The Spruce Eats: What Is Suet? Suet, made from the fat around animal frozen australian meat pies, is a common ingredient in many British recipes. It can enhance foods like pastry and puddings. Elaine Lemm is a renowned British food writer, classically trained chef, teacher, and author with over 25 years of experience writing about British food and cooking.

The fat is removed from the meat, clarified, chopped, and then boiled in water, which removes any impurities. Upon cooling, the water and fat separate and the remaining fat is suet. Suet has a melting point of between 113 F and 122 F, and a congelation of 98. Rendered suet is suet that has been heated to the melting point. To make your own suet, you’ll need to purchase the “suet knobs” of animals.

Your butcher may have some, but it’s more likely you will have to special order it: the suet is typically removed from the carcass after slaughter and therefore doesn’t usually get to market. Pour the rendered suet through a fine sieve into a bowl. Allow it to cool, then freeze the suet until it is firm and white. Used it finely chopped or grated in your recipes and refrigerate or freeze the unused portions. Fresh suet has a mild, bland taste, a slightly meaty smell, and a dry, crumbly texture.

When it’s incorporated into sweet dishes—what the British call “puddings”— it imparts a distinct richness yet somehow avoids making them taste like beef. When used in pie crusts, suet produces a flaky and crispy texture that makes a good base for a wet filling. You can use a suet alternative in your cooking, but you may not get quite the same results as you would get from the real thing. Still, there are some decent substitutes that will get you close. Some recipes recommend using frozen butter as a substitute for suet, but this is risky as the butter melts much faster than suet and your dish will become greasy and heavy. If you can’t find suet or you just don’t want to use it, try shortening instead.

One of the advantages of using vegetable shortening is that it is suitable for vegetarian dishes. Before using it, freeze the shortening until it is very firm. Use your frozen, grated shortening as you would in any recipe calling for suet. You can also make the alternative suet in advance and keep it frozen in bags in the freezer if you are going to use it regularly.