You should not have any cracklins after rendering your fat.  If you do, the temperature was too high.
Wash the fat, Cut it up into chunks and put in a slow cooker on low.  Don't add any water.  The goal is to render the fat and get all of the water out.  Let it slow cook overnight.  There will not be any cracklins.  The fat will be really mushy,  I use a 'tater masher to mush it up real good and slow cook it a couple more hours.  Strain out the mush.  Put it back into the slow cooker and let it harden.  Turn the slow cooker back to low and let it render one more time overnight.  You want to make sure all of the water is out of it.  I have some left after about 4 months and it is still as fresh as day 1.




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On Aug 25, 2009, at 8:18 PM, Elizabeth Beasley wrote:

> I found an upscale local grocery store that gives me beef fat scraps for
> practically nothing, and so I think they are pretty good quality. I take a
> large kettle, and put them in, and add some water. I simmer them for what
> seems like a long time. The water goes away, and I keep cooking it on low,
> stirring it often. I'd like to say mine takes about 8 hours, but I heard you
> can put them in a large pan in the oven and cook low. You know they are done
> when there are bits that are really crispy, like pork rinds. You can eat
> them. That is the rendering the fat part of it.
> 
> For the beef part, I buy eye of round steaks. I slice them as thin as I can,
> and put them in my Nesco food dehydrator. I have the one that has 5 trays
> and adjustable temperature. I've "cooked" them on low (90F) and higher
> (140F) and I can't tell the difference taste wise, it takes less time with a
> higher temperature, but you're supposed to dehydrate on the lower temp for
> longer to help keep all the happy stuff in it good (my technical term).
> 
> Once the beef is now really crispy jerky, I put it in the food processor
> until it looks like dust. It's okay if it has some bits in it.
> 
> I weigh the fat, and weigh the meat, and whatever has the lower number, go
> with that weight for the other. So basically if I have a pound of fat, I add
> a pound of the dry meat. I do add some salt, pepper, and garlic powder to
> mine, hardly at all. I mix it all up. The fat has to be liquid but not
> really hot.
> 
> Then I put a sheet of that freezer paper on my counter, and pour the mixture
> on it. I add another piece of freezer paper on top of that, and flatten it
> out to about 1/4" inch. I put it in the fridge (or freezer if I'm impatient)
> until it's hard. Then I break it into pieces and put in containers which I
> keep in the fridge. I like it right out of the fridge the best.
> 
> Hope that helps!
> 
> Elizabeth
>