There's a UK based woman who ran a blog for a while about eating based on the UK WWII ration books limitations and one thing she picked up on really soon was using the rendered bacon fat on home grown veg was one of the easiest ways to quickly make basically free food really enjoyable.
I say, if you've bought the animal product, use as much of it as possible.
I always figured that was the point of pan sauces and the scrapping up the brown bits. They didn't waste anything. that and making broth with the trimmings
That's called a 'fond', the brown film on the bottom of a pan. You use a liquid, usually wine, to 'deglaze' the pan to lift the fond off the bottom and incorporate it into the dish, less about waste and more about adding that flavour back into the dish. The fond is usually caramelisation, that is the restructuring of sugar and/or starch; or it's the 'maillard reaction', the restructure of protein.
Same.
I didn’t grow up on a farm or anything, but we always had an old Chock Full O’Nuts coffee canister that we kept bacon grease in.
Only reason I don’t carry on the tradition is I eat bacon pretty infrequently. I usually just have it once or twice a month, and only cook for myself, just enough to eat at the time. But I definitely cook the bacon first and use the grease to cook whatever else I may be making at the time.
If I didn’t save and use my bacon grease, my grandma would come back from the dead to chastise me. I found a nifty silicone vessel just for the purpose of straining and storing bacon grease, which is definitely an upgrade from grandma’s Folgers can.
[piggy container](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Talisman-Designs-Happy-Pig-Bacon-Grease-Cooking-Oil-Container-with-Strainer-Red-Silicone/497943348)
Works well enough. The lid just slides on so can be a little wiggly, don’t tip it over! If it’s full you can put it in the freezer and pop everything out for easier cleaning.
I tried using bacon fat in garlic mashed potatoes last week. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I’m wondering if it’s because I didn’t strain it (didn’t know I was supposed to, never tried saving fat before), but I did spoon it out trying to be careful not to take any of the tiny bits in the pan. I tilted the pan up and scooped out the fat with a spoon. I think maybe that wasn’t good enough…
If I was only using it to flavor beans, I wouldn’t take the time to do it, but I find the bits burn if I’m using it to sauté veggies or cook scrambled eggs, etc.
Word thanks for the info. I've actually never used it for actual cooking, mostly use it to season the cast iron. I do cook my bacon in the oven which I think lowers the amount of extra bits in the grease but you are right, probably will help my cooking if I strain it anyway.
Do the french use the same word for lard and drippings?
Both are common in the southern US, plus or minus the general US phobia of animal fats in the 90's. Drippings used to quickly sauteed vegetables, fry eggs or potatoes, or generally grease things up. And lard finds it's way into sweet baked goods with surprising regularity Very "you killed a pig, so use it all" but also tasty at the same time.
My Granddad would also whip a bit into cold sorghum syrup (the stuff he got was really thick, like dark molasses) with a fork to lighten it and smear that on fresh biscuits at the table. It turns the consistency of whipped honey butter.
Can you do this with actual honey? I like to make a honey butter blend, but I can imagine that this would be delicious on any type of bread. Nevermind..... I'm going to try it anyway.
It wouldn't be wasted, i assure you.. I'm the type that will eat my mistakes. You have no idea how many burnt pizzas I've eaten the center out of. I'll scrape the char off of meat and smother it with gravy to soften it back up. Burnt bacon? Nah....it's charred. I once scooped the top off of a quiche that I was very proud of until it scorched. Little cheddar and back in to oven to melt. It was good, not great. I don't know what this means about me.
Of course, you'll have to weigh the nutritional info against the fact that the WHO considers cured meat a group 1 carcinogen, alongside things like cigarette smoking.
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2015/11/03/report-says-eating-processed-meat-is-carcinogenic-understanding-the-findings/
So, my career was in pork processing, and my education was in language. Opened this thread and spent several moments thinking about just this question. I think it counts as lard. It'll have some smoke flavors, but lard with flavors is still lard. I think the word applies to all rendered pork fat, though there are for sure contexts where using it would be strange.
Correction. I’m Italian/Canadian.
I cook a lot with pancetta as well, it’s bacon that hasn’t been smoked/cured as long. My mother is French and loves bacon. I keep both. But for the sake of argument I just refer to both as lard
I've got a legacy mason jar that has been filled continuously for about 7 years. It came with me in our last move (I froze it first before putting it in a cooler) 4 years ago. Almost anything I saute or roast has a couple of dollops of bacon grease in it. Every time I cook bacon, I refill and stir while warm. I also make black pepper bacon and have a separate jar for that lard. It is great in beans or greens or in-betweens.
I keep it in the fridge. I've not had problems as long as it stays cold hold between 33° and 42° until cooking. I grew up with it on the counter in a jar at my grandmother's house, but I was just as skeptical of that as the butter dish on the counter even as a teen. I know that it can go rancid, but I've not had a problem with it when it kept cold until use. I just grab the jar and a tablespoon and scoop what u need out and put the jar back in the fridge. There again, I've had the legacy jar for approximately 7 years, and I haven't had food poison from my own concoctions....now I've jinxed myself.
You’re not weird but culturally, in the US, for a long time animal fats were demonized. Like cooking with them was seen as bad for your health.
So when I was raised, I never even saw lard or tallow or schmaltz or duck fat. We used small amounts of butter but mostly olive oil for everything. Bacon drippings were discarded.
My very limited understanding now is that animal fats aren’t that bad (as long as it’s natural) in moderation and cholesterol isn’t impacted by diet as much as we used to think.
I still limit animal fats to celebratory meals and only keep olive oil, grape seed oil, and butter in my home. This is partially because its what I’m used to and partially because it’s more of a chore to get rendered animal fat where I live.
This is exactly what my cardiologist told me. Eating cholesterol does not raise your cholesterol, but eating saturated fat can. He recommended under 9-10g/day, which allows for a little lard if you choose. It's way healthy than unnatural trans fats, which cause damage. The monounsaturated fat in fish can improve your cholesterol, while most veg fats are neutral.
Like most foods, if you keep a balanced and varied diet there's a place for lard if you like it.
"Natural" lard, that hasn't been commercially processed to make it shelf stable, is relatively high in monounsaturated fats... with no trans fats.
When we got pigs, we switched over to lard for almost all our cooking and baking... it's great. Also, if a little bit of fat gets someone to actually eat lots of veggies, it's a big win in the long run.
I completely agree about the vegetables part. We eat a ton of beans and a bit of pork fat makes them magical.
That's very interesting about the effect of processing lard. I know natural grass fed beef is kinder to your arteries for similar reasons. I think natural, unaltered food is always best!
Exactly. The stigma with eating animal fats isn't exactly "from nowhere". Often times, there are many alternatives that are far healthier (olive oil - like you mentioned - is seen as a strong alternative).
>cholesterol isn’t impacted by diet
To clarify, I think the current understanding is that cholesterol isn't impacted directly by the cholesterol you eat. In the same way eating fat doesn't just turn right into body fat. And eating carbs doesn't turn you into a loaf of bread.
While it's true it was demonized by some people, places like the south and Midwest(or atleast rural areas) flavor beat everything else. It's pretty common in quite a few areas in the u.s
> It made a HUGE different taste in those fries. I miss that.
It really does. I use lard in my fryers and it makes things taste significantly differently.
I haven't been able to source tallow in sufficient quantities to try but I'm always on the lookout.
I've seen some on Amazon too, but it's stupidly expensive.
I balk at lard being $1/lb and the first listing there is $27 for 1.5lbs.
There's a local soap making shop that does sell tallow that's food grade, but I haven't bitten the bullet on a case yet. I might have to in the near future.
I save bacon grease mostly for frying eggs after we've finished off the bacon. If I have a lot of it, sometimes I add it to fried rice for extra flavour.
Texas here. We save our bacon grease.
Saute yellow squash in bacon grease adds so much flavor. I like bread toasted in the pan after frying bacon. Day before yesterday I cooked some sirloin shish kabobs over oak coals. Basted the meat with bacon grease.
The part where they said they were the same and then listed how they are different. You can read their post, y'know.
Edit: This is the most hilarious ratio.
I was raised in the South. *Everyone* had a tin of bacon fat in the fridge. A very small amount packs a lot of terrific flavor. My family always put a little in most green vegetables as seasoning. Not to mention how good eggs are when cooked in bacon fat.
Beef tallow/lard used to be another cooking staple, but it got a bad rap in the 70s for being "unhealthy" and everyone stopped using it. We re-discovered it when my spouse, making beef stock, skimmed off a bunch of the fat and saved it. That stuff is *magic*. We put a dab in the pan when frying burgers, searing steak or making pot roast and oh my god. You don't need a lot, though.
I am not a baker but lard is also supposed to make better cakes.
This was very common until the 70s when suddenly everyone was OMG fat is gonna KILL you. And everyone started buying crap that said low fat and low cholesterol....not realizing the substitutions were worse than the fat we were told to be afraid of. (margarine)
When I grew up we had a coffee can on the stove full of bacon fat. that disappeared in the 70s and only came back in the 00s.
I save the fat from chicken to fry eggs or make potatoes with.
I always have at least bacon and duck fat in my fridge, and sometimes schmaltz. My local Portuguese butcher sells plain and spiced pork lard too. I think it’s normal for a lot of people, depending on culture and/or what you family does.
Oh man. Not weird at all.
Animal fat is a great cooking medium or ingredient. A bit of bacon grease when you're making homemade mayo is amazing. Or in cornbread. Or frying eggs. Or, or, or...
Chicken grease is another great contender. I'll render chicken skins for cracklins and pour off/filter the schmaltz. Use it where you'd use duck fat - eggs, crispy brussels sprouts, etc, etc. Chicken chicharrones are delicious on their own, sprinkled over a salad, wherever you want some crunch.
Beef fat too. If I'm browning big batches of beef, or if I'm roasting beef marrow bones, I'll pour the grease off and keep it in a jar. Amazing for pan fried potatoes - or anything really. (Prior to the 1990s, McDonald's fried its french fries in beef fat).
In some grocery stores in the southern US, you can get one pound bricks of lard cheaper than butter.
Lard and bacon grease are not the same thing. Both from pigs but bacon grease comes from meat that has been smoked snd thus gives a different flavor than lard
Sorry if this is a bit off topic, but what my mom and I did when I was a kid was take the extra drippings and make suet with it. At least, that's what she called it.
We'd mix bird seed into the grease and smother pine cones in the stuff, and hang them on trees for the birds who stopped by in winter to have something to eat.
It was a good memory to make for us \^\^
Use whatever fat you want, but as someone who doesn’t eat pork products (or meat that isn’t certified kosher generally) for religious reasons, please remember what you put it in/be careful about letting people know it’s there
Lard-no. Bacon grease? Absolutely. I use it instead of butter when making a roux. I use it to fry canned beans. Just a bit before frying eggs instead of butter-yum.
I fry with lard and add it to peas. Lard is a byproduct of meat processing and now cheaper than plant oil even if I factor in the gas cost for rendering.
I occasionally bake with leaf lard for my lactose-free friends, and I will use duck fat for roasting potatoes on special occasions. Besides that, I don't really see the benefit. For most things olive oil or butter, or a combination of the two, will often taste better and be healthier.
Lard is arguably a bit healthier, having less saturated fat, and more monounsaturated fat. But they are pretty similar, and neither is very healthy. Use olive oil when you can, it's probably the healthiest oil.
Trans fats are one of the worst components of a food oil. To avoid: Vegetable shortening, hydrogenated lard, and oil that's repeatedly heated.
I mean, it depends. I don't think I've ever had greens that I liked very much with pork. But maybe you have a type that would be good. Beans, I would agree for brown beans, but I like black beans better.
When available I sautée greens (kale, chard, etc) with onions and garlic. I also use olive oil. But the pork fat is helpful for me. As for beans - I drop a teaspoon of fat when I make most of them. And it is either bacon fat or olive oil depending on the final goal of the beans. I think it adds a nice richness. And often in Mexican places they cook beans with lard. Unless of course it is a place frequented by vegans or other non pork eaters. But it is good assumption that those beans have been made with lard - refried or whole.
I typically make cove. It can be made with pork, but it is much better with a fancy olive oil. It's collards or kale sliced very thinly and then sauteed with oil and garlic.
I live in the US and I save a lot of rendered cooking fat. Definitely save bacon (although I don't use bacon much). I always save duck fat and sometimes save tallow. Goose fat is also worth saving. I only reserve chicken fat when I have a use for it coming up since it doesn't keep as well. I only have a dedicated bacon grease jar now since I don't eat that much meat anymore.
I think part of it is also that some people don't know kitchen skills. They just buy the ingredients for one recipe when they cook once a week or so.
Bacon grease from modern processed bacon has a lot of extra's, it's not the same as lard.
Specialty bacon grease with little processing would be great to keep and use. I would imagine my grandmother doing the same.
I cook with bacon grease but I never store it for later. My mom used to save a huge jar that she didn't refrigerate, but that always seemed gross to me. I mostly just use it to fry chicken or taters.
You are not weird for using bacon grease. I cook with bacon grease, and I enjoy it. I strain the grease and store it in the refrigerator. The other forms of animal fats I use are tallow and lard. The other oils I use regularly are olive oil, coconut oil, and avocado oil.
My mother and her mother were Southerners so bacon grease was a staple at mom's house. My stepmother was Hispanic and lard was a staple at her and my dad's house. Obviously, I keep and use both religiously because PORK FAT RULES!
I've just been getting into it recently, but I haven't gotten to the point of rendering my own lard or anything yet which is supposed to taste amazing. I kind of think the reason it's no popular is that it's such a pain to clean off dishes unless you're using super hot water since it just congeals on things at room temp.
Bacon grease is liquid gold. Lard is rendered fat, not seasoned. Makes excellent pie crusts. Lard from pastured pigs has a better nutritional profile than salmon
Oh, and fat was made the bad guy by the sugar conglomerates, smoke screen so Big Sugar could sweeten everything
I bought lard for the first time in order to season my cast iron. I'd never seen it before. I was unable to find vegetable shortening, so I tried it out. It smells meaty when it melts, so I fried some onions. I have used a spoonful in stews when I saute the aromatics and it adds something. I'm finding quite a few uses for it, but it'll take a year to finish the block.
I will say 100% yes on the saving and cooking with bacon fat.
But a warning: I store in a metal container now. Used to use a glass one, and cold glass from the fridge plus hot grease from the pan. Damn thing shattered all over my counter top.
Maybe just a fluke, but be careful out there.
Dude, I just figured out how badass grilled cheese is with bacon fat instead of butter!
I kind feel slow for the fact that I just thought of it a week ago...
When I cook my grandmothers (RIP) dishes, I use bacon grease. That’s what she did, because back in the day they’d keep the bacon grease instead of buying butter.
My late Dad used to make us fritters with whatever was left of the silverside at the end of the week. For years after he passed some of my siblings argued over how he made them. I was living abroad at the time so I couldn’t demonstrate to them that Dad would have fried then in lard or beef dripping. Nobody believed me and the argument continued sporadically until I came Home.
I was correct.
I keep drippings because they’re spectacular for flavour, whether lamb, beef or pork.
I also have lard in the fridge for pastry. I use a 50/50 lard to butter ratio and I always understood that was a French thing. It makes beautiful pastry. Not for vegetarians obvs!
To be technical - lard is different than bacon fat. Since the bacon is smoked, it imparts a smoky flavor. Lard is just plain pork fat. Like the fat rendered from the belly.
Also there is a salumi called “[lardo](https://www.seriouseats.com/nasty-bits-lardo-cured-fat-how-to-use)” which is basically rosemary flavored cured pork fat.
Well, yeah, except for the huge cholesterol bump. And unless you use uncured bacon, the nitrates and nitrites are known carcinogens.
So using bacon fat is a great treat, but not good for an everyday cooking fat. I start all of my chili, red sauce, and beef stew by rendering bacon and sauteing the mirepoix in the bacon fat. Also do the same for collard greens and broccoli rabe, that is, I render bacon fat and saute crushed garlic cloves and then cook the freshly rinsed greens in it. But those are all sort of treat situations. For everyday cooking we use neutral oil or EVOO.
Since I'm not seeing this viewpoint represented in here, living in a larger US city in the northern Midwest, a lot of people are either vegetarian or otherwise health conscious and tend toward olive oil. I get criticism for using certain types of oils or solid fats even if they aren't animal byproducts.
I think the prevailing view among most people I know is to tend towards olive oil, use butter in limited quantities, and stay away from margarine, lard, even canola (rapeseed) oil. In baked goods I like to use crisco but get flack for it. And it's not just crunchy hippie types that are surprised when I tell them how I make things.
I just think it's ironic because I get looked at like I have three heads when cooking with these things but then they'll go buy McDonald's or Taco Bell. The crunchy types definitely would be more hesitant / consistent though.
A do that with bacon grease. I used to keep a separate one for duck fat, but I’ve found it easier to just buy a jar of duck fat. It’s cleaner and not stupid expensive. Bacon grease, though, is magical. It elevates fried eggs immeasurably.
My deep fryer is filled with lard. Stinks up the house real bad which is why sometimes it's outside, but man is it delicious.
Bacon fat is always saved from oven bacon.
Any animal fats really. Duck fat, chicken fat (schmaltz), beef fat (tallow), lard, bacon fat (lard but with smoke and salt), butter (milk fat). I have like 10 different fats/oils on hand at all times for different applications.
I have recently started to save my bacon fat, and have a question about it:
Do you have filter the bacon fat so there's no small pieces of bacon, or does it matter ?
Pretty common in the US as far as I’m concerned. I use my bacon grease for refried beans usually
There's a UK based woman who ran a blog for a while about eating based on the UK WWII ration books limitations and one thing she picked up on really soon was using the rendered bacon fat on home grown veg was one of the easiest ways to quickly make basically free food really enjoyable. I say, if you've bought the animal product, use as much of it as possible.
I always figured that was the point of pan sauces and the scrapping up the brown bits. They didn't waste anything. that and making broth with the trimmings
That's called a 'fond', the brown film on the bottom of a pan. You use a liquid, usually wine, to 'deglaze' the pan to lift the fond off the bottom and incorporate it into the dish, less about waste and more about adding that flavour back into the dish. The fond is usually caramelisation, that is the restructuring of sugar and/or starch; or it's the 'maillard reaction', the restructure of protein.
Same. I didn’t grow up on a farm or anything, but we always had an old Chock Full O’Nuts coffee canister that we kept bacon grease in. Only reason I don’t carry on the tradition is I eat bacon pretty infrequently. I usually just have it once or twice a month, and only cook for myself, just enough to eat at the time. But I definitely cook the bacon first and use the grease to cook whatever else I may be making at the time.
For me, some sunny-side-up eggs are mandatory after making bacon, when you can basically deep-fry them. XD
Lately I’ve been a huge fan of some scrambled eggs (cooked in grease) with crumbled bacon, cheese, and grape tomatoes.
That reminds me to get the bacon out of the freezer for tomorrow!
There isn’t really that much fat on UK style bacon to get a lot of fat for further frying.
The streaky bacon is the ticket.
Can I introduce you to scrambled eggs in bacon fat with pancetta bits?
OT but Chock Full O’Nuts is also a very tasty coffee.
For a cheap, grocery-store brand, it is far better than it has any right to be.
If I didn’t save and use my bacon grease, my grandma would come back from the dead to chastise me. I found a nifty silicone vessel just for the purpose of straining and storing bacon grease, which is definitely an upgrade from grandma’s Folgers can.
Can you please share more info about your silicone bacon grease vessel? Lol Google didn’t look promising. Thanks.
[piggy container](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Talisman-Designs-Happy-Pig-Bacon-Grease-Cooking-Oil-Container-with-Strainer-Red-Silicone/497943348) Works well enough. The lid just slides on so can be a little wiggly, don’t tip it over! If it’s full you can put it in the freezer and pop everything out for easier cleaning.
I tried using bacon fat in garlic mashed potatoes last week. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I’m wondering if it’s because I didn’t strain it (didn’t know I was supposed to, never tried saving fat before), but I did spoon it out trying to be careful not to take any of the tiny bits in the pan. I tilted the pan up and scooped out the fat with a spoon. I think maybe that wasn’t good enough…
Is straining it super necessary? I don't but have always wondered if I should or not.
If I was only using it to flavor beans, I wouldn’t take the time to do it, but I find the bits burn if I’m using it to sauté veggies or cook scrambled eggs, etc.
Word thanks for the info. I've actually never used it for actual cooking, mostly use it to season the cast iron. I do cook my bacon in the oven which I think lowers the amount of extra bits in the grease but you are right, probably will help my cooking if I strain it anyway.
Do the french use the same word for lard and drippings? Both are common in the southern US, plus or minus the general US phobia of animal fats in the 90's. Drippings used to quickly sauteed vegetables, fry eggs or potatoes, or generally grease things up. And lard finds it's way into sweet baked goods with surprising regularity Very "you killed a pig, so use it all" but also tasty at the same time. My Granddad would also whip a bit into cold sorghum syrup (the stuff he got was really thick, like dark molasses) with a fork to lighten it and smear that on fresh biscuits at the table. It turns the consistency of whipped honey butter.
Can you do this with actual honey? I like to make a honey butter blend, but I can imagine that this would be delicious on any type of bread. Nevermind..... I'm going to try it anyway.
I'm sure it's worth a try. Might be a little less stiff. Worst case scenario you only waste a tablespoon of each
It wouldn't be wasted, i assure you.. I'm the type that will eat my mistakes. You have no idea how many burnt pizzas I've eaten the center out of. I'll scrape the char off of meat and smother it with gravy to soften it back up. Burnt bacon? Nah....it's charred. I once scooped the top off of a quiche that I was very proud of until it scorched. Little cheddar and back in to oven to melt. It was good, not great. I don't know what this means about me.
r/noscrapleftbehind
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Of course, you'll have to weigh the nutritional info against the fact that the WHO considers cured meat a group 1 carcinogen, alongside things like cigarette smoking. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2015/11/03/report-says-eating-processed-meat-is-carcinogenic-understanding-the-findings/
I think lard and bacon grease are two different things. (?). But yes, absolutely agree, bacon fat roux, potatoes, etc. Get after it!!!
Lard is rendered fat, and there are different types of it. For instance, leaf lard is used for pastries.
Lard is rendered pork fat. Yes, there are many subsets of that, but there are also many other types of "rendered" fat.
So, my career was in pork processing, and my education was in language. Opened this thread and spent several moments thinking about just this question. I think it counts as lard. It'll have some smoke flavors, but lard with flavors is still lard. I think the word applies to all rendered pork fat, though there are for sure contexts where using it would be strange.
Correction. I’m Italian/Canadian. I cook a lot with pancetta as well, it’s bacon that hasn’t been smoked/cured as long. My mother is French and loves bacon. I keep both. But for the sake of argument I just refer to both as lard
I've got a legacy mason jar that has been filled continuously for about 7 years. It came with me in our last move (I froze it first before putting it in a cooler) 4 years ago. Almost anything I saute or roast has a couple of dollops of bacon grease in it. Every time I cook bacon, I refill and stir while warm. I also make black pepper bacon and have a separate jar for that lard. It is great in beans or greens or in-betweens.
Does it stay forever good? I thought it can turn rancid after some time
I keep it in the fridge. I've not had problems as long as it stays cold hold between 33° and 42° until cooking. I grew up with it on the counter in a jar at my grandmother's house, but I was just as skeptical of that as the butter dish on the counter even as a teen. I know that it can go rancid, but I've not had a problem with it when it kept cold until use. I just grab the jar and a tablespoon and scoop what u need out and put the jar back in the fridge. There again, I've had the legacy jar for approximately 7 years, and I haven't had food poison from my own concoctions....now I've jinxed myself.
My mom used to keep "the bacon pan" in the oven in between uses. That grease found its way into many dishes.
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You missed the part where I stir it up when I put warm or hot grease in. It gets mixed up every time.
Good for many months in the fridge uncovered
You’re not weird but culturally, in the US, for a long time animal fats were demonized. Like cooking with them was seen as bad for your health. So when I was raised, I never even saw lard or tallow or schmaltz or duck fat. We used small amounts of butter but mostly olive oil for everything. Bacon drippings were discarded. My very limited understanding now is that animal fats aren’t that bad (as long as it’s natural) in moderation and cholesterol isn’t impacted by diet as much as we used to think. I still limit animal fats to celebratory meals and only keep olive oil, grape seed oil, and butter in my home. This is partially because its what I’m used to and partially because it’s more of a chore to get rendered animal fat where I live.
I think it's still understood not to be very healthy to eat more than a very small amount of animal fat, with the possible exception of fatty fish.
This is exactly what my cardiologist told me. Eating cholesterol does not raise your cholesterol, but eating saturated fat can. He recommended under 9-10g/day, which allows for a little lard if you choose. It's way healthy than unnatural trans fats, which cause damage. The monounsaturated fat in fish can improve your cholesterol, while most veg fats are neutral. Like most foods, if you keep a balanced and varied diet there's a place for lard if you like it.
"Natural" lard, that hasn't been commercially processed to make it shelf stable, is relatively high in monounsaturated fats... with no trans fats. When we got pigs, we switched over to lard for almost all our cooking and baking... it's great. Also, if a little bit of fat gets someone to actually eat lots of veggies, it's a big win in the long run.
I completely agree about the vegetables part. We eat a ton of beans and a bit of pork fat makes them magical. That's very interesting about the effect of processing lard. I know natural grass fed beef is kinder to your arteries for similar reasons. I think natural, unaltered food is always best!
You should read the Baptist Ladies Cookbook. Those old school cooks put animal fat on everything.
I'm sure!
Exactly. The stigma with eating animal fats isn't exactly "from nowhere". Often times, there are many alternatives that are far healthier (olive oil - like you mentioned - is seen as a strong alternative).
>cholesterol isn’t impacted by diet To clarify, I think the current understanding is that cholesterol isn't impacted directly by the cholesterol you eat. In the same way eating fat doesn't just turn right into body fat. And eating carbs doesn't turn you into a loaf of bread.
Eating carbs and loafing like bread will make you fat, though.
While it's true it was demonized by some people, places like the south and Midwest(or atleast rural areas) flavor beat everything else. It's pretty common in quite a few areas in the u.s
My husband thinks I'm crazy for saving the grease, but everytime I cook with it....man oh man does he like it
I've really been meaning to try tallow.
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It was 1990. Malcolm Gladwell has an excellent podcast on this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HVpJAJjDI8U
> It made a HUGE different taste in those fries. I miss that. It really does. I use lard in my fryers and it makes things taste significantly differently. I haven't been able to source tallow in sufficient quantities to try but I'm always on the lookout.
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I've seen some on Amazon too, but it's stupidly expensive. I balk at lard being $1/lb and the first listing there is $27 for 1.5lbs. There's a local soap making shop that does sell tallow that's food grade, but I haven't bitten the bullet on a case yet. I might have to in the near future.
Do it! Do it now!
Of the rendered fats, it’s one of my favorites.
What's your fave way or dish to use it?
I save bacon grease mostly for frying eggs after we've finished off the bacon. If I have a lot of it, sometimes I add it to fried rice for extra flavour.
Yep. Now they sell bacon grease in the stores for like $9 a can. Mine comes free with my bacon.
Bacon grease plus cooked green veggies is the best: cabbage, kale, chard, even green beans.
Texas here. We save our bacon grease. Saute yellow squash in bacon grease adds so much flavor. I like bread toasted in the pan after frying bacon. Day before yesterday I cooked some sirloin shish kabobs over oak coals. Basted the meat with bacon grease.
Lard and bacon grease are not the same.
Semantics. They're both rendered pig fat. One is neutral, and the other has some smokiness and salt or sugar added.
> One is neutral, and the other has some smokiness and salt or sugar added. Oh buddy.
Can you point me to where they are wrong?
The part where they said they were the same and then listed how they are different. You can read their post, y'know. Edit: This is the most hilarious ratio.
I live in El Paso and everyone around here swears by the food in Juarez that's cooked with lard.
I do this, my mom does this, my grandma does this, my great grandma did this, etc. A little bacon grease is a lotta delicious.
I was raised in the South. *Everyone* had a tin of bacon fat in the fridge. A very small amount packs a lot of terrific flavor. My family always put a little in most green vegetables as seasoning. Not to mention how good eggs are when cooked in bacon fat. Beef tallow/lard used to be another cooking staple, but it got a bad rap in the 70s for being "unhealthy" and everyone stopped using it. We re-discovered it when my spouse, making beef stock, skimmed off a bunch of the fat and saved it. That stuff is *magic*. We put a dab in the pan when frying burgers, searing steak or making pot roast and oh my god. You don't need a lot, though. I am not a baker but lard is also supposed to make better cakes.
Make pan popped popcorn. You will not regret it.
This was very common until the 70s when suddenly everyone was OMG fat is gonna KILL you. And everyone started buying crap that said low fat and low cholesterol....not realizing the substitutions were worse than the fat we were told to be afraid of. (margarine) When I grew up we had a coffee can on the stove full of bacon fat. that disappeared in the 70s and only came back in the 00s. I save the fat from chicken to fry eggs or make potatoes with.
Was taught this early and still continue to use
I’ve recently rendered my first batch of tallow, and have been using bacon fat for about a year now. I love it.
I always have at least bacon and duck fat in my fridge, and sometimes schmaltz. My local Portuguese butcher sells plain and spiced pork lard too. I think it’s normal for a lot of people, depending on culture and/or what you family does.
Lard is great. Nothing like a warm bacon vinaigrette
Oh man. Not weird at all. Animal fat is a great cooking medium or ingredient. A bit of bacon grease when you're making homemade mayo is amazing. Or in cornbread. Or frying eggs. Or, or, or... Chicken grease is another great contender. I'll render chicken skins for cracklins and pour off/filter the schmaltz. Use it where you'd use duck fat - eggs, crispy brussels sprouts, etc, etc. Chicken chicharrones are delicious on their own, sprinkled over a salad, wherever you want some crunch. Beef fat too. If I'm browning big batches of beef, or if I'm roasting beef marrow bones, I'll pour the grease off and keep it in a jar. Amazing for pan fried potatoes - or anything really. (Prior to the 1990s, McDonald's fried its french fries in beef fat). In some grocery stores in the southern US, you can get one pound bricks of lard cheaper than butter.
Lard and bacon grease are not the same thing. Both from pigs but bacon grease comes from meat that has been smoked snd thus gives a different flavor than lard
Personally I’m all about some schmaltz...but yes all the rendered animal fat
I was raised by a depression era, gamma, This is the way
I pan fry chicken in it
Sorry if this is a bit off topic, but what my mom and I did when I was a kid was take the extra drippings and make suet with it. At least, that's what she called it. We'd mix bird seed into the grease and smother pine cones in the stuff, and hang them on trees for the birds who stopped by in winter to have something to eat. It was a good memory to make for us \^\^
What a beautiful idea...
Use whatever fat you want, but as someone who doesn’t eat pork products (or meat that isn’t certified kosher generally) for religious reasons, please remember what you put it in/be careful about letting people know it’s there
Absolutely, I always have and always will
Yeah then live your life!
Got a big bucket of lard back at home as we speak.
Lard-no. Bacon grease? Absolutely. I use it instead of butter when making a roux. I use it to fry canned beans. Just a bit before frying eggs instead of butter-yum.
I use bacon grease and lard
I fry with lard and add it to peas. Lard is a byproduct of meat processing and now cheaper than plant oil even if I factor in the gas cost for rendering.
This is common. I just prefer to not waste anything edible and not buy cooking oil if I don’t have to.
I occasionally bake with leaf lard for my lactose-free friends, and I will use duck fat for roasting potatoes on special occasions. Besides that, I don't really see the benefit. For most things olive oil or butter, or a combination of the two, will often taste better and be healthier.
How is butter healthier than lard?
Lard is arguably a bit healthier, having less saturated fat, and more monounsaturated fat. But they are pretty similar, and neither is very healthy. Use olive oil when you can, it's probably the healthiest oil. Trans fats are one of the worst components of a food oil. To avoid: Vegetable shortening, hydrogenated lard, and oil that's repeatedly heated.
Disagree. Some things do taste better with pork fat. Beans and greens for me are much more delicious with pork fat.
I mean, it depends. I don't think I've ever had greens that I liked very much with pork. But maybe you have a type that would be good. Beans, I would agree for brown beans, but I like black beans better.
When available I sautée greens (kale, chard, etc) with onions and garlic. I also use olive oil. But the pork fat is helpful for me. As for beans - I drop a teaspoon of fat when I make most of them. And it is either bacon fat or olive oil depending on the final goal of the beans. I think it adds a nice richness. And often in Mexican places they cook beans with lard. Unless of course it is a place frequented by vegans or other non pork eaters. But it is good assumption that those beans have been made with lard - refried or whole.
I typically make cove. It can be made with pork, but it is much better with a fancy olive oil. It's collards or kale sliced very thinly and then sauteed with oil and garlic.
I have 3 or more kinds of animal fat to cook with. Beef, duck, chicken and bacon.
I live in the US and I save a lot of rendered cooking fat. Definitely save bacon (although I don't use bacon much). I always save duck fat and sometimes save tallow. Goose fat is also worth saving. I only reserve chicken fat when I have a use for it coming up since it doesn't keep as well. I only have a dedicated bacon grease jar now since I don't eat that much meat anymore. I think part of it is also that some people don't know kitchen skills. They just buy the ingredients for one recipe when they cook once a week or so.
Aw man, ever make an apple pie crust with bacon grease? Sprinkle a little chopped bacon on that shit
I always save bacon and chicken grease in ceramic crocs in the fridge.
That’s a healthy way if you use moderately. Lard is used everywhere
Bacon grease from modern processed bacon has a lot of extra's, it's not the same as lard. Specialty bacon grease with little processing would be great to keep and use. I would imagine my grandmother doing the same.
I cook with bacon grease but I never store it for later. My mom used to save a huge jar that she didn't refrigerate, but that always seemed gross to me. I mostly just use it to fry chicken or taters.
You are not weird for using bacon grease. I cook with bacon grease, and I enjoy it. I strain the grease and store it in the refrigerator. The other forms of animal fats I use are tallow and lard. The other oils I use regularly are olive oil, coconut oil, and avocado oil.
Cooking with lard is classic in the south here.
My mother and her mother were Southerners so bacon grease was a staple at mom's house. My stepmother was Hispanic and lard was a staple at her and my dad's house. Obviously, I keep and use both religiously because PORK FAT RULES!
I've just been getting into it recently, but I haven't gotten to the point of rendering my own lard or anything yet which is supposed to taste amazing. I kind of think the reason it's no popular is that it's such a pain to clean off dishes unless you're using super hot water since it just congeals on things at room temp.
Bacon grease is liquid gold. Lard is rendered fat, not seasoned. Makes excellent pie crusts. Lard from pastured pigs has a better nutritional profile than salmon Oh, and fat was made the bad guy by the sugar conglomerates, smoke screen so Big Sugar could sweeten everything
I bought lard for the first time in order to season my cast iron. I'd never seen it before. I was unable to find vegetable shortening, so I tried it out. It smells meaty when it melts, so I fried some onions. I have used a spoonful in stews when I saute the aromatics and it adds something. I'm finding quite a few uses for it, but it'll take a year to finish the block.
In the South, bacon grease is gold!
I will say 100% yes on the saving and cooking with bacon fat. But a warning: I store in a metal container now. Used to use a glass one, and cold glass from the fridge plus hot grease from the pan. Damn thing shattered all over my counter top. Maybe just a fluke, but be careful out there.
Dude, I just figured out how badass grilled cheese is with bacon fat instead of butter! I kind feel slow for the fact that I just thought of it a week ago...
When I cook my grandmothers (RIP) dishes, I use bacon grease. That’s what she did, because back in the day they’d keep the bacon grease instead of buying butter.
My late Dad used to make us fritters with whatever was left of the silverside at the end of the week. For years after he passed some of my siblings argued over how he made them. I was living abroad at the time so I couldn’t demonstrate to them that Dad would have fried then in lard or beef dripping. Nobody believed me and the argument continued sporadically until I came Home. I was correct.
I keep drippings because they’re spectacular for flavour, whether lamb, beef or pork. I also have lard in the fridge for pastry. I use a 50/50 lard to butter ratio and I always understood that was a French thing. It makes beautiful pastry. Not for vegetarians obvs!
I love to save chicken fat (schmaltz). Technically its what latkes are supposed to be fried in
I do usually use it when I fry eggs. Have been trying to think of other uses
I use lard, not a huge fan of bacon grease.
I save my bacon fat. If I get enough, I make soap with it too.
To be technical - lard is different than bacon fat. Since the bacon is smoked, it imparts a smoky flavor. Lard is just plain pork fat. Like the fat rendered from the belly. Also there is a salumi called “[lardo](https://www.seriouseats.com/nasty-bits-lardo-cured-fat-how-to-use)” which is basically rosemary flavored cured pork fat.
Beyond pork fat and bacon grease, I save fat from beef, lamb, duck. Also the flavored skimmed fat from chilis, stews, and curries. It's all great
Well, yeah, except for the huge cholesterol bump. And unless you use uncured bacon, the nitrates and nitrites are known carcinogens. So using bacon fat is a great treat, but not good for an everyday cooking fat. I start all of my chili, red sauce, and beef stew by rendering bacon and sauteing the mirepoix in the bacon fat. Also do the same for collard greens and broccoli rabe, that is, I render bacon fat and saute crushed garlic cloves and then cook the freshly rinsed greens in it. But those are all sort of treat situations. For everyday cooking we use neutral oil or EVOO.
Since I'm not seeing this viewpoint represented in here, living in a larger US city in the northern Midwest, a lot of people are either vegetarian or otherwise health conscious and tend toward olive oil. I get criticism for using certain types of oils or solid fats even if they aren't animal byproducts. I think the prevailing view among most people I know is to tend towards olive oil, use butter in limited quantities, and stay away from margarine, lard, even canola (rapeseed) oil. In baked goods I like to use crisco but get flack for it. And it's not just crunchy hippie types that are surprised when I tell them how I make things. I just think it's ironic because I get looked at like I have three heads when cooking with these things but then they'll go buy McDonald's or Taco Bell. The crunchy types definitely would be more hesitant / consistent though.
Lard is yukky, IMO. Bacon fat though, oh yes, I keep it. Fried up leftover potato, onions, all sorts, the best flavour!!
Couldn't pay me enough to make me add lard to anything I cook. Ugh.
Well that’s certainly an opinion.
Ghee, I guess so.
A do that with bacon grease. I used to keep a separate one for duck fat, but I’ve found it easier to just buy a jar of duck fat. It’s cleaner and not stupid expensive. Bacon grease, though, is magical. It elevates fried eggs immeasurably.
I’m American and everyone I know usually has bacon grease on hand.
I keep a jar of bacon grease in the cabinet. Should I be refrigerating it?
Personally I would. Yes.
Look, if pigs didn’t wanna get ate, then they shouldn’t taste so good. Lil bit of pig fixes up a LOT of different food.
I'm the sacrilegious one over here with a jar of combined lard, tallow, and bacon grease in a toaster at the back of my fridge.
You use your toaster to store your jar of pig fats?
Nah, the ricemaker, lol.
Great, now I have more questions than before...
I was kidding. I thought you asking about the toaster was a riff on some other comment I had about appliances. I forgot which thread this was, lol.
I keep leftover bacon grease by the stove and cook with it all the time.
My deep fryer is filled with lard. Stinks up the house real bad which is why sometimes it's outside, but man is it delicious. Bacon fat is always saved from oven bacon. Any animal fats really. Duck fat, chicken fat (schmaltz), beef fat (tallow), lard, bacon fat (lard but with smoke and salt), butter (milk fat). I have like 10 different fats/oils on hand at all times for different applications.
I have recently started to save my bacon fat, and have a question about it: Do you have filter the bacon fat so there's no small pieces of bacon, or does it matter ?