Tallow Lamps or Rejoice in Fatness!

"...and let your soul delight itself in fatness." Isaiah 55:2

Now, before anyone gets rather too excited about the afore referenced quote, I rather think we all can appreciate the sentiment! Our medieval counterparts did! Fat: A modernly eschewed once luxury and necessity. A contradiction?

- Two replica pottery tallow lamps based on archaeological finds from southern England. They were fired in an Anglo-Saxon pit kiln. The fuel in the lamps is bacon grease...Mmmm, scented candles!

A fat animal was prize! Fat was first of all food. There was no Crisco, no Wesson. Other than olive oil, vegetable oil was not common. Lard, tallow, suet, poultry fat or schmaltz, were what people cooked in and with. Fat was added to meat and used to store meat in. Properly rendered fat has no moisture and lets in no air. (I had a 2 gallon crock of rendered beef tallow stay fresh for a year at room temperature. My grandma has a hideous story about a crock of lard and some rats...ask me about it sometime...)

Secondly, fat was a fuel. Here, finally, comes the point of my story. Fat was light! Beeswax candles were expensive and saved often for the church. (Wax candles were recorded gifts to churches.) Fat was the more common source of light for everyone, low and high. Rush lights, cattails soaked in tallow, tallow lamps with wicks of twisted linen cloth, all fueled with animal fat.

How do you make a tallow/fat lamp? Easy. You will need some sort of vessel to hold your fat in. Usually something small, about the size of a coffee cup is quite large enough. Next, you will need some sort of fat. Tallow is a fat that is hard at room temperature. (Beef, sheep, goat, and deer, all fall under this category.) Tallow has the advantage of not spilling when not in use and can be easily transported. (Perhaps a useful period camp light?) Lard and schmaltz (chicken, duck, and goose fat) are semi-liquid at warm room temperature and only solid when quite cool. All fat will need to be rendered from its original raw state. Raw fat may be trimmed off cuts of meat you have for dinner over time and saved up in the fridge, or go to your meat section or meat market and buy some. Don't feel odd about requesting some from your butcher and he may even ask you if you want it ground. Say yes! Ground suet, lard, or any fat renders down the best.

Next, put your fat and a few cups of water into a crock pot, electric roaster, or more period, a thick pot on the stove. (Whether a fire inside or out, you will need to tend this much more attentively. You decide how modernly busy or impatient you are.) Low heat is the key. Slowly heat your fat, stirring occasionally, until all is melted. The water will cook off and be gone. You want to melt the fat not "fry" it. If there is actual smoke involved you are way too hot! You will eventually see little golden bits floating in your amber colored melted fat. These are the "cracklings". Depending on your cholesterol level go ahead and strain these out and sprinkle with salt and enjoy! Pour your strained fat into the lamp vessel of your choice. While warm and liquid insert your wick. Choose a kerosene lamp wick, round or flat woven, or use a twist of 100 percent linen cloth you have a scrap from a garb project. Get the fat to draw up very close to the tip of your wick and light. The wick will need to lean against the side of your vessel without falling down into the fat. Too much wick above the surface of the fat is not desirable as you will have a high and vigorous flame! Fat lamps will smoke a bit more than candles but produce very usable light!

I look at my fat pig and fat steers a bit differently than once I did. You too will rejoice in fatness when you can light your way to the privy at night!