Beef Tallow Pie Crust

Why make Beef Tallow Pie Crust? Beef tallow is the secret ingredient to perfect pie crust. It makes the flakiest crust you'll ever have. And don't worry – it doesn't taste like beef.

Be honest. Are you intimidated at the thought of trying to make pie crust from scratch?

If so, you’re not alone. Most people think making pie crust is hard. But it’s actually quite easy. You’ll be astonished at how simple it is to make the most delicious, flaky, perfect pie crust.

Oh, wow, haha will you look at that – I'm republishing this (16 years after I first posted it in 2009) on March 14 – Pi Day (PIE DAY). Of all the recipes to update today – God is awesome.

Jump down to the recipe

Eat More Pie – It's Good for You

Who doesn’t love pie? Apple pie, chocolate cream pie, coconut cream pie… mmm!

A savory pie makes a wonderful dinner. I love pie all year long – strawberry pie in spring, peach and cherry pie in the summertime, pumpkin pie in fall and pecan pie in the winter.

When you die, and if you get a choice between going to regular heaven, or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if its not, uummmmm, boy.
– Jack Handy, Deep Thoughts

Not only is pie delicious, but it is one of the healthiest desserts you can eat – of course, only when you use beef tallow or lard to make the pie crust.

Beef tallow and lard are full of fat-soluble vitamins, A, D, E and K. Our bodies also need good, saturated fat.

So eat more pie – made with a beef tallow pie crust.

Why Use Beef Tallow in Pie Crust

But nutrition is not the only reason to make beef tallow pie crust. Beef tallow is, hands down, the best way to make pie crust (lard is second best, in my experience).

Here's the science: beef tallow and lard, when used in pie dough, allows more air pockets to develop in the crust, which makes the crust lighter and flakier.

Where to Find Beef Tallow or Lard

I don't recommend buying tallow and lard in the grocery store, unless you can find a good source.

I only recommend grass-fed beef tallow and lard made from pastured pigs.

I say this because toxins are stored in the fat of animals, and conventionally fed CAFO cows and pigs are fed grains that are loaded with pesticides and other toxins.

Good news! You can actually find grass-fed beef tallow and lard made from pastured pigs on Amazon.

Here's a good brand of grass-fed beef tallow: EPIC Beef Tallow, Grass-Fed.

How to Render Beef Tallow or Lard

It's a whole heck of lot cheaper to render your own beef tallow or lard at home. And it's so easy!

Here’s my recipe for how to render beef tallow and lard.

I like to render lard and tallow in my crockpot, but you can do it just as easily in the oven or on the stove.

Recipe Notes

This recipe for beef tallow pie crust is based on my favorite pie crust recipe ever, the one in Jeffrey Steingarten's brilliant book, The Man Who Ate Everything.

This is one of my favorite books of all time – if you're a foodie and a nerd like me, you'll love it.

Make sure you get good quality lard or tallow, from a farmer who raises animals on pasture and does not feed them genetically modified corn and soy — any grain they are fed should be organic.

Most grass farmers will sell you pig or beef fat, or suet, which you can render into lard or tallow (beef tallow is also the very best fat for French fries).

The best, most flakiest pie crusts I’ve ever made are with beef tallow. If you use beef tallow, you will need to cut it up smaller (see below in the recipe).

Talk to the farmers at your local farmer’s market and ask them if they have pig or beef fat. If you can get leaf lard (this is the lard from around the kidneys of the pig), that is the very best.

If you can’t find good lard or tallow, you can make your pie crust with 100% butter or you can do a mix of butter and refined coconut oil. It’s still very good.

Beef Tallow Pie Crust Recipe

Equipment

Chef's knife
Large mixing bowl
Rolling pin (you can use a wine bottle in a pinch)
Pie plate, glass or ceramic (not aluminum)
Pie weights (for blind baking; you can find these at a restaurant supply store or cooking store; you can also use dried beans or rice)
Aluminum foil

Ingredients

For a Single-Crust Pie:
Flour (1 1/2 cup)
Sea salt (1/2 tsp)
Butter, ideally from grass-fed cows, frozen or very cold (1/4 cup, plus extra for greasing the pie plate)
Beef tallow, lard or refined coconut oil (1/4 cup)
Ice water (4 to 5 TBS)

For a Double-Crust Pie:
Flour (2 cups)
Sea salt (1 tsp)
Butter, frozen or very cold (1/3 cup, plus extra for greasing the pie plate)
Beef tallow, lard or refined coconut oil (1/3 cup)
Ice water (5 to 7 TBS)

Instructions

1. Using a knife, cut the butter and beef tallow up into one-inch cubes. Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and sea salt.  
3. Add the cubes of butter to the flour and gently mix together with clean hands.  
4. Squeeze the cubes of butter and tallow with your fingers until they get smaller. This is critical: Do not overmix – the blobs of fat should not be smaller than olives or peas when you the dough is done.
5. Add 1 tablespoon of ice water at a time as you mix the dough together with your hands. Mix together, adding water and pinching the globs of fat until you can squeeze the dough it holds together.
6. If making a single-crust, gather the dough into a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap, then put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (you can do this ahead and leave it in the fridge for a few days). If making a double-crust, divide the dough in half first.
7. To roll out the pie crust, generously sprinkle the counter with flour.
8. Get out the chilled dough and set it on the flour. It may need to sit a few minutes if it's too cold. Sprinkle flour on top.
9. Roll out the dough, starting in the center and rolling out in different directions – into a big circle. Keep adding flour as you roll so it doesn't stick.
10. Roll it into a circle that is a couple of inches larger than the diameter of a pie plate.
11. Grease a pie plate with butter and put the circle of the dough in the plate.
12. The dough should hang over the edge of the pie plate by at least an inch.  If it doesn’t, patch the dough with pieces from where it overhangs a lot.  
13. If you're not blind baking, add the pie filling on top of the dough in the pie plate. If you have a top crust, roll it out as you did for the bottom crust, and put it on top of the pie.
14. Trim the edges of the pie crust to about 1/2 inch with kitchen scissors or a knife.
15. Fold the edges under and then flute the edges or use a fork to press them down.
16. Before the pie goes into the oven cover the edges with strips of aluminum foil so they won’t burn. If you have a top crust, add several vents with a knife, for steam.

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