> I remember someone suggesting having the butcher grind it; this
> seems like a good idea to me, but I haven't tried it. Anything higher than
> low heat will scorch the fat; anything short of VERY long will leave it
> incompletely rendered.  Heat again on very low heat to make liquid.

Our small town butcher offers suet, ground or in large pieces for about
.59/lb.  He also offers rendered suet for a little more but we would rather
save and render ourselves.  We have scorched the suet before and it ruins it
completely.  You are right it takes patience and better to do at lower heats
for longer.  We render ours and store it until ready to use.  Make sure the fat
is not too hot before pouring on the meat or it will make the pemmican tough.
You do not want to "cook" the meat with hot fat.  We always have pemmican on
hand and use the rendered suet in all kinds of recipes.  We even use pemmican
to thicken up chili sauces a little.

We each have a Vitamix and have found it is easier to chop if done 4 or 5
pieces at a time on a slower setting until chopped up.  Then we add all the
chopped back in and use the plunger to powder.  We still use a lower setting or
the Vitamix will heat the powder too much and that can "cook" or make for tough
pemmican also.

NeanderTwins
Kendra and Karen