Rendering fat is easy. I just rendered about a BUNCH of fat in my 20
gallon cast iron cauldron over a wood fire last weekend. I ended up
with more than 7 gallons of rendered lard/tallow. I use this for
making soap. I get it from the local meat processing plant, so I am
never sure exactly what animnal it comes from. There is, without a
doubt, a huge difference between kidney fat (leaf lard, suet) than
regular body fat. It is much harder to cut up, has more membrane in
it, and is more brittle when frozen.

The easiest way to render small amounts of fat, from my experience, is
in the oven. I just chop it up into smallish pieces, throw it in a big
turkey roaster (no lid) with a little water to get it started, and
bake it all day. Since I usually make soap with it, I render it at 350
deg. I render at lower temps when I am planning to eat it.

I have recently invested in an Excalibur Dehyrator, with 9 trays. It
has over 15 square feet of drying space.  It's wonderful! I had one of
the round ones from Wal-mart and let me tell you, I can fill my big
one up with 14 lbs of ground meat for jerky in less time than I could
put 3 lbs in the little one.  It is so much easier to fill big square
trays it's not funny.  It has already paid for itself just in the time
I have saved. I got it on ebay, but it still wasn't cheap.

If you make jerky from ground meat, and if you have a meat grinder,
take a look at the Jerky Genie: http://id.mind.net/~jergenie/   It
uses the meat grinder to extrude strips for jerky. Works like a champ.
My husband and I can process 14 lbs of meat into jerky in about 30
minutes.

Camille
-- 
"What the Thinker thinks, the Prover proves."

--- 'Prometheus Rising' by Robert Anton Wilson