# Why is it called Duck Fat but Beef Tallow? **URL:** \ **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:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2026, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/21 "2026-05-05T22:30:09Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Just think how whale oil lighting must’ve smelled. When burning, it was considered to smell less bad than tallow, etc, but when you put out a whale oil lamp, the fishy smell was nasty, they say. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2026, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/22 "2026-05-05T22:40:54Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > 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. Rendering a process that removes impurities from the fat and as a general rule both makes it smell better/more neutral (though not entirely) and last longer. Which is not the same as lasting forever. When used for making candles various essential oils or other substances might have been added both to make them smell better and to reduce/delay decay. Tallow and schmaltz do not smell as strongly as beef fat and chicken fat. Which is not to say they smell great. When it’s the only lighting you have, though (referring to tallow, not schmaltz), you put up with it. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2026, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/23 "2026-05-05T23:18:08Z")
It’s also called suet, and has long been a popular ingredient in winter bird food. Commercially available tallow (and lard too) comes from certain areas of the animal, and has been processed and refined. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/24 "2026-05-06T00:24:09Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > 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. This is something I’d never learned before. Because it was none of my beeswax. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/25 "2026-05-06T01:00:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > 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. I’ve long been fascinated by the development and evolution of English, and I’ve heard this story many times before (although I’ve typically heard it more in terms of the “name of the animal the peasant raised” vs. the “meat the aristocrat ate”). But apparently it’s much more complicated that this “rich/poor” divide, as attested by this fantastic Substack I was introduced to by another thread here on the SDMB, especially this recent post: > **[1066 didn't change English (but 1250 did)](https://www.deadlanguagesociety.com/p/1066-french-words-in-english)** > > How all those French words actually got into English > [@Dead Language Society](#): > > The _cow/beef_ story that Sir Walter Scott told isn’t wrong _per se_. Doublets like _cow/beef_, _sheep/mutton, swine/pork_ do exist, and it’s true that the animal names come from Old English, while the meat names come from French. But the strict division between the two kinds of names only became fixed in the 19th century: just ask the King James Bible about _beeves_ ‘cows.’ As for the conquest narrative, however, the timeline just doesn’t fit. The short version is that the massive influx of French words into Old English to form what is now referred to as Middle English happened as French was losing its grip on the aristocracy after they lost their estates in Normandy some two hundred years after the Conquest. Until then, the language that the vast majority the population spoke in England (around 1-2 million people), was little affected by the 50,000 or French-speaking Norman aristocrats. And translators (_latimier_) were utilized in the interim so the peasants could converse with their landlords. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/26 "2026-05-06T15:13:09Z")
You can probably get away with calling a duck “fat,” but if you try calling a beef “fat” you’re probably going to get gored and/or trampled. I’ll let myself out. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/27 "2026-05-06T23:02:09Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I’ll let myself out. Don’t forget to close the gate behind you. Lest you be trampled a second time. Beeves can run faster than you think. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2026, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/28 "2026-05-07T01:40:16Z")
Sounds like you might be shortening… your chances of avoiding a stampede. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2026, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/29 "2026-05-07T02:51:29Z")
Bonus points awarded to you for using the proper plural. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/30 "2026-05-19T14:01:32Z")
Dripping =/= drippings. At least,the kind I could [easily](https://www.tesco.com/shop/en-GB/products/288354065?srsltid=AfmBOooVRZpsyVBzTiJtqmZ8HxEP4fyk_pBe0u-gu83PA8r8qQJdZPA8)[buy in the UK](https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-beef-dripping-320g) is the rendered kind. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724/31 "2026-05-19T14:36:59Z")
“Dripping” isn’t a noun in my dialect. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-called-duck-fat-but-beef-tallow/1029724.md?page=1)