render down

render down

1. To liquefy and purify the fatty tissue of something by applying heat to it. A noun or pronoun can be used between "render" and "down." You'll want to render the duck fat down so that it can be used for cooking later. You'll want to cook the meat on a low temperature for several hours so that you can render down the fat without burning it. After you finish carving the roast chicken, you should put the carcass in some simmering water to render it down.
2. To discuss, think about, or deal with something at its most essential or basic elements. A noun or pronoun can be used between "render" and "down." It's a complicated issue, to be sure, but it can really be rendered down to a single question—are you in favor of higher taxes or not? These big decisions can be really overwhelming, so I always try to render them down in more concrete, objective terms.
3. To convert one or more source files on a computer to a different media format. A noun or pronoun can be used between "render" and "down." Every time I render the different audio tracks down to a single WAV, they become shifted slightly out of sync. I filmed the raw footage at 60 frames per second, but it always renders down to 24 frames per second. What am I doing wrong?
See also: down, render
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

render something down

 
1. Lit. to cook the fat out of something. Polly rendered the chicken fat down to a bit of golden grease that she would use in cooking a special dish. Jane rendered down the fat for use later. The cook rendered it down.
2. Fig. to reduce or simplify something to its essentials. Let's render this problem down to the considerations that are important to us. Can't we render down this matter into its essentials? Not all of this is important. Let's render it down.
See also: down, render
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • involve with
  • involve with (someone or something)
  • involved with
  • arrange for
  • arrange for some time
  • arrange some music for
  • back into
  • back into (someone or something)
  • add in
  • angle
References in periodicals archive
"It's not going to render down to some perfect shooting schedule."
The fats will render down and you'll get occasional flare-ups.
Place the duck breasts, skin-side down, on a dry ovenproof pan and cook over very low heat to render down most of the fat.
Another related reason is as busy as I am, it is not cost efficient for me to take the time to render down junk alloy and make it up into ingots.
Keep the fat on the bacon, don't be tempted to trim it off – the fat will render down when you fry it off again before the main cook and will add bags of flavour to the dish.
In a thick-bottomed pan or casserole, render down the fat over a low heat.
This will render down the suet and coat all the fruits sealing in the juices.
Then it's allowed to cook, on a low heat for a number of hours, allowing the flavours to develop, the texture to change, the fats and connecting tissues to render down into the gravy.
Cook for about 10-15 minutes - this will render down the fat from the breasts.
As the pan heats up, some of the fat will render down to liquid.
Thankfully, Mr Brown won't have to render down the pigs feet this week as he discusses the global food crisis at the G8 summit in Japan.
Mostly these 'philosophies' render down to two general assertions: one is 'We do schools, churches, housing and we'd like to do really profitable office developments.
These new revelations have fuelled concerns about the clubs dependence on their billionaire owners, and the financial render down that could be set off if they walked away or tried to sell up.
Scoring the skin of the goose - as you would do with a duck or duck breast - helps the fat render down quicker as the bird roasts in the oven.