Pork caul, it’s almost spooky looking.
Ever since I discovered what caul was, I’d been dying to cook with it, and it took me a number of years to finally get to work with this stuff. Reading old french cook books has always had me coming across it being used in various ways. The trick is….where to find it? What to make with it? Why would I want to use it? Hopefully I can answer these questions for you.
Take your pate or meatloaf to the next level using caul.
Historically, people never threw away a piece of the animal the harvested, anything and everything was getting used in some form or another. People know about liver, kidneys and the like but most will not have heard of caul.
Caul fat is a membranous tissue that insulates and surrounds the stomach of animals. To date I have worked only with pork and lamb caul, and they both have different properties. The lamb caul I worked with was not near as lacy or beautiful as the pork, it had huge chunks of fat in it and was very cumbersome. Pork caul is my favorite, thin, lacy and artful to behold, it is a luxury, and will seriously up your meatloaf or terrine game.
A venison roast wrapped in caul, baked low and slow, it will get basted as it cooks with delicious fat. You can also harvest venison caul, but pictured above is pork.
Why Use Caul Fat?
Lean meat can dry out when cooking, like game meat. Wrapping something in caul before cooking it will allow the fat to insulate it. Eventually the caul melts and baste the meat while it cooks, transferring a subtle flavor to whatever it’s wrapping.
In my mind, the absolute greatest way to use caul is to stuff things in it, or use it as a way to place a stuffing on top of a piece of meat and cook it, keeping it in place and allowing for fantastic meat fabrication.
A lamb shoulder, de-boned, marinated in wild grape juice and warapped in caul, it will get slowly braised in the oven until tender.
It’s is easy to use, all you do is cut it to fit whatever you are cooking. For example, a simple technique to start out with might be simply making a meat loaf, but instead of just cooking it in the pan, you could wrap it in caul and then bake it. Adding to this ease of use is the fact that you do not have to secure it in any way at all. No toothpicks, no twine, nada. The caul fat will naturally seal itself once it cooks, especially if you are searing it in a pan beforehand.
General usage and cooking ideas
Caul makes for a lighter casing when making terrines and pates, and is basically invisible after cooking.
Terrines, pates, and various charcuterie
Caul is my go-to for wrapping terrines and pates, instead of using bacon, which gets expensive, caul makes for a lighter, cheaper substitute, and it freezes like a dream.
Free form sausage casings
All you have to do is wrap it up nice and tight, then bake. A quick fix whenever I forget I don’t have fresh hog casings laying around.
Crepinette(s)
The most classic way to use caul I know of. Wrap a burger or sausage patty in it, then cook.
Rendering
If I have excess caul, or if it’s chunky like lamb caul can be, I make mix with some water and render for a cooking lard.
Types
Many types of caul might be available if you know the right butcher. If you hunt, you can also harvest from animals yourself, i.e. venison. The big difference I know of between species is that lamb and veal caul I’ve used can be chunky, with larger globs of fat, and can be difficult to work with. Pork is my favorite for it’s light, lacey texture. Venison caul can be harvested, but the flavor can vary greatly with the diet of the animal, I haven’t harvested it myself, but I wouldn’t go for it unless I was cleaning a very young deer.
How to store
I store caul wrapped in small, labeled, dated packages in my freezer for easy use, it thaws quickly. Caul left in the fridge will spoil quickly after a few days.
Terrines wrapped in caul are a lot lighter than those wrapped in bacon, and less expensive to make as a result.
Recipes
A few of my favorites on here
- Beef Tenderloin with Morels en Creppinette
- Turkey and Lobster Mushroom Terrine
- Venison Pot Roast with Chanterelle Stuffing
- Stuffed Rabbit Saddle Wrapped in Caul
General Cooking
Here’s some ideas
- Make a “caul fat juicy lucy by just putting cheese on top of a burger and wrapping it in caul, then roasting
- Wrap a meatloaf, pate or terrine in caul-this is a traditional use
- Use instead of sausage casings for making sausage
- Wrap any pheasant or game meat that’s had it’s skin removed in caul
- Wrap leftover mashed potatoes in caul, shape into cakes, and fry
- Top a piece of salmon with a fish forcemeat, wrap in caul, sear and roast
- Use caul to wrap a mixture of wild rice, diced vegetables, and chopped leftover meat, sear until caul is caramelized, then eat like eastern european cabbage rolls.
Where to buy
This is the tricky part, but here’s a secret: butchers throw away their caul! Call around and talk to your local butchers and see if they can hook you up with some, it will probably be pretty cheap. You’ll want to talk to butchers that get whole cows and their organs.
Since caul fat is almost all fat, it’ll freeze for a very very long time without getting freezer burnt, I’ve kept it around in the restaurant for a year+ with little deterioration. That being said, butcherpacker.com should carry it, but know that it will be in a big block, in a ridiculously large size. It’s worth the investment though, just thaw, portion into small handfuls, vacuum seal, and freeze until needed.
Hi there,
I noticed you stated “2″ by 2″ beef roast” Chmn,,,, This is a bit too small to even call a roast. What size did you mean?
Thank you.
Hi Kathy, I fear you’re getting caught in semantics. This recipe is taken directly from restaurant line preparation. In restaurants when I serve a “roast” it is very small, typically only 2-3 ounces per person. Cutting large roasts into smaller ones makes for less waste for the restaurant at the end of the day. That being said, you can substitute tenderloin at home, or another cut you like, it doesn’t have to be a “roast”, but that’s what I used. It is very important the cut of meat is rectangular and small though, since slicing large cuts wrapped with forcemeat and caul can fall apart.
Thanks for this introduction to caul fat. Very interesting I am wrapping my first terrine in bacon, as the recipe called for, but I bet it would be more subtly flavored with the caul. Really doubt I can find it where I live, though maybe a better grocery would carry it frozen?
Don’t look to a grocery store, look to a butcher that processes whole animals, they likely throw it away. Caul is very delicately flavored, unlike typical American bacon that’s so smoky it tastes like an ashtray since it’s made with smoke additive, instead of being actually smoked.
You might also contact your local “custom harvester”. This is the person that goes to the farms and ranches and “harvests” the steer or the lamb on site and then takes the carcass to the butcher shop for cut and wrap. The caul needs to be collected at the time of harvest or it probably goes in the bag with the rest of the innards and will be lost forever. I had my guy save from a lamb and a young ewe yesterday – great! Cannot wait to give it a try. The older ewe’s caul fat was thick and lumpy… won’t use it, but might render it for candle making…
That’s some great advice for rural areas where butchers don’t save any of it.
Would not eat liver as a child. Dad put bay leafs on it wrapped it in call fat and put it on the charcoal grill. Been eating it now that way for 60 years.
That sounds really good, I love hearing about people enjoying caul. Thanks Rita.
Hello! Thank you for this sage information! Can you use It with a stuffed beef tenderloin? Or is it too big? Should I make smaller loaves?
Yes you can, but you may want to cut the tenderloin into manageable sized pieces if you’re trying to cook a whole one. 3lb hunks would work.
Good morning; could you prepare blood sausage with caul fat? Do you cook with lamb lungs?
Hi Francine. Yes, you could absolutely make blood sausage using caul fat as a wrapper. I would prefer pork caul to lamb, goat, or venison. I harvested all the lungs from the lambs I butchered this year but I haven’t worked with them yet in depth. The flavor of lungs is far more intense than I anticipated.
Hey man , how was that lamb shoulder? It looks epic.. what could you use as a substitute for wild grape juice? What variety of wild grapes do you have there? Sorry I’m from Australia so we don’t have any wild grapes.
Cheers
Matt
Ps my butcher stores call for me in 10 kg boxes keeps them in his freezer so I can get them as I need.
It was good. I served it for a small group catering gig. Nice to have meat that’s precooked so you can just reheat it. You could sub sour cherry juice or something else not sweet like pomegranite. Nice that your butcher does that for you.