Lard vs Beef Tallow
Beef Tallow wins on seed oil PUFA: about 3% of its fat versus roughly 11% for Lard, around 4x less per spoonful.
Per tablespoon that is an estimated 0.4g of PUFA against 1.5g. Values from USDA oil composition data, method on the methodology page.
| Lard | Beef Tallow | |
|---|---|---|
| PUFA share of fat | ~11% | ~3% |
| Est. PUFA per tablespoon | ~1.5g | ~0.4g |
| Type | animal fat | animal fat |
| Seed oil? | no | no |
Lard
Rendered pork fat, roughly 11% PUFA (higher than tallow because pigs store more of the fats they eat). Traditional for pastry and Mexican cooking.
Traditional tamale and carnitas kitchens. See the tamales answer page.
Beef Tallow
Rendered beef fat, the classic American fry medium before the 1990s. Mostly saturated and monounsaturated fat, very stable at fryer heat.
A short list of chains discloses tallow fryers. See Tallow Watch.
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Or work out any amount with the PUFA calculator.