Separating blood from bear fat

[rice1817]

Guys:

Just got some bear fat from the guy who butchers game. Problem is, that unlike last year's batch, this bear fat is laced with blood. I found out last year that if you leave any blood in the fat while rendering, the resulting grease stinks to high heaven. Clean fat yields grease with no smell. Is there a way to get the blood out of the fat before I render it? Maybe boil the fat in water?

 

[rabjr]

Hmm laced? I've always been able to scrap off the blood pretty well with a good knife. If your dealing with a bloody wound area I'd attack it with a knife and try to cut most of it out.

 

[rice1817]

Laced might have been a bad choice of words. The butcher told me it was from a small bear, without a lot of fat. So in trying to maximize the fat he could retrieve for me he may have gotten a little aggressive with his fleshing knife.

 

[rabjr]

Yeah I get the same thing from spring bears from an outfitter who saves fat for me, it should separate or cut away easy enough. Have you tried to trim it yet?

 

[paulvallandigham]

If you render the fat by heating it, in water, the blood will go into the water, and the fat will become oil floating on top of the water. When you cool the mixture down, the blood will stay with the water. In fact, you can skim most of the fat or oil off the top of the water, and eliminate the blood that way. If you freeze the mix, the water and blood become ice, and are easily separated from the fat.

 

[rice1817]

The blood is not concentrated in any one spot that would make trimming easy. I want to minimize the waste...long time till next bear season and they don't stock it at the local grocery store! I like Mr. Vallanddighams idea to let chemistry work for me and place the fat in hot water to let the water dissolve the blood and salts.