I appreciate the help from Michael and everyone who answered this thread. I also went out and looked for answers on my own. This is what I found.

Michael's correct about suet being so-called kidney fat. It is a denser and finer grade of fat that is often used for suet puddings in the UK and UK-influenced countries like Australia and Canada.

At least in the US, lard is techincally the rendered fat from a pig, and tallow is the rendered fat from a cow or sheep. The kidney and internal organ fat is the premier fat, but mostly is was made from back fat. Usually around Christmas time one pig who was allowed to fatten to enormous size just for this purpose, was slaughtered. This was mainly to get hams, bacon and far for lard. Some pigs could yield up to 200 pounds of lard.

The process of rendering lard yields two products: the rendered fat (lard) and what's known in the southern US as cracklin's. You many known them better as pork rinds.

So, I've read all kinds of old-timey stories of how people rendered lard back at the homestead and I've come up with a recipe I intend to try tonight. I picked up almost five pounds of fat trimmings from the Whole Foods so I know they're free of hormones, antibiotics, etc. Some is grass fed, some isn't. I'm not even sure if it's all beef, pork, lamb or a mixture. We'll see.

So, take your fat, cut into about 1" cubes. Use a big, heavy pot, I have a cast iron stew pot I'm going to use, and place the fat and a cup or two of water on the stove. Bring it to a boil then lower to medium-low heat. The best explanation I had for the water is that it ensures that you're rendering the fat out gently rather than frying it. The goal is to get a clear golden liquid, not a brown one. So, you cook and cook it stirring periodically to ensure the clumps keep circulating around to the heat and you don't get burnt ones and raw ones in the same pot. Slow and gentle is the key. One of the sources says that once the water evaporates you'll hear sizzling, once the sizzling stops, then you know it's done. Take it off of the heat and let it cool for a while. Your kitchen will smell like hot fat.

Once it's cooled enough to handle, strain it in a colander, some say a cheese cloth, some say just a colander is enough, and then pour into heat-resistant jars or cans. Jars are better because you can cover them easier.

Keep one jar out for cooking (some leave out, some refrigerate) and freeze the rest. It will keep for months in the freezer (some say indefinitely).

Take the cracklin's that fall into the colendar and season them to taste (salt, cayenne, whatever).

The other method which was recommended was to place the fat in a large baking dish in a 200-degree (low) oven and bake for 2-3 hours. This was suggested as less messy and less likely to splatter and burn you.

I'm going to make some tonight. I'll report on which method I used and how it turned out.

Meanwhile, here's a little bit of Americana. http://www.ruralmissouri.org/Jan02verble.html

My favorite quote is: Verble [who's a spry 89] once had a neighbor from California who stopped by one day to watch her render [lard]. "He asked me, 'What do you do with that?' I said, 'You eat it.' He said, 'That'll kill you.' I just said, 'I'm going to die anyway and it might just as well be from one thing as another.'"

Enjoy!
Plane Crazy
Whose ancestors lived long lives on lard, hard work and mean-tempered bullheadedness.