Harold McGee, in On Food and Cooking, instructs me that what I referred to in my original recipe as “lard” should actually have been referred to as “tallow,” which he defines as “Rendered beef fat.”

So, I believe we have three categories of rendered fat assigned titles: lard=pork; tallow=beef (with suet being a separate, specific category of beef fat from around the kidneys), and schmaltz=fowl.

Continued explorations into other texts have yet to yield names for fats from sheep, goats, venison, or other commonly eaten fauna.

Speaking of Eastern Europe, another really good recipe for beef short ribs is a tsimmes — this is Jewish/Russian/Eastern European stew made with dried fruit and potatoes. You can make them with or without meat. A basic recipe with 2#s short ribs:

Rub the short ribs with paprika, and brown in a large, heavy casserole (you can use neutral oil, or some kind of animal fat if you prefer, although the flavors are strong enough in the dish that you might as well use neutral oil). You’ll probably have to do this in batches.

When all the shortribs are browned, put them back in the casserole with enough hot water to cover comfortably, bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, cover, and cook for an hour. Skim the foam from the liquid.

Add 1# large-cubed potatoes, 1# carrots in large pieces, cover loosely, and cook for 20 minutes. Add 1/4 cup brown sugar. Add 1# large-cubed sweet potatoes. Cover loosely and cook for another 20 minutes. Check veggies to see if they’re soft enough to poke easily with a fork or skewer.

Also, check the level of liquid in the pot. If it’s getting a bit dry, add some more water you’ve boiled separately, or heated up in the microwave.

Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup prunes, and 1/4 to 1/2 cup dried apricots (I prefer California to Turkish, because they’re more tart). Add another 1/4 cup brown sugar. Cook for another 20 minutes and serve.

If you like matzoh balls, you can add a batch before you add the dried fruit. Note that matzoh balls soak up liquid like sponges, and they need plenty of room as they expand, so you’ll need to make sure there’s plenty of liquid in the pot before adding them. I suggest a heavier matzoh ball in this recipe, even if you generally like lighter ones — don’t separate the eggs and beat the whites — the stew is too heavy for fluffy matzoh balls. Make sure to let them cook for 15-20 minutes before you put in the dried fruit.

This recipe makes a lot of food, and it’s very rich and heavy. It keeps very well, though, and like most stews it’s better as leftovers than right off the stove. I’ve never frozen it, but I imagine it would freeze fine. And it’s pretty flexible, too. You can add more potatoes, of more carrots or sweet potatoes if you like, or use different dried fruit, like raisins, if you want, or flavor it with honey instead of brown sugar.

Note that sweet potatoes tend to dissolve a bit in this recipe. The white potatoes and carrots will tend to soften but keep their shapes.

There are probably species-specific names for rendered fat (chicken fat, for instance, is known to Jewish cooks as schmaltz and is a key ingredient to any matzoh ball recipe).

I have no idea what the species-specific name for fats from other animals are, and can find no reference in the likeliest of my reference books to fill in these gaps in my vocabulary.

Larousse Gastronomique refers to the broad classification as “economy fats” and of them says, “It goes without saying that… drippings of various kinds should be carefully collected and preserved” though the volume also notes that “care should be taken never to use mutton dripping in this way.”

I have never actually had mutton, but I do recommend lamb drippings for various purposes—especially in place of melted butter to prepare a hollandaise to accompany grilled rack of lamb and asparagus.

To the best of my knowledge, lard is the fat from swine. Am I mistaken or did you make a mistake when referring to the fat from the short ribs as lard?