When you make a roast, fry bacon or grill burgers, an umami-rich, nourishing but often wasted ingredient called tallow, lard or schmaltz magically renders from the meat during the cooking. This free ingredient can be used instead of butter or oil in just about any savoury dish and, depending on the type, age and quality of the meat you use, its flavour will range from mild to intensely meaty. Lamb, mutton and beef fat have a very high smoke point between 200C and 205C, which makes them a great choice for cooking food at high temperatures, be that chips, roast potatoes or popcorn. For my tallow popcorn, I saved the fat from two grass-fed burgers, which yielded just over a tablespoon and a half of fat, plenty to pop a bowl of corn for two. The flavour was rich, savoury and, once seasoned with mustard powder and smoked sea salt, tasted remarkably like meat-flavoured crisps.
