I used to throw it away, but recently I started saving it, and it’s amazing.
Step 1: Cook bacon.
Step 2: Strain the grease. I use a tea strainer. You don’t have to do this, but it helps it last longer, because the bacon bits spoil before the grease does.
Step 3: Pour it into a small tub. I use an old spreadable butter tub that has masking tape on the top and sides with “BACON GREASE” written on it, so I don’t accidentally use it instead of butter.
Step 4: Store it in the refrigerator.
Step 5: Use that shit. You can use it in most places you’d use butter or oil.
Caramelizing onions? Slap a dollop of bacon grease into the pan first.
Pancakes? Pancakes with a soupçon of bacon.
Eggs? Obviously.
Grilled cheese? Holy shit, use bacon grease. It’s so fucking good.
It behaves a lot like butter. When it’s cold it stiffens up, but if you leave it out for a few minutes it softens and becomes spreadable.
Whenever I cook more bacon I top up my bacon grease tub. My cooking has gotten a little bit better this year, and it’s all because of bacon grease.
Another thing you can do is to separate the grease from any residual solids.
If you have a jar of bacon grease with brown bits floating around in it, you can put it in a pot with a similar amount of water and bring it all up to a boil or just near it for just a moment. The grease will sit on top of the hot water, but anything else will fall down. Then let the pot cool and put it in the fridge to solidify the grease. You can then scoop the now-solid grease in big chunks and put it back in the jar and discard any bits in the water.
I learned this from people who do at-home soap-making from their rendered fats. They would repeat it a few times before adding lye, as it will leach impurities such as salt, aromatic and favor compounds from the fat, but I find doing it once or twice leaves me with a nice cooking fat that still has bacon-y aroma.
I got you.
I used to throw it away, but recently I started saving it, and it’s amazing.
Step 1: Cook bacon.
Step 2: Strain the grease. I use a tea strainer. You don’t have to do this, but it helps it last longer, because the bacon bits spoil before the grease does.
Step 3: Pour it into a small tub. I use an old spreadable butter tub that has masking tape on the top and sides with “BACON GREASE” written on it, so I don’t accidentally use it instead of butter.
Step 4: Store it in the refrigerator.
Step 5: Use that shit. You can use it in most places you’d use butter or oil.
Caramelizing onions? Slap a dollop of bacon grease into the pan first.
Pancakes? Pancakes with a soupçon of bacon.
Eggs? Obviously.
Grilled cheese? Holy shit, use bacon grease. It’s so fucking good.
It behaves a lot like butter. When it’s cold it stiffens up, but if you leave it out for a few minutes it softens and becomes spreadable.
Whenever I cook more bacon I top up my bacon grease tub. My cooking has gotten a little bit better this year, and it’s all because of bacon grease.
Another thing you can do is to separate the grease from any residual solids.
If you have a jar of bacon grease with brown bits floating around in it, you can put it in a pot with a similar amount of water and bring it all up to a boil or just near it for just a moment. The grease will sit on top of the hot water, but anything else will fall down. Then let the pot cool and put it in the fridge to solidify the grease. You can then scoop the now-solid grease in big chunks and put it back in the jar and discard any bits in the water.
I learned this from people who do at-home soap-making from their rendered fats. They would repeat it a few times before adding lye, as it will leach impurities such as salt, aromatic and favor compounds from the fat, but I find doing it once or twice leaves me with a nice cooking fat that still has bacon-y aroma.