Steven Lamb
MORE RECIPES
Skirt steak and chips; Tongue, kale and apple hash with horseradish; Ale-braised ox cheeks with parsnips
SOURCING
fordhallfarm.com and greenpasturefarms.co.uk (for grass-fed beef dripping)
Dripping is the melted fat that escapes from meat as it cooks. It can, technically, be applied to any meat but generally it refers to beef fat. ‘Bread and dripping’ is an iconic British snack. Energy-dense and utterly delicious, it’s a great way to use the fat rendered from a joint of roasting beef. Spread the solidified dripping on a slice of robust bread (or hot toast if you prefer, so that it melts), sprinkle with salt and tuck in. Like all animal fats, dripping is rich in flavour. The home-rendered variety, lifted from a roasting tin, may well include some meaty residues too, making it even more tasty. In fact, though we generally take ‘dripping’ to refer to fat alone, the term is sometimes also applied to the rich meaty juices that separate from it. Try mashing some of those together with the fat for a particularly intense topping to your toast.
You can buy dripping ready-rendered in jars, tubs or packets. This is useful if you need a large quantity – for frying chips, say – but collecting your own is easy. After cooking a joint of beef, you can skim off the fat from the juices (leaving those as the base for rich gravy). Alternatively, leave the juices to cool: the fat will harden and form a layer on top of a meaty jelly.
Fattier cuts will of course yield more dripping: try brisket or any visibly well-covered cut from the outside of the animal, including sirloin and rib. In small quantities, dripping can also be gleaned from a stock or stew that has cooled.
You can stockpile dripping in the fridge. If you intend to keep it for any length of time, it should be clarified, removing any solids that may spoil and become rancid. To do this, put warm, liquid dripping in a large bowl and pour over roughly double its volume in boiling water, stirring all the while. Set aside to cool: the clarified fat will float to the top and solidify, and everything else will sink to the bottom.
The flavour and high smoke point of dripping make it ideal for browning meat before roasting or braising. It is also fantastic for roasting potatoes and cooking Yorkshire puddings – and there’s nothing better for fried bread.
This savoury version of a simple drop scone is rich and delicious. The scones are fantastic served with leftovers from a joint of roast beef and a little horseradish, or topped with other cold meats or pâtés or even smoked fish. Makes 20–30
250g self-raising wholemeal flour
A pinch of baking powder
A couple of pinches of salt
2 medium eggs
About 375ml milk
50g dripping, melted and cooled a little, plus extra for cooking
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs. Pour in about half the milk. Whisk, gently at first, and then as you start to get a thick, smooth paste, add a little more milk and the 50g melted dripping. Keep beating, adding more milk as necessary, until you have a smooth batter a little thicker than double cream – you might not need all the milk.
Put a large, non-stick frying pan or flat griddle over a medium-high heat and add a small knob of dripping. Once melted, rub a wad of kitchen paper around the pan to oil it lightly. Pour a scant tablespoonful of batter into the pan, to get a disc about 7.5cm in diameter. Repeat until you have 4 or 5 rounds in the pan.
After a minute or two, when little bubbles appear all over the surface of the scones, flip them over. Cook the other side for a minute or so, then transfer the scones to a warm plate and cover with a clean tea towel so they stay warm, or put into a very low oven.
Cook the remaining batter in the same way, adjusting the heat if the scones are browning too quickly and re-greasing with a little more dripping as necessary. To serve, top the warm scones with slices of cold roast beef and a dollop of horseradish, or eat plain.