do you save bacon grease for cooking?

[vash]

i remember grandmas and older people do this. do you guys still do this?

it cannot be worse than cooking with butter right?

[TimT]

Yeap, I have a can of rendered bacon fat in my freezer...

scoop out a tablespoon, saute some potato and onion..

comfort food

[trekkor]

Chip dip?


KT

[jyl]

No, not good for you and prefer a less obtrusive taste for general cooking.

Of course some stuff wants bacon fat but then its easy enough to cook some bacon and the recipe will often call for it.

I use olive oil for almost everything, and occasionally sesame oil.

[Dueller]

Yes, I save bacon grease (even in one of those aluminum cans with a strainer that was hard to find) but more for seasoning than as a cooking medium. I put half a teaspoon in canned green beans for flavor. Or drizzle a bit on top of cornbread mix before popping it in the oven. Other than for deep frying (where I use cotton seed oil) I prefer a good olive oil.

[Hugh R]

I put it in a jar, rather than pouring it down the drain, and I dump it. Never thought about re-using it. just thinking.. potatoes, onions and green peppers with bacon grease, hmmm?

[Dueller]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

I put it in a jar, rather than pouring it down the drain, and I dump it. Never thought about re-using it. just thinking.. potatoes, onions and green peppers with bacon grease, hmmm?

I also use a small amount (again more for flavoring than as a cooking grease/oil) in hash browns, sometimes a bit in baked BBQ beans cooked over the grill, etc. It tends to burn at a relatively low temperature.

[Les Paul]

I worked with a guy that used it to cook popcorn.

I tried it one time. It tasted pretty good going down. Not so good coming back up.

[ikarcuaso]

My parents used to do that, and I ate whatever was cooked. Not anymore. I'm with jyl, olive oil usually, sesame oil when appropriate, like Asian food.

[mossguy]

I used to save and use bacon grease. Did for many years. Switched to olive oil a long time ago.
If it's good enough for Giada, it's good enough for me!

Best,
Tom

[dd74]

Bacon grease - can't cook real soul food w/o it.

And supposedly, it'll also power a diesel engine - supposedly...

[masraum]

We have some in the fridge. I think the only thing that we cook with it is eggs. We don't eat bacon very often, so we don't always have bacon grease around.

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by masraum

I think the only thing that we cook with it is eggs.

Eeeewwwww. Fried eggs need butter. Now croutons on the other hand . . .

Ian

[livi]

Sounds like the ultimate health food!

[p911dad]

Not anymore. But the ultimate 3am breakfast always featured sunnyside up eggs floating on about 1/4" of bacon drippins, so they would slide around in that old iron frying pan mmmmmm

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by masraum

We have some in the fridge. I think the only thing that we cook with it is eggs. We don't eat bacon very often, so we don't always have bacon grease around.

wow, flood of memories. when I was a kid visiting my dad every few weeks, I can remember looking forward to eggs fried in bacon fat. I can remember the smell, even the sound of the eggs hitting the pan in 1/4" of hot fat. Haven't thought about that in YEARS. mmmm

as a complete aside, a couple years ago I got a bunch of bacon fat from my uncle's restaurant, then warmed it up and ran it in my VW diesel, just for kicks. Did it ever smell good!

[s_wilwerding]

You can also just buy lard - essentially the same thing, and it costs about a buck a pound (Snowcap is my personal favorite). About once a month, I make my great-grandmother's dinner rolls - they call for 1/8 cup of lard, and man, do they taste good. I just leave the lard in the refrigerator, and use to grease pans, in place of shortening, etc. In fact, now that they've taken trans fats out of shortenings like Crisco, it is nearly impossible to make a good pie crust without using lard.

For those interested, here's the recipe - best dinner rolls ever (it helps to have a KitchenAid mixer, as mixing by hand gets pretty tough):

Mix three packets of quick rise yeast with one tablespoon of sugar and 1/2 C of warm (115 degree water). Let sit until it starts to "bloom".

Beat three eggs.

Put 3 C of bread flour, 1/8 C lard, 2 C of warm (115 degree) water, 3/4 C sugar, and 1 tablespoon of salt into a mixer and beat.

Add yeast mixture until combined. Add eggs and combine. Stiffen with 5-6 cups of bread flour (until the dough is no longer sticky), let raise and beat down, then again raise and beat down. Form rolls (about the size of a racketball) on a greased pan. Let raise. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes until brown on top. Should make 24-30 rolls, depending on how big you make them.

[stomachmonkey]

God I miss the ignorant days when we ate what was good instead of what was good for us.

My favorite spice is a ham hock.

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

My favorite spice is a ham hock.

yikes, I'd avoid it just because of the name!

[Big Ed]

Seriously guys, regularly consuming that kind of saturated fat is not a terrific idea.