Comment on Breaking the generational barriers
JackbyDev@programming.dev 8 months ago
Okay but how? In what? For how long? Do you reuse it again? How often? Does it go bad? Where do I put the jar? Do I close it? People just say shit like “save your grease” and expect me to know what to do.
I just take a piece of aluminum foil and press it into the sink drain so it makes a little cup. Then pour the oil into that foil. Then drop an ice cube in to help it solidify and cool a bit then I grab the foil corners and twist them up and dump it in the trash.
It’s quick and easy and neat.
Throw it away once it’s cooled. If it’s a solidified fat, you can just scrape it into the trash bag. If it’s a liquid oil, then you can throw it into a disposable container (I have a million takeout soup containers on hand at any given time) so that it doesn’t leak everywhere.
Oil is compostable, but only in proper ratios to the overall organic material being composted, so it’s fair game to put into compostable containers for industrial composting, or maybe small quantities in your backyard compost, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you know what you’re doing.
I just pour the grease from mine into a ramekin and then put that in the refrigerator, optionally cover it with plastic wrap if you are worried about contamination or smell. Most people use a jar with a lid but I don’t cook fatty meats often enough to need a jar for all the grease I produce. If you left the pan out after cooking/overnight and the grease solidified before you could pour it, just heat it up again on the stove or in the oven until it turns back into a liquid. Obviously, wait until the pan has cooled enough to handle it without burning yourself while doing this pouring step, hot grease burns like hell and will send you straight to the emergency room with 3rd degree burns if it gets spilled on you.
Once it’s in the container and in the refrigerator, it will solidify into a scoopable/spreadable semi-solid with a texture somewhere in between butter and ice cream. You can use it in place of fats or oils in other recipes (for example, if you need to grease a pan with butter or cooking spray before cooking, you can use a spoonful of the solid bacon grease instead). If you don’t want to use it and just want to dispose of it safely instead, just wait for it to solidify in the fridge and then scoop it into the trash. Takes about two seconds and won’t clog your plumbing
It does go bad eventually. The grease will get rancid if left alone for too long, and it will start to smell foul and anything you cook with it will taste terrible and make you sick. If you are going to save it, use it within a month or so if you leave it uncovered, or covered it can last longer but give it a smell test before you put it in a pan - it should have a neutral smell at room temperature and be white in color or have a very slight yellowish hue. Throw it out if you see any spots or discoloration.
A steak cooked in bacon grease is next level delicious. You should try it.
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: 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.
There’s a movie called The Greasy Strangler that reveals all.
That’s a dirty movie, for naughty people.
B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T new word A-R-T-I-S-T Spells BULLSHIT ARTIST. I say again, BULLSHIT ARTIST.
You save it up in a can or a jar and then you have a world of options:
Throw it away Make soap from it Throw it away Use it to season cast iron pots and pans Throw it away Cook with it if it’s from the last few days Throw it away Add it to outdoor dog food in the winter Throw it away Soften dry ski-you know what, just throw it away.
throw it away, throw it away, throw it away, throw it away now
You put it with the jar into general waste. I guess you could also filter and reuse it if you had the materials and will
Why into general waste? Just put it with the other glass, they wash that anyway.
(Btw they are not happy that you do this, but whatever)
sugarfoot00@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
Pour it in an empty jar. let it cool and then put it in the fridge. It keeps nearly indefinitely.
JackbyDev@programming.dev 8 months ago
But why do I wanna keep it? To re use it? Why is it better? Can I use it a third time? Fourth?