From another topic:

quote:

Originally posted by rduckwor:
Save your bacon grease. A neighbor will explain.

RMD

I save my bacon grease--what do I need to know about it? (During WWII we turned it in to the government and it was used to extract glycerine, used in explosives.)

flashguy

Hmmmm we use ours to flavor greens and such .

quote:

Originally posted by Fla. Jim:
Hmmmm we use ours to flavor greens and such .

I use it in my cast iron skillet when I fry stuff. Is that all he meant? Flavoring greens is another use--my mom did that. I don't cook greens (or much else), but I do eat them and like the flavor.

flashguy

Bacon grease has a real attraction to some.On a flyin fishing trip to Canada years ago,when we got to our camp the pilot told us if we had bacon not to burn the grease in a camp fire with any trash. He said you’ll have Bears in the camp within a half hour.

Research ‘compound butters’.

combine a stick of butter with two tablespoons of bacon grease (both room temperature) and beat them together until you have a nice, fluffy spread. Once that’s consumed, try it with another (duck) fat. Any rendered animal (duck) fat will work.

Make a batch of pancakes!

We quit saving bacon grease when we start cooking our bacon in an air fryer. Now we buy it from Amazon - BaconUp.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R...31BYP7&sprefix=bacon

Is there something about using an air fryer that renders the bacon grease unusable?

I "recycle" small amounts from time to time, but don't save it.

quote:

Originally posted by mcrimm:
We quit saving bacon grease when we start cooking our bacon in an air fryer. Now we buy it from Amazon - BaconUp.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R...31BYP7&sprefix=bacon

There is something unholy about buying bacon crease from Amazon. Esp. for Southerners.

RMD

Yeah and it’s likely made in China, no less.

quote:

Originally posted by jbcummings:

Yeah and it’s likely made in China, no less.

Texas. You can buy it in 1-gallon tubs!

We save bacon grease and we render fat.

My (ex) Mother-in-law was British. She ate bacon grease sandwiches. She said she began as a child in London during WWII when food was scarce. Maybe that’s why I’ve never found a great English restaurant.

My parents saved bacon grease and cooked a ton of things in it, much the way people today use cooking oil.

They'd cook bacon, then cook sirloin steak plus 20% suet burgers in it, then toast the burger guns in it.

You could almost hear your arteries slamming shut.

I will elaborate a bit; feel free to add your own uses.

Southerners season their vegetables with bacon and sometimes bacon grease, most importantly, the greens (turnips, collards, mustard, poke salat, etc. BUT NEVER KALE). I use it when I make scrambled eggs along with a generous pat of real butter to grease the pan. Undoubtedly, the single most important use is to grease your cast iron skillet when making cornbread, that manna that is eaten all over the South.

RMD

Wonderful stuff for wilting baby leaf spinach for pasta

My late father made an awesome wilted endive salad with it and i don't even like endive!

I use bacon grease mainly when cooking eggs, and sometimes when cooking specific other things. As noted, it's used in place of butter/oil in a pan when cooking something where you want to impart some bacon flavor. (Most of the time I use avocado or grapeseed oil as cooking oil, which are a bit healthier, and are neutral in flavor.)

I don't bother keeping a huge jar of bacon grease around like some Southern folks I know... I just don't use that much, so I only need to save a small fraction of it. I keep a few tablespoons of leftover bacon grease in a container in my fridge at any given time, and when I cook my next big batch of bacon, I'll toss the old grease and save some of the new grease.

I let it cool, strain it, then refrigerate it. I use it for cooking oil, especially high temp cooking.

It's a renewable resource

I save it. Mainly use it as stated above.
A real treat is popcorn popped in bacon grease.

quote:

Originally posted by hudr:
popcorn popped in bacon grease.

Ooh! I know what I'll be snacking on tonight!