household.
Not to mention it’s usefulness in a Kosher-keeping household.
But this is of course, a faith/household specific, and a historical, class and regional generality at best.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2026, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/10 "2026-05-02T21:45:57Z")
I think tallow was used to make candles, and you can’t make candles from softer fats. But I’m just guessing.
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### Author:  [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2026, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/11 "2026-05-02T22:15:09Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#):
>
> Why is beef tallow called tallow but duck…squeezings…get called duck fat??
While tallow is beef (or mutton) fat it’s not the ordinary fat you find your steak marbled with but rather rendered [suet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suet) from around the kidneys.\* It is harder than ordinary fat at room temperature I don’t know if fowl have it at all but if they do it must be in a relatively miniscule amount compared to beeves or sheep and not worth processing.
Rendered ordinary beef fat is referred to as drippings by the Brits. I don’t know of any specific American term.
\*Industrial tallow is not so fussy but is rendered fat that meets certain criteria, especially the melting point.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2026, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/12 "2026-05-03T00:21:12Z")
I think any rendered beef fat is called tallow in the US. The Wikipedia article on tallow says, “Dripping is the British term for [beef fat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef_fat) that has been [rendered](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendering_(animal_products));[[5]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallow#cite_note-2020-01-23_Green_Pasture_Farms-5)”
To me, drippings are not clean rendered animal far, but what’s left in the pan after roasting a chunk of meat, including the aqueous phase and the coagulated proteins. In fact, i sometimes distinguish between the fat in the bottom of the pan and the “drippings”, which is everything else. (As i use the word.) I often pour everything in the bottom of my chicken roasting pan into a measuring cup, and carefully skim off most of the fat and put the rest (the “drippings”) onto my rice. Drippings are important for making gravy, and a useful addition to soup. I guess you need fat for the gravy, too, and broth. But it tastes a lot better if you include the non-fatty portion of the drippings.
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2026, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/13 "2026-05-03T00:53:44Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#):
>
> I think tallow was used to make candles, and you can’t make candles from softer fats. But I’m just guessing.
I think that is it but more broadly?
Chickens and other poultry were commonly raised small scale, more for eggs than meat, but pigs and cows were _industries_ with the fat as a valuable product used for candles, and more, and, being solid and relatively slower to go bad than poultry fat, had markets that they were shipped to. Plus easier to get fat as an intended product for commercial use from hogs and cows than poultry. Okay geese get chubby, ducks too but not huge, but chickens, not so much fat there.
In the shtetl OTOH there was no fat industry peasants were participating in. As @ParallelLines notes, you salvaged the fat and used it. That chicken fat was important in your household so you had a word for it.
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### Author:  [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2026, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/14 "2026-05-04T14:12:01Z")
This is some great stuff !!
Re: Puzzlegal’s comment. Makes one wonder if tallow candles reeked. I mean, most fats when sitting at room temperature smell awful after a few days. I doubt that boiling or cooking them before cooling and forming into candles would get rid of the reek.
Then again, people and abodes smelled pretty atrocious for thousands of years. Perhaps the stink of the candles was the least of it…
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### Author:  [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2026, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/15 "2026-05-04T14:24:57Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#):
>
> Makes one wonder if tallow candles reeked. I mean, most fats when sitting at room temperature smell awful after a few days. I doubt that boiling or cooking them before cooling and forming into candles would get rid of the reek.
Apparently, tallow goes off pretty slowly, which makes sense since it’s just highly refined saturated fats. Not much for decay microbes to get their teeth enzymes into.
> **[How Long Does Beef Tallow Last?](https://parkercountybeefcompany.com/blogs/news/how-long-does-beef-tallow-last)**
>
> How Long Does Beef Tallow Last?
> Beef tallow has a long shelf life when stored properly — that’s one of the reasons it was so commonly used before refrigeration became widespread. Thanks to its low moisture content and natural stability, beef tallow...
> When kept in a cool, dark place in a sealed container, beef tallow can last up to 12 months at room temperature. Keep it away from direct sunlight and humidity to prevent spoilage.
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### Author:  [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2026, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/16 "2026-05-04T15:46:10Z")
> [@gnoitall](#):
>
> > [@Cartooniverse](#):
> >
> > Makes one wonder if tallow candles reeked. I mean, most fats when sitting at room temperature smell awful after a few days. I doubt that boiling or cooking them before cooling and forming into candles would get rid of the reek.
>
> Apparently, tallow goes off pretty slowly, which makes sense since it’s just highly refined saturated fats. Not much for decay microbes to get their teeth enzymes into.
>
> [How Long Does Beef Tallow Last? – Parker County Beef Company](https://parkercountybeefcompany.com/blogs/news/how-long-does-beef-tallow-last)
>
> > When kept in a cool, dark place in a sealed container, beef tallow can last up to 12 months at room temperature. Keep it away from direct sunlight and humidity to prevent spoilage.
So, one would keep candles in the springhouse where it was quite cool year-round.
Not so much in sub-Saharan Africa. Where it hasn’t ever been quite cool year-round.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2026, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/17 "2026-05-05T17:21:52Z")
That’s why hot places mostly used oil lamps and not candles, i think. But yes, the candles (and their smoke) didn’t smell great. Beeswax was more expensive in part because it made a cleaner, nicer candle.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2026, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/18 "2026-05-05T17:56:16Z")
All fats can go rancid.
I’ve had artisan made candles that have gone nasty.
Just think how whale oil lighting must’ve smelled.
I understand from things I’ve read a person’s skin took on the odor and a grey or black cast to their hands and face.
Thank you Edison. 💡
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2026, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/19 "2026-05-05T18:01:54Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> So the Anglo-Saxon pig in the sty and the Anglo-Saxon cow in the pasture get turned into French pork and beef on the dinner plate.
I believe the Anglo-Saxon word for “pig” was “swin,” like the German “Schwein.”
Whoops! They apparently used “picga” too!
[List of English words with dual French and Old English variations - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_with_dual_French_and_Old_English_variations)
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2026, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/20 "2026-05-05T18:16:53Z")
Never mind
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