Dripping, also known as beef or pork dripping, is an animal fat produced from the fatty or otherwise unusable parts of cow or pig carcasses. It is similar to lard and tallow.
It is used for cooking, especially in British cuisine, significantly so in Northern England, though towards the end of the 20th century dripping had fallen out of favour, due to its being regarded as less healthy than vegetable oils such as olive and sunflower oil.
Traditionally, fish and chips were fried in beef dripping, and this practice does continue in some places particularly in the North of England, however many such shops now use oils which are considered to be more healthy.
Pork or beef dripping can be served cold, spread on bread and sprinkled with salt (bread and dripping). If the tasty brown sediment and stock from the roast has settled to the bottom of the dripping and coloured it brown, then in parts of Yorkshire, this is known colloquially as a "mucky fat" sandwich.
In harsher times of economic stress, say in the 1920s, it would have been common for working class houses in the north to be short of money for meat, so the labouring man of the house would get the lion's share. (Especially important for manual labourers in heavy industry.) The younger children might have to make do with bread dipped in the dripping.
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