Kettle for Rendering Fat
Display: Hearth to Cookstove
Culinary Technique: separation
Manufacturer: N. Linden
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Dimensions: 8" h x 18" w x 12" d
Watch collection donor Mel Mickevic demonstrate this object with
Dean Christopher
Koetke, School of Culinary Arts, Kendall College,
and Victoria Matranga, exhibition curator.
The kettle's long handle turned a scraper inside the pot, which separated animal fat into lard and tallow for making candles. The scraper unit features two blades and two sets of teeth that touch the inner surfaces of the pot. The cast-iron vessel was formed with four feet, so that it could stand in hot embers, and a ridge with a stopper edge, so that it could be suspended in the burner hole of a cookstove.