Brigitte took these photos of me making suet last night
Here in northern California it can get really hot in July and August. We’re talking sometimes over 115 degrees! So I began making my own “no melt suet” and the birds absolutely LOVE it!
Sure I have put out the store bought stuff and they will eat it. But I have to tell you, if I put out a store bought suet cake and one of mine at the same time, the birds will go through 3 or 4 of my suet cakes before the store bought one is anywhere near gone.
So, I thought all of you might want my recipe along with a couple of tips on how I make my suet so you can have birds pecking your door down and screaming at you to fill up the suet feeder when it’s empty.
My first secret is to use actual suet. This is not necessary as you can simply use lard for your suet, however, I have found that the birds like the real thing better. I go to the meat department in my local grocery store and ask for the suet. They always have plenty of fat that they trim off their beef and it always has some meat attached to it also. I put it through a meat grinder, several pounds at a time, then freeze what I don’t use immediately. I divide the ground suet into 2 cup portions, seal them in bags and freeze.
If you want to you can mix 1/2 suet and 1/2 lard for this recipe:
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1 cup suet or lard
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1 cup crunchy peanut butter
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2 cups “quick cook” oatmeal
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2 cups yellow cornmeal
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1 cup all purpose flour
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1/3 cup sugar
If you want to you can throw in some ground nuts also (another secret that keeps the birds coming back for more). This is pretty easy to make but I usually triple (at least) the recipe so I don’t have to make it every few weeks and it stores very well in the freezer.
Melt the suet and peanut butter in a large pot. Stir in the remaining ingredients, a couple of cups at a time. The mix should be the consistancy of cookie dough. If it’s too runny, add more flour. Spoon it into suet trays (I keep trays from store bought suet) or a shallow pyrex baking dish that you can cut into squares after refrigerating.
Press the dough down into the forms to remove all the air and you have a solid suet cake. If you are going to use some right away, place it in the refrigerator until solid and freeze the rest sealed in plastic.
That’s it! No melt suet that will stand 115 degree temperatures in the summer. If you can, use real suet, add some fresh ground nuts to the mix and the birds won’t leave you alone! Enjoy.
Happy Birding!
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Does melting the suet smell of the house? Would it be better to heat it outdoors on a grill?
Thanks
Hey Bob, You sound like my wife
She said the exact same thing to me when I started the suet! It smells a little bit, and you are both probably right. It is a great idea to melt it out on the grill, especially if you have a side burner on your grill (which I do).
Now I have to apologize to Brigitte. I’m sorry honey. Once again, you were right.
Enjoy the suet and don’t smell up your house, heat it out on the grill!
I like the idea of using the side burner on the grill. My wife has a new oven and she’s still kind of picky about what can go in it. I’ll have to give this one a try.
Have you found they favor any particular type of nuts, or do you just go with peanuts?
Johns last blog post..Pepper Suet – How to Squirrel Proof Your Suet Feeder
Homemade suet “rocks” been usin’ this recipe for years.
Don’t scorch the “fat-lard”. Add to it… the cheapest “crunchy” peanut butter” (Hello–DISCOUNT STORES), any flour, wormy flour is good), cornmeal, any dried fruit (hard raisins? Cranberriess from Thanksgiving? How about som rancid cereal? I lam talking, these birds get off on cheap, wormy, kinda nasty stuff.
Just make a dough from it with flour. Freeze it in a container that fits the gift . And voila. I don’t care if you hang it from a string.
THEY WILL COME.
Salute,
Dee
I have a standard recipe you can add to.
Hi, I recently bought a cake of prepackaged store suet that’s supposed to attract lots of birds but it’s been hanging out there for 2 days with no takers. Why? And how long before it goes bad? Can manufactured suet bought in the pet isle stay outside indefinitely? Also, I have read not to use bags of commercial mixed bird seed but every time I put that out I get tons of birds, the mourning doves and sparrows especially seem to like it. I’m looking to attract cardinals and bluejays now and I thought the suet would do the trick but no one has touched it. Any ideas?
We made this recipe for summer feeding and the birds absolutely loved it – and it didn’t melt! Do you have a good recipe for winter feeding? Our daily/nightly temps are now down to and below freezing.
THANK YOU!!!
Marcia
@Marcia I use the same recipe all year
Can you put mealworms in the mix as well?
@Blaze I would think that would kill the meal worms. I don’t feed meal worms but if you had dead meal worms, I don’t see why you couldn’t put them in the mix
I melt my beef fat in the crock pot over night. It’s top temperature is 213 far below a flash point of fat.
House smells yummy too.
That looks GREAT. I’m sure the birds loved this so much better than packaged suet. Too bad I’m allergic to Peanut Butter; affects my respiratory.. I would make this in heartbeat. Thank you for sharing!!
HOwever…. I would advise against using the cheapest peanut butters… they usually have toxic Hydrogenated Oils and other crap that is disease causing for anyone that eats it. = transfats turn to plastic in our body.
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