The value of rendered bacon fat?


My grandparents raised and sold ducks, back in the day, also had some hogs on the farm. Not like today's operations, but it was not uncommon for them to have 100 to 200 ducks at any one time. Grandma always had duck fat to bake with. Even when living in town she would keep of duck fat in the fridge, there was some there when she died in her mid 80's.

If yea know what to do with it both the bacon and duck fat can be good stuff.....

Now can someone talk about rendered bear fat........I know a little but I have never used it.....
 
I’m with you Marlene. Why buy it when you can do it yourself so easily. Never used duck fat either, but I can only remember one time that I’ve actually eaten duck. Bacon fat in place or shortening or to oil my cast iron for some pancakes is a common occurrence
 
I use bacon fat often to make popcorn with. Have a few tobacco cans stored in the fridge, been doing it for years. If your family happens to like bacon, it can build up surprisingly fast. Also excellent for cookie recipes, which hasn't been for a long time. Have to maintain my Adonis like figure ya know.

It's mostly a great means to avoid nuking the butter supply. It also takes some of the sting out of the price of a pound of bacon, if you think about it.

I have read cooking oils and shortening loom large in times of distress. I decided to put up a can of Crisco. It says "Best by Aug 2009". Is it still edible I wonder? I mean, edible as it ever was anyway.

One of the cans of bacon grease in the fridge started to get a little whang to it, so I threw it out. I don't think unsafe or harmful, but definitely a bit "off".
 
TWill said:
If you all have canning jars in pints just heat up your animal fats until they are 300F or so and pour it into the jars and put the lid on. It will seal and be shelf stable for a long time. I do lard that way. Makes nice biscuits.
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Thanks for the suggestion. I have always frozen whatever I can't use fresh in a reasonable amount of time (because I have had it mold before), but never thought of canning jars. I have only been back into canning in the past couple years after a way-too-long hiatus.

Marlene
 
Lazarusaurus said:
Maybe it's intended for vegetarians who generally don't cook bacon?
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My brother was vegan for several years. I doubt that any self-respecting vegetarian would even cook with animal fat. But yours is as good an answer as any. I just can't wrap my brain around buying bacon grease. That said, I do buy lard by the brick, because I can't render enough for purposes like baking pies.

Marlene
 
It must be for recipes that call/or are made better for it? Corn bread, green beans...?
But I can't imagine using the grease and not liking the actual bacon.
Although there was a time I was down to my last small tupperware container in the fridge :eek:
 
My grandma used to make Molasses cookies. She stored them in an old round metal Nabisco tin on the steps leading up to the (unheated) attic. I got the recipe from her once, I called her on the phone and she started rattling it off from memory of course. If she mentioned bacon grease, I don't remember it, but I could never duplicate those things, bacon grease seems to do the trick. Margarine is mostly water and doesn't work right in old school recipes in the same proportion, but butter has a fair amount too and varies depending on the quality.

Bacon grease has hardly any water and/or none, so it changes how recipes turn out a bit. I want to try it with brownies or chocolate cake. It does work excellent for Biscuits.
 
"Now can someone talk about rendered bear fat........I know a little but I have never used it..... "

MJH,in Alaska bear fat was always considered quite a commodity.Among other things it is held to be the best shortening for making pastry.I'm not much of a pastry chef,but i gather that it's maybe because it stays firm at higher temperatures than other fats...

It could be sold or traded,especially in towns where it was more difficult to get your own.Rendered,and poured into quart canning jars it was valuable enough to ladies in town to almost subsidise the ticket and some other expenses to fly in from the village for a town-run.Sometimes a bear was offed for that reason alone.

Black or brown bear works equally well,taken at the right time of year(not in the summer during the fish run).The rural legend has it that in the fall when bears feed on blueberry their fat can sometimes taste of berries,but i'm not sure i believe it.That's just the best time to harvest one,and the most productive as they have the most of it on them preparing to hibernate.

After melting the fat is poured through cheesecloth to filter it,but a couple years ago i tried coffee filter,and it worked even better.With care,the small amount of water used for rendering stays at the bottom of the pot with crackling et c.,and the finished product in the jar looks very sexy,pure white,with no sediment(that i see in the OP photos...strange that they'd not take better care to avoid it in commercial product).

Rendered fat preserves better without freezing(or even refrigeration),but still must be kept cool.Fat putrefies,goes rancid,faster at the higher temperatures,but rendering prolongs the storage considerably,maybe couple-three years.

Fat shares the ability for osmoticprocesses similar to salt and sugar,there's actually such thing as "fat preservation",and in some degree of rancidity becomes actually easier to digest,but here we get to some complex nutritional issues....

Anyway,it's good stuff.If someone ever bumps off a bear for whatever reason,definitely render and save the fat(if it was a good animal).
 
It's a commonly known fact that

Yesterday,
All my troubles seemed so far away,

was orginally

Scrambled eggs.
Oh, my baby, how I love your legs.

Between those two, then also worked on another propper english version.

Oh, I believe in Bacon Grease.
 
Lazarusaurus said:
Maybe it's intended for vegetarians who generally don't cook bacon?
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Oh...kinda like a gateway drug.... :cool:

Gettem hooked on bacon grease....next they're cooking there own....and NOBODY can cook bacon without eating some.....no more vegan....
 
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