I am looking for some bear grease(rendered bear fat). Does anyone know of somewhere that I can get my hands on some and what would be a resonable price for it per ounce? I have found it for seven dollars an ounce but that seems expensive! Any help would be much appreciated.
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Why anyone would want that stinking mess is beyond me, but simply by cooking fat over a medium flame, you can make your own. I'd suggest you do it outside, however, unless you like that kind of stench. Once the fat has been cooked down, simply pour off the liquid into desired containers and let it cool. You CAN press the residual "cracklings" down to extract even more if you're so inclined. You can have your own bear grease or bear lard and sell it to some other dumb schmuck for that elevated price.
I will agree with George that the fat will have a bit of odor, but only a bit. I actually likes the smell, but my wife was less than enthused. She also didn't like me making muzzleloader balls on the stove last night either.
To render the fat, add about a cup of water in the bottom of the crock pot and fill the rest with clean fat cut into smaller pieces. Let it go for a few hours (you can even plug it in outside), then you can skim off the fat from the top. I would suggest filtering it with cheese cloth, but it results in nice clean fat. I had intentions of making pie crusts or dumplings with the quart I rendered, and figured if it was good, I would render the rest of the fat I had in the freezer. I still have the fat and never found the time to try the recipe which I got from an internet site. I may still try it but it goes bad over time, even in the freezer.
I have done it several times and never found the smell to be at the least offensive. Stick it in the oven in a large pot on low heat and let it melt off.
Guess you haveta be there. LOL. I grew up in a time when butchering your won pigs was a necessity and rendering the fat into lard was the last job of the day. I hated it then and still dread the thought and the smell. Probably a carry-over for me to say it stinks because of that. But then again, when the lard turned rancid, we ended up adding wood ashes to it and making lye soap. That's a whole nuther story.
With rendering 5 quarts, while doing so my wife came down stairs, Said what ya got cooking, it smells great. I love bear grease for making biscuits. Anyway, do not use water in the rendering process. Oil and water does not mix, and will spatter all over.