Beef Tallow: Is This Old-School Favorite The New Trend?

BETTER FRIES

For those of you who grew up in the early days of eating french fries from McDonald's, you remember a time when those fries were the best thing since sliced bread. They had different tastes. And then...There was a time when we all piled up in the car, placed our order, and handed out the fries, and everyone stopped, thought, and said, "Do these fries taste funny to you?" Yes...Something was different. The oil that those french fries were made in was changed to a different kind of oil. More vegetable oil, rather than the original beef tallow oil typically used.

Well, perhaps the 'good ole days' of tasty fries might be coming back, at least to some restaurants.

STEAK N SHAKE

Steak N' Shake, a popular restaurant in many southern states, has made the switch back from vegetable oil to beef tallow to cook their tasty shoe string french fries.

They are switching back 100% to beef tallow to bring back the highest quality and best taste to their fries, according to an online article. (I'm not sure it has anything to do with being a healthy option, but we all know that deep-fried foods aren't healthy...right?)

An article stated that all Steak n' Shake locations would be using 100% beef tallow by the end of February 2025.

BUFFALO WILD WINGS

What other restaurants are making the switch that we are aware of? Buffalo Wild Wings has been using beef tallow for a long time to prepare lots of their deep-fried items. Why? Same reason. It tastes better.

MCDONALD'S

So will other restaurants follow suit? Specifically, will McDonald's bring back their beef tallow for great fries?

According to an article, a registered dietitian nutritionist named Lauren Manaker, "For a giant like McDonald's, adopting beef tallow might resonate with its history, as it initially prepared its fries with a tallow blend before shifting to vegetable oil decades ago. While a return to tallow could be seen as aligning with Kennedy's ideals and potentially offering taste improvements, the underlying health concerns with deep-fried foods would remain. Small adjustments like these may not transform fast food into health food, but they do signal a shift toward more thoughtful ingredient choices."