Bacon grease

[MBTcustom]

How do you store it?

I always kept it in a mason jar next to the stove. Well, we eat more bacon in the spring, so it gets filled up, and towards this time of year, it's getting on down to the bottom of the jar.
Well, maybe I never noticed before, and maybe the contents of the jar was recycled often enough, but yesterday I was getting ready to fry some deer meat and I grabbed the mason jar and noticed that the jar was stinkin. Not overpowering mind you, just schmelled a little janky.
Anyways, I shrugged and went on ahead and fried my deer meat. Tasted great, and I suffered no side effects.

Well, today I went to fry up some bacon and eggs for the ladies and I remembered that stanky jar of drippings. Instead of pouring the new bacon grease in with the old, I decided to pitch the old in the wastebasket and start fresh.

Now I know there are quite a few of you fellers who appreciate the old ways, so I thought I would just ask if you see anything wrong with my system here, or if you know what went wrong with that previous jar, etc etc.
any comment is welcome.

BTW, I cook only on cast iron, so don't give me any of that "Pampered chef, Gucci home improvement" advice. LOL!

[375RUGER]

Put it in the ice box, maybe?

[bayjoe]

Ice box, so no extra protein crawls or fly's in to contaminate your jar. The stuff is like magic on the trap line.

[jaysouth]

I keep mine in the fridge in a quart mason jar. When topping off, I pour in the new grease while still hot. The sediment settle to the bottom. It will keep for years while cool, just not at my house. When I was in the restaurant business, I would pour the grease into a large strainer to catch the burned food. It went into the walk-in cooler for storage.

You may think it sacreligious, but bacon and beer are proof that god loves us.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Yep, I have a jar right next to the stove also. When a jar fills up, I put it in the freezer and start a new jar. I don't think I've ever accumulated more than two jars at any one point in time. Oh, I always keep it covered. If it would start to smell 'off', I'd toss it and start a new one...but, that's never happened for me yet. Oh, once in a while I'll heat the whole jar, so the charred bits sink to the bottom, then after it cools, I spoon out the clear grease and put in a clean jar.
Good Luck,
Jon

PS, I hope my Doc doesn't read this thread, I got a good talking to about my overweight condition in October :(

[uscra112]

In the Depression era, farm wives used to can it, just like canning vegetables and fruits. And bacon. :smile: Canned bacon will last for many years. No refrigeration required.

I just keep mine in the fridge. Keeps for months. Longer term you can always put it in the freezer.

[Bad Water Bill]

"IF IN DOUBT THROW IT OUT"

That is what my folks taught me sometime back in the last century.:smile:

[MBTcustom]

I never covered it, and I never had a jar smell strange.
Never got any bugs in there either. Just figured it was one of the great mysteries that is bacon.
I guess I could make a spot for it in the fridge, but I never had to do that before.

I've been thinking about it, and I remember about 2 weeks ago, I had set it in the sink so I could dump in the new drippings and my daughter walks up with a half finished glass of water and dumps it in the sink (of course half of it went into the grease jar). "No problem, I'll just wait till it separates and get the water off of it later" says I.
Well I did that, but I wonder if that was the touch of death to the beloved jar of vien clogging goodness.

[w5pv]

When it go so rancid that you couldn't cook with it,the old timers would mix sulphur in it to smear on sores,the itch and what ever.To make our bacon grease last longer when it got pretty good amount of dregs in it put enough water in with it and bring it to a low boil for a few minutes then let it cool.The water with the dregs will go to the bottom and good clean bacon grease will stay on top.This works with tallow also.When we rendered fat from killing hogs this is the way we made the lard white.

[bhn22]

Mom used to spread it on both side of a hunk of home baked bread, then brown both sides in the cast iron skillet, Texas Toast to you youngsters. Much, much better than Texas Toast made with butter.

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

you know bacon grease is a great cutting lube on the lathe dont you?
dig it back out of the trash

[Col4570]

We do,nt save Bacon fat but we save the Dripping from Meat Roasted in Lard Beef Pork etc.Keep it in the Fridge for a week or two,Toast spread with Dripping with Salt sprinkled on it is particularly tasty.I should imagine the Dripping from Roasted Deer meat would be good.I like Bacon,Eggs and Mushrooms.Non of that arty farty Grub for me.

[bhn22]

you know bacon grease is a great cutting lube on the lathe dont you?
dig it back out of the trash

Veral Smith at LBT renders down bear fat to make the cutting oil for his tracer lathe. He claims nothing else works as well.

[jcwit]

Stored at room temp for a year, not a good idea. Keep it in the fridge we do.

Most any animal product will turn at room temp. in time. Only thing I ever heard of staying good was honey.

[Love Life]

Stick it in the fridge. I've had the same fat drippings jar for or a couple years. I just add more on top.

[Rainier]

We use wide mouth pint jars and store them in the fridge rotating them out as we use them up. I understand it's possible for bacon grease to become rancid from exposure to light and air but that chemical process takes several months.



PS, I hope my Doc doesn't read this thread, I got a good talking to about my overweight condition in October
JonB_in_Glencoe - My wife lost 38 pounds and I lost 40 pounds in the first 16 weeks of this year, with no exercise, no pills, and spending no money on diet "programs". I now weigh what I did when I joined the army in 1979. Be glad to fill you in how we did it shoot me a PM.

[Dan Cash]

Friends in Germany (Germans) kept the fat drippings in a covered crock about 1 1/2 quarts in size. The crock stayed on the kitchen counter except when it was on the table for spread. Excess was also in a crock with a bit of parafin poured over the top to seal it. It never went bad in the 3 1/2 years we were there.

[RED333]

Lube for muzzle loaders, I use it.
Cloth sausage wrapper is for the patch.
Mix it in with your home made boolit lube.
Mix it with dog food for the dogs.
The smell came from bits of food left in the fat you poured into the jar.

[fecmech]

My Mom kept in in a can next to the stove all my life and I did also till I quit using it after my heart attack. It never seemed to go bad. I used to love potatoes fried in bacon grease but I can't seem to handle it any more.

[jonp]

Ice box, so no extra protein crawls or fly's in to contaminate your jar. The stuff is like magic on the trap line.

Your not lieing!

[frankenfab]

I have a couple very small Pyrex containers with plastic lids that I rotate, keeping them in the fridge.

I use it mainly for biscuit gravy, but if I fry a ribeye in a cast iron skillet, I use it there as well. Green beans get bacon grease, dried minced onion, and Cavender's. A pot of pintos always gets a spoon full.

[bear67]

Both my grandmothers, my mother and Mama Bear and I have always stored it in a quart crock with lid sitting on counter or shelf at top of stove. I have never seen it go bad. In my life, we have stored sausage by frying it and putting in a crock, then covering with the grease from cooking and topping off with lard if needed. The old timers stored sausage several months this way. The grease sealed all the air away.
Raised on bacon, lard, bacon grease and good ol' cow salve butter and I an't dead yet.

[MBTcustom]

Well! it's easy to see who was raised with the bacon drippings on the stove and who wasn't! LOL!
Seriously, I posted this because I have never heard of bacon drippings going bad sitting out in the open air, and some of the old folks around here have been working out of the same jar or crock for 50 years.
It might surprise many of you to know that there were no refrigerators out here until fairly recently. This is Arkansas we were a poor state for a long time. People fed themselves out of a cast iron skillet, and they weren't very squeamish about things.
Look up how sauerKraut is made.

[btroj]

We don't save bacon grease but I know people who do. It shouldn't go rancid but it your daughter got a bit of water in it that could lead to problems.

It was probably time for a new jar anyway, right Tim? Good excuse for cooking more bacon too and that is never a bad thing.

[Beagle333]

I never seen it go "janky". But we keep it on top of the stove, and it does quite often melt and the burnt stuff and solids settle to the bottom. Every so often.... pour the clean stuff off the top into a new jar and pour the bottom with the crumbles over a big bowl of Ol' Roy for the hounds. 'Keeps their coats nice and shiny.... or so Grampa said.

[44Vaquero]

You can strain it through a coffee filter as it's poured into the can to remove any protein particulate's that may remain. This will slow the process of the grease going bad.

There is also a process in soap making called rendering and clarifying if you are so inclined to process it further.

[waksupi]

The smart ones who are always telling us what is good for us, have reversed theirselves, and now say bacon fat is better to cook with than most of the vegetable oils.

[sljacob]

The smart ones who are always telling us what is good for us, have reversed theirselves, and now say bacon fat is better to cook with than most of the vegetable oils.



I heard that on the radio the other day.

[Lefty SRH]

Its a great lube for tapping bronze and brass.

[labradigger1]

I keep mine beside the stove in an old aluminum can with a lid. Never had any isues before. I was raised on bacon grease and i thought everything tasted like bacon until my mid twenties. As for cast iron..... nothing else even compares. I will take a griswold or wagner any day of the week.

[Rainier]

Tim -
I don't think for a minute anyone is going to dispute you can save and use bacon grease for long periods of time. I'm no rocket surgeon so I could be wrong as two left shoes but it's my understanding that grease can, if exposed to light and air over time, like months, go rancid. I choose to use mason jars and keep it in the fridge. My grandmother used a solid crock with a lid and keep it on the counter next to the stove. I sure can't tell you the chemical break down process but I understand that bacteria doesn't survive in grease it's the light combined with air that can cause it to go bad. Also, what I call the "flavor bits" and don't strain out I guess can really speed along the process of breakdown.
So, I guess the bottom line is yes, it can go bad given enough time and you can mitigate that process by storing it out of the light.
Food for thought,
Rainier

[SciFiJim]

Any of you that melt it to let the bits settle to the bottom are missing out on a good thing. My wife and I keep a jar in the fridge and pour the grease in on top of the solidified stuff in the jar. This creates layers of bacon grease and bits. When ever we need some for something, we make sure to scoop out some of the bits as well. When/If a jar gets full, it gets a lid and goes into the freezer until needed. With the price of bacon the way it is, we go through spells of eating bacon and then doing without. We've had to get a jar out of the freezer occasionally.

[Rainier]

The smart ones who are always telling us what is good for us, have reversed theirselves, and now say bacon fat is better to cook with than most of the vegetable oils.

The "smart ones" have in my opinion had it wrong for 40+ years. Look up the "new" guidelines for a low carb/high fat diet now being recommended in Sweden. It's the exact opposite of the USDA guidelines we were/are given as a result of a political decision in 1971 - it sure doesn't appear to be a decision founded in "science". It falls under the category of "You can't make this stuff up"

[472x1B/A]

Goodsteel, the reason yer bakon dripins went bad was too much Roundup. This year as each farmer came into the elevator, I axed dem if they grew their corn and beans Roundup ready? NOT one of them said NO. So there ya are too much Roundup. Aw well just keep it in the fridg we all have been eatin this stuff for the last 25-30 years.

Just a side note here, both of my grandmothers and my mom kept the jar of dripins on the stove/counter for years and I ain't dead yet. I'll come sooner die'in from o-dumercare.

[bob208]

bacon grease is the best oil for seasoning cast iron. me and the wife are not suppose to have it. so I pour it over some dry cat food and give it to the cats. they love it and it cuts down on hair balls.

[redneckdan]

Jen and I keep our quart in the fridge. Bacon grease can go rancid, it is caused by light and oxygen exposure. Heat speeds up the reaction.

[blackthorn]

Mom used to spread it on both side of a hunk of home baked bread, then brown both sides in the cast iron skillet, Texas Toast to you youngsters. Much, much better than Texas Toast made with butter.

My mother did the same thing---YUMMMMMMMM

[shooterg]

Mines in a soup can in the fridge. But my Nana always had hers close to the stove - within 10 minutes of visiting her she'd have biscuits in the oven and milk gravy made with fatback or bacon grease on the stove- making me hungry thinking about it !

[Bad Water Bill]

MODERATORS

please lock this page.:kidding:

I have put on 20# so far THIS AFTERNOON and every artery is closed off.:bigsmyl2:

[CastingFool]

We recently started rendering our own lard, and store it in the fridge. It's great for cooking omelets, etc. The eggs don't even begin to stick, and I'm using a stainless steel pan. Wouldn't think of using a teflon coated pan. Everything seems to taste better cooked with lard. Your body actually needs some fats. It's all the sugar we consume that is bad for us. With that being said, I do use sugar, in moderation.

[MBTcustom]

Bad Water Bill,
Look what I just made for dinner:
89997
We have deer meat, bacon drippings from the new jar, a yellow onion, ginger, salt, pepper, flour and water. Served this over a bed of white rice.
Angie just told me that the mixed veggies are done, so I'm going to go and partake.
Just thought of ya, and figured I'd run back here and post a picture. LOL!

[Harter66]

This hails from the late 40s or early 50s there's a whole set grease,tea,coffee,sugar and flour. The bacon grease doesn't seem to keep as well as it used to . Lately like the last 5 yrs I've even tossed bacon that was getting all slimey.
89999

[SciFiJim]

Lately like the last 5 yrs I've even tossed bacon that was getting all slimey.


Yer not eating it fast enough. If it looks like it may be going bad soon, go ahead and cook it and freeze it for use later.

[JWFilips]

When I was a Kid ( 1950"s) my Mom had a cup of BG on the stove at all times. As she used it every Sunday morning it would be replenished! Move ahead into 2013 Well I know it would make things taste "good" but The risks can't justify having that cup on my stove any more........... Sorry to say I miss that taste

[MBTcustom]

When I was a Kid ( 1950"s) my Mom had a cup of BG on the stove at all times. As she used it every Sunday morning it would be replenished! Move ahead into 2013 Well I know it would make things taste "good" but The risks can't justify having that cup on my stove any more........... Sorry to say I miss that taste

Just keep it away from the burners and you'll be fine. It's no more a risk now than it was in the 1700's.

[MaryB]

I keep it in the fridge too, the layers of bits add a lot of flavor to what I use it with. Tomorrow will be mashed potato patties made from today's leftovers. Take mashed potato, grate in onion, add enough beaten egg to make a patty and bind it together. Salt and pepper, fry in bacon fat.

[Col4570]

My Wifes Mother is 99 and likes Bread fried in Beef Dripping,( from Beef Cooked in Lard).How can we tell a lady of that age that it will increase her Cholesterol count.We let her get on with whatever food from the old days she likes.One of her favourites is Black Pudding.We have gone back to cooking our Meat with Lard it flavours the Roast Potatoes nice.We had a so called healthy food period where Olive Oil was used but it did not replicate the flavours we remembered as kids.Nostalgia is a thing of the past.

[Ramar]

I have almost 2 gallons in the freezer, all in different size cans. It's been there for years and probably will be there for many more. I pour through a stainer and top off the cans in the freezer. All my cooking and baking is cast iron with bacon grease from the freezer. I've found if I load up a pan with bacon grease when I cook bacon it gets done faster.
Ramar

[JWFilips]

Just keep it away from the burners and you'll be fine. It's no more a risk now than it was in the 1700's.
Well, the risk of fire was not really my concern :wink:

[MBTcustom]

Well, the risk of fire was not really my concern :wink:

Prey tell, what is different about your bacon drippings than that of your parents or their parents, or their parents, or their parents?
Bacon is bacon whether you lived 2centuries ago or today.
I don't understand your statement.
If you're not concerned about fire, then what?
Is there a new risk that wasn't present in 1950?
I assumed you had a different style of stove than your mother had or something.

[JWFilips]

In my case cholesterol & salt..... However I sure do like the flavor when when it gets snuck into my food :smile:

[gbrown]

From my earliest memory--late '40s, to the '90s, there was a glass canning jar in the middle of my parent's stove with bacon drippings in it. My parents were products of the Depression--"Waste not, Want not." Dad had bacon, eggs and toast every morning of his life, except for a very few--then it was oatmeal. He never had BP or heart problems, died of lung problems when he was 85, probably as a result of his occupation. The bacon drippings never had time to turn rancid. I keep a pint jar in the fridge, that is added to, and use them to flavor vegetables, make gravy and fry meat with.

[MBTcustom]

In my case cholesterol & salt..... However I sure do like the flavor when when it gets snuck into my food :smile:

Man that stinks.
I wonder though. Some of the healthiest people I ever knew ate a steady diet of bacon and all the goodness that comes with it.
My wife has MS, so doctors are a much bigger part of our lives than I would really prefer. I wonder sometimes if they really know anything about the human body, or if they are just experts on prescription drugs.

[Col4570]

The Bacon we buy from our local Butcher is dry cured and fries up nicely.On occasions we will buy Bacon from a supermarket and this when frying gives off water that has to be poured away before cooking can commence.I asked the butcher about it and he says that there are several ways of making Bacon and one is to soak it in Brine (Salt Water). this could be why Harter66 is getting the slime as the water burns away.Just add more fat and cook on after pouring away the Water.

[TheGrimReaper]

Jar in the back of the fridge.

[Bad Water Bill]

Several years ago I was talking to a Vet that that had visited a V A hospital.

The first thing the MD said was "YOU MUST STOP SMOKING".

Tom answered that no one in his past 5 generations lived past 45. None of them ever touched tobacco of any type. I am the only one that ever smoked and I am 67.

That is why MDs "PRACTICE" their chosen field and the rest of us have a real profession.

But then many of them make a million a year guessing what to do for each of us.

[jcwit]

Several years ago I was talking to a Vet that that had visited a V A hospital.

The first thing the MD said was "YOU MUST STOP SMOKING".

Tom answered that no one in his past 5 generations lived past 45. None of them ever touched tobacco of any type. I am the only one that ever smoked and I am 67.


So because one fellow in 5 generations who smokes has lived 22 years longer than his former relatives makes smoking a safe act??????????????????????

Ever watch someone die slowly from the use of tobacco?


That is why MDs "PRACTICE" their chosen field and the rest of us have a real profession.

No! It is a "practice" because they are still learning and improving their real profession. Its obvious they do not "practice" their real profession the same as they did 100 years ago. The advances in the "practice" of medicine may in fact be the real reason he's made it to 67.

[popper]

Animal fat is like twinkies - million year shelf life. Now the meat (protein) part will go rancid. I don't reuse it so the big plastic jug goes into the trash when full.
Bread fried in Beef Dripping never fried it but soaking the soppings on some whole grain bread is wonderful. It was a race to get there before all was gone.

[Teddy (punchie)]

Keep it cool or hot, not warm. If by stove every few day in summer I would heat it all up filter, return to stove side covered. They never store lard, and oil in refrigerator. I have seen Cisco turn in my muzzleload items, it was also more a few years old.

[BDJ]

My wife is from south of the border, a lot of re-fried beans cooked at our house.
As the wife said, can’t make re-fry’s without bacon grease.
The Mason jar is setting on the back of the cook stove.
Toasted Cheese sandwich cooked in bacon fat ---yumm.

[gnoahhh]

Okay. So now bacon grease is good for you?? I don't think so. It's just common sense that a diet high in animal fat and salt will clog your arteries and raise your blood pressure like nothing else will. I gave up on bacon after a lifetime of eating piles of it, and cut waaaay back on red meat, and threw away my salt shaker after I had my heart attack five years ago. I feel better now than I ever did. Don't believe me? Okay, get back to me after you had your first heart attack.

For y'all using bacon grease in bullet lube/patch lube- don't you care about the salt in it (assuming salt was used in its curing, like 90% of it is) doing bad things to your rifle bores? Personally, that would be about the last thing I would introduce into my rifle barrels. I would be leery of using it for lathe work/tapping for the same reason.

All those crusty old timers who subsisted on what we now know to be bad diets and lived to ripe old age also more than likely worked like dogs too. Physical labor/exercise will go a long way toward purging fats/cholesterol. How many of us work as hard physically as did our forebears? Those of us who work at desks or workbenches or lead otherwise sedentary lives had do best to avoid a steady diet of stuff like bacon, unless the goal is to check out early.

[Rainier]

Okay. So now bacon grease is good for you?? I don't think so.
Wonder why you'd say that?


It's just common sense that a diet high in animal fat and salt will clog your arteries and raise your blood pressure like nothing else will.
Common sense? Really? Are you referencing the 1850's unproven lipid hypothesis? Or maybe the work of Ancel Keys in the 1950's? You know the "study" where it's been shown he manipulated the data to get the results he wanted. Or maybe the "common sense" you refer to comes from the 1971 Senate subcommittee chaired by George McGovern, that over the protests at the time of the American Medical Association, shoved a low fat high carb diet down the throats of America via the USDA?


I gave up on bacon after a lifetime of eating piles of it, and cut waaaay back on red meat, and threw away my salt shaker after I had my heart attack five years ago. I feel better now than I ever did. Don't believe me? Okay, get back to me after you had your first heart attack.
Truly sorry to hear you suffered a heart attack - I'd wish that on no one.


For y'all using bacon grease in bullet lube/patch lube- don't you care about the salt in it (assuming salt was used in its curing, like 90% of it is) doing bad things to your rifle bores? Personally, that would be about the last thing I would introduce into my rifle barrels. I would be leery of using it for lathe work/tapping for the same reason.
Boolit lube, lathe lube - use what works for you.


All those crusty old timers who subsisted on what we now know to be bad diets and lived to ripe old age also more than likely worked like dogs too. Physical labor/exercise will go a long way toward purging fats/cholesterol. How many of us work as hard physically as did our forebears? Those of us who work at desks or workbenches or lead otherwise sedentary lives had do best to avoid a steady diet of stuff like bacon, unless the goal is to check out early.
Nothing I know of replaces physical exercise but to avoid saturated fat or "check out early" really? I'd only ask that you question the "common sense" that you've brought to this discussion. I'm not a doctor and don't play one on TV but there's more here then meets the eye. Question what you think you know - you'll be surprised at what you find.

[Springfield]

My wife and I have been using the bacon grease for the last 2 years or so, and having bacon for breakfast maybe twice a week. Her last doctors appt he said her bad cholesterol was above normal levels but her good cholesterol way even higher than that. So go figure.

[shooterg]

Bacon now ain't bacon then - unless you're making it at home and curing your own hams/etc. Gotta believe the store packaged stuff might have something in it that ain't good for ya. I still prefer actual fatback with the rind, but the skinny hogs they raise now don't make for good fatback or "streak meat".

[Harter66]

When the MDs decided my BP was too high I too cut out the caffiene and salt. I started reading lables etc. 3 yrs later I was involentaraly drooling every time I got close enough to smell the shell fish,and getting the jitters everytime I went past the coffee bean stand........ No change in the BP . I'm fat, eat too much red meat , knock of a quart of liquire and 36 pack a yr,and every yr the co.and my personal MDs say eat more dark leafies I'll counsel you if you hit 120 next yr. I say cool so I can keep my castiron and bacon grease?

[Rainier]

My wife and I have been using the bacon grease for the last 2 years or so, and having bacon for breakfast maybe twice a week. Her last doctors appt he said her bad cholesterol was above normal levels but her good cholesterol way even higher than that. So go figure.

Here's something fun to look up - LDL Cholesterol or "bad" Cholesterol is apparently broken up into two categories, large and small LDL. Apparently large LDL Cholesterol is "good" for you and the small particles are the ones that are "bad" for you. The test you get from your doctor doesn't break them out into large and small it just lumps them all together and your over the guidelines - here take this drug.
So next I ask where did we get the guidelines? Under the category of "you can't make this stuff up" 8 of the 9 doctors that established the guidelines for the National Cholesterol Education Program had direct financial ties to the drug companies that want to lower your Cholesterol with drugs. These esteemed doctors in 2004 lowered the guidelines making eligible millions of "new" folks for treatment with Statins.
So, I wonder how your wife's LDL and overall Cholesterol would score pre-2004 levels?

[gnoahhh]

Ok, I'll not take any advice from someone on the internet who portends to know more than my cardiologist who has done a fine job of keeping me alive and in good health for the last five years.

I still say that no good can come from stuffing one's self with grease. Cholesterol/heart disease aside, what good does it do the rest of one's systems/organs? No dietician in their right mind would recommend a diet of that nature over one rich in vegetables- and one who did would rank as a charlatan in my mind.

I missed bacon, sausage, and stuff like that a lot when I gave it up. In no time at all I found myself not missing it a bit, and feeling way better by far.

[Rainier]

Ok, I'll not take any advice from someone on the internet who portends to know more than my cardiologist who has done a fine job of keeping me alive and in good health for the last five years.
I'm surely not attempting to give advice and I sure don't have the training of your cardiologist - I'm simply asking you to question what we've all been taught to believe.


I still say that no good can come from stuffing one's self with grease. Cholesterol/heart disease aside, what good does it do the rest of one's systems/organs? No dietician in their right mind would recommend a diet of that nature over one rich in vegetables- and one who did would rank as a charlatan in my mind.
A diet of what nature? Without vegetables? Really? Maybe you missed the point - question what you think you know about saturated fat. And I guess the doctors within the Swedish government who after reviewing some 16,000 studies on the subject changed their guidelines to a high fat low carb diet, to include lots of vegetables, we should consider charlatan's?


I missed bacon, sausage, and stuff like that a lot when I gave it up. In no time at all I found myself not missing it a bit, and feeling way better by far.
I'm truly happy you have found what works for you and that you feel better. I hope that you live to ripe old age still casting and shooting boolits!

[dagger dog]

This hails from the late 40s or early 50s there's a whole set grease,tea,coffee,sugar and flour. The bacon grease doesn't seem to keep as well as it used to . Lately like the last 5 yrs I've even tossed bacon that was getting all slimey.
89999


Yeah I was going to post the same thing, I think mom had salt and pepper shakers to go with the set also, she always put the "drippings", that's what we called 'em, in the little strainer pot.

That's when you still lit a stove with a strike any where match, and there was a kitchen container for those too, moms was a little cast iron bin that hung on the wall next to the stove, the cast iron made a perfect surface to strike the match.

[smokeywolf]

Because 1 lb. of bacon usually isn't quite enough for the 4, sometimes 5 of us. I frequently fry up a pound of bacon and a pound of sausage. Being that sausage is not cured and bacon usually is, can you dump your sausage grease in with your bacon grease and still have it stay good for weeks or months?

smokeywolf

[Harter66]

I don't . The why is because of all the other stuff in the sausage, it could strained I suppose.

[bob208]

during ww 2 bacon grease and all animal fat was collected. I think it was used for explosives.

[MBTcustom]

Because 1 lb. of bacon usually isn't quite enough for the 4, sometimes 5 of us. I frequently fry up a pound of bacon and a pound of sausage. Being that sausage is not cured and bacon usually is, can you dump your sausage grease in with your bacon grease and still have it stay good for weeks or months?

smokeywolf

I don't know, but I'll tell you one thing for darn sure: it sounds delicious!

[MBTcustom]

during ww 2 bacon grease and all animal fat was collected. I think it was used for explosives.

We just use beans around here.

[RED333]

If yall want to fight over what is good and bad for ya that is fine.
Me, life is way to short, even if ya live to 100.
Just enjoy what ya like, get out and walk a bit, everything will work out in the end.
I have eaten everything I like all my life (55) and the last MD visit,
bad col was low, good col was a bit high.
Doc said "what ever you are doing keep it up".
Sausage, egg and cheese biscuit every day Mon through Fir.
Weekends, 2 to 3 eggs, 2 to 3 pieces of sausage and biscuits.
Chicken(fried) or red meat for dinner, what ever is cooked for supper.
Go figure.

[jcwit]

If yall want to fight over what is good and bad for ya that is fine.
Me, life is way to short, even if ya live to 100.
Just enjoy what ya like, get out and walk a bit, everything will work out in the end.
I have eaten everything I like all my life (55) and the last MD visit,
bad col was low, good col was a bit high.
Doc said "what ever you are doing keep it up".
Sausage, egg and cheese biscuit every day Mon through Fir.
Weekends, 2 to 3 eggs, 2 to 3 pieces of sausage and biscuits.
Chicken(fried) or red meat for dinner, what ever is cooked for supper.
Go figure.

YUP! Life is to short. I have a very good friend who refused to listen to his Dr. and Dietitian, regarding smoking, and eating a healthy diet. He now has had a few operations to open clogged arteries, walks with a walker or a wheel chair, can not carry on a conversation, and frankly knows very little as to whats happening around him.

Course if you wish to live that way, have at it, your choice.

Remember the old rule, All things in Moderation.

[JWFilips]

Holy C*ap! The OP just asked how you store it! & I don't think he ment.... in the gut or arteries !. Some things are good for some & bad for others. If you are one of the lucky ones GOD bless you: If you are one of the Unlucky ones GOD bess you too!

[HNSB]

I had no idea you could reuse the grease. I've been throwing it out in the woods.

There's gonna be a jar in my refrigerator tomorrow.

[Abenaki]

Don't worry about the salt in bacon grease rusting your gun.
I have cooked bacon in cast iron pans for years......They never rusted.

Take care
Abenaki

[btroj]

We just use beans around here.

Same here. Grease just makes for messier explosions.......

[geargnasher]

Don't worry about the salt in bacon grease rusting your gun.
I have cooked bacon in cast iron pans for years......They never rusted.

Take care
Abenaki

And if you let your rifle barrels season properly with a good lube and only shoot cast boolits through them, and futher never clean them excessively, they won't rust either.

Highly refined lard oil is often used as an extreme-pressure cutting oil additive. Its presence does require the use of anti-microbial additives as well, particularly if the cutting fluid is an emulsion, but the qualities it imparts are worth it.

Tim, I think the water and the "bits" made a nice Petri dish of your fine can of yummy goodness.

I've followed the Lodge instructions for veggie oil wipe and bake in an oven to pre-season ironware, but it always had that linseed-oil stank and flavored the food badly. NOTHING is better than pig fat to season iron furniture. If you cook meat like venison that doesn't have "sweet" fat like beef and pork do, pig fat or even better, BEAR fat is just the ticket to fix it, per your venison Pilaf supper.

If you think pig fat is good, you haven't had bacon fried in black bear grease.

Gear

[MBTcustom]

jcwit - chill out brother. We all die, but the path to that door should be walked with dignity. Fear is a hard thing to live with constantly.
jwfilips - Bless you too
HNSB - Go and sin no more
abenaki - high five!
Brad - boom baby!
Ian - you gonna share or just let me wonder about it all my life?

[btroj]

To think of the amount of black bear far I left in Canada on two trips........

I try to avoid too much fat but somehow don't avoid the darn carbs. Carbs are gonna kill me yet.

Bacon, how can anyone not like bacon?

[waksupi]

I will continue using bacon drippings. I will not have it said that I died healthy, that would seem a waste. I will continue to use myself up.

[smokeywolf]

And if you let your rifle barrels season properly with a good lube and only shoot cast boolits through them, and futher never clean them excessively, they won't rust either.

Highly refined lard oil is often used as an extreme-pressure cutting oil additive. Its presence does require the use of anti-microbial additives as well, particularly if the cutting fluid is an emulsion, but the qualities it imparts are worth it.

Gear

Refined lard oil was a favorite of the old timers for milling cold or hot rolled steel and even some of the higher carbon steels in the MGM Studio Machine Shop. Turning required higher viscosity oils or you ended up wearing half the oil you had applied to the part.

smokeywolf

[762 shooter]

I love my bacon, but Crisco is my go to for cast iron seasoning.

762

[gon2shoot]

Studies have shown that most things I eat or do are harmfull. I always pay attention to the results of studies done by the educated folks, like global warming....................................

[jcwit]

LOL, I wouldn't call Al Gore highly educated. At least when it comes to common knowledge and actual stats, but he is when it comes when it comes to making money, that is clearly obvious.

[gnoahhh]

I'm truly happy you have found what works for you and that you feel better. I hope that you live to ripe old age still casting and shooting boolits!

Thank you. I sincerely didn't mean to ruffle feathers, it's simply a subject I feel passionate about, and one that usually triggers vehement opinions within my normally laid back demeanor! I shall do what's best for me and get on with worshiping at the altar of cast bullets!

[smokeywolf]

LOL, I wouldn't call Al Gore highly educated. At least when it comes to common knowledge and actual stats, but he is when it comes when it comes to making money, that is clearly obvious.

Most people who are born into big money and politics, and go to schools for the wealthy, entitled and privileged, do pretty well expanding the already established family fortune. It's a lot easier to make a large amount of money larger, than it is to make a large amount of money honestly, when you're starting out with only a few thousand in seed money.

smokeywolf

[MBTcustom]

Well, I learned one thing about bacon in this thread. More than any other culinary product, it effects everything from what the doctor tells you to global warming. Wow. I had no idea how important my jar was. I will proceed with more respect!

Seriously, you guys crack me up! LOL!

[Bad Water Bill]

And just how many millions has big Al made selling those "CARBON CREDITS"?

How many acres do I have to plant to grow one carbon credit and what does it look when it reaches maturity?

[seaboltm]

92 responses on bacon grease???? I would have thought you were using it as a lube!

[Socal147]

I thought maybe this was going to turn into another boolit lube story. Lol

[grrifles]

I don't ever get to save any. I always make gravy with the drippings. Lol

Chris

[Adam10mm]

I collect our bacon fat in coffee cans and store them in the freezer. Takes too long to let them cool down on the counter.

I like to render and filter the bacon fat, then deep fry fish and potato slices in it.

[MtGun44]

I try to treat my body like my car or other equipment. Don't do stuff known to harm it, use best grade
lubes and do regular preventative maintenance. Neither will last forever, but I want both to go as long
as is reasonably possible and be in good shape so I can get where I need to (and do what I want to)
as long as I can.

I love bacon, but it is a special Sunday morning treat only a few dozen times a year.

Bill

[Col4570]

One guy cooking bacon whilst stroking his pet Mountain Lion.He thought he heard his Wife say "one day that Cooking Fat will Kill you".

[John in WI]

I got a tip from an old timer blacksmith about this. I used to use petroleum based quench oil which STANKS!! But switched over to bacon grease, or sometimes topped it up with veggie oil if I ran out.

It turns rancid from oxidation, so it seems you can crack open a vitamin E capsule into it from time to time to stop that.

By the way--bacon grease works amazing for hardening steel, and I'd rather the shop smell like bacon than burning automatic tranny oil mixed with waste drain oil!

[Down South]

Goodsteel, I'm jealous. Your Bacon Grease thread got more than twice the replies my Straight Razor thread got.

I'm a bacon lover too. I reuse the grease, usually to fry my eggs in. After that, I toss it. But my old grandma always saved it until she used it up. She kept it in the fridge sealed up.
Back in the day when I roasted hogs over an open fire, we would put a big can under the hog to catch as much of the drippings as we could. Nothing better to fry fish in than pure lard.

[fatnhappy]

I keep a gallon in the fridge. Nothing and I mean nothing, makes a better grilled cheese sandwich than slathering the bread with ersatz butter before frying. I also use lard for deep frying in my dutch ovens. Screw the conventional wisdom, my forebears all lived to well over 90 cooking the same way. They may have all been 6' tall and 6' wide but they were all happy.

[1950Hudson]

Bacon grease kept in the fridge for making biscuits. Bacon grease to coat the cast iron skillet before baking cornbread.

Thanks to this thread, my next grilled cheese sandwich is getting a coat as well. Now why didn't I think of that?!?!?

And in the middle of the last century, before GOOP type hand cleaner products came on the scene, I recall my father coming in from working on the car in the garage with his hands covered in automotive grease. He would have me scoop a spoonful of bacon grease from the coffee can my mom kept in the fridge into his hands. Standing over the sink he rubbed it around like GOOP and it dissolved the auto grease just as quickly. After that, a little dish liquid, a rinse, and hands clean enough to eat with.

[jcwit]

Also works well to remove/clean your hands of wood stain and oil based paint.

[Swamp Man]

Good news for bacon lovers.

http://newrisingmedia.com/all/2013/9/30/study-shows-eating-bacon-will-make-you-live-longer

[w5pv]

I forgot use some of it in your boolit loob just in case.

[lowbush]

To make our bacon grease last longer when it got pretty good amount of dregs in it put enough water in with it and bring it to a low boil for a few minutes then let it cool.The water with the dregs will go to the bottom and good clean bacon grease will stay on top.This works with tallow also.When we rendered fat from killing hogs this is the way we made the lard white.

This is how I learned to do it and once you process bacon grease, it is as stable as regular lard, it will keep on a cool dry shelf for years. Water is what causes grease to go rancid and even though bacon grease is fried it does tend to retain some water and thus promotes bacterial growth in the medium if it is present. What I do is mix equal parts water and grease in a pot with a tablespoon of lemon juice (it freshens and cleans the taste) and boil the mix, make sure that it gets hot enough to kill any bacteria but not so hot that the oil causes the water to become superheated. Then what I do is put the whole mix into the freezer in a plastic container, this freezes the dredge to the bottom with the water and ensures all water has been frozen out of the grease. Once it is frozen, I cut the grease from the frozen ice about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch above the frozen water line to ensure that I don't pick up any ice. Discard the ice and you have pure lard. This will restore even rancid lard as all of the contaminants will drop to the bottom of the water and freeze out and the lemon juice will remove any funky taste that may have been imparted, the boiling sterilizes the whole thing. The reason Lard is wrapped in paper is that the paper absorbs any moisture that the lard picks up, when I am done and I have the lard separated from the water, I wrap it in butchers paper and then just store it on a shelf in the pantry, it last for years.

On a related note, I smoke a prime rib every year for Christmas, and when I do I put a pan under it in the smoker, I catch the grease that drops off and process it the same way. If you have never cooked anything with Prime Rib grease you have missed out on something in life, that stuff is like liquid gold. We like to fry up french fries in it, it's pure pleasure.

[Ramar]

lowbush,
That's a good 1st post, welcome!
Ramar

[jcwit]

For those who say, My grandpapy lived xx so long, have a look at actual statics's

http://demog.berkeley.edu/~andrew/1918/figure2.html

Now consider our eating habits, health system advances, safety measures in industry, and all the rest. However much I dislike the politics of today, I sure wouldn't want to go back to the 1910's.

[Bad Water Bill]

Why bring up figures of sissies?

Everyone knows "BOOLIT CASTERS" and their families outlive sissies by at least 20 years.:bigsmyl2:

[Ramar]

good steel said something about respect for bacon grease.....

I apologize to those who have seen this 1942 Disney production for help.
Ramar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q38H6Xol9t0

[Bad Water Bill]

Thanks for the memories.

I am old enough to remember mom saving the grease and collecting an extra meat stamp or two.

Stamps for gasoline and tires as well.

And we did raise rabbits in our back yard in the city limits of Chiraq.:bigsmyl2:

[jcwit]

Thanks for the memories.

I am old enough to remember mom saving the grease and collecting an extra meat stamp or two.

Stamps for gasoline and tires as well.

And we did raise rabbits in our back yard in the city limits of Chiraq.:bigsmyl2:

Figures of sissies? What you talking bout.

Ya, I came in those days as well, my brothers collected milk weed pods as well for the war effort, and my mother sewed for it as well, only thing is I was to young to contribute much if anything. We did get an extra sugar stamp for Christmas cookies because of me tho.

[jcwit]

OK maybe you didn't like it because it came from Berkly, how bout National Geographic?

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/04/life-expectancy-map/

[lowbush]

lowbush,
That's a good 1st post, welcome!
Ramar

Thanks, I don't know that much about casting yet but I know a thing or two about Bacon, call it a passion of mine if you will. I have been lurking for a little while now and decided to join today. I write web based software for a living and have an idea about some software for shooting and reloading but I need to learn a little more about the reloading and casting portions of it and I figured joining up would be the best way to do that (I am going to start a thread on the subject when I feel I am ready). There is a good group of people on this board and that is what I wanted to verify by lurking for a little while, but based on what I have seen I plan to hang around and contribute some cool stuff to the community.

[gbrown]

If you have never cooked anything with Prime Rib grease you have missed out on something in life, that stuff is like liquid gold. We like to fry up french fries in it, it's pure pleasure.

My local Kroger's trims beef on Wednesday. I can take a 5 gallon plastic bucket down there early, and they will save me the trimmings. Free. Bring it back and put in the freezer or render it then. 8 or 10 qt. cast iron pot on propane camp Coleman stove on back deck. Use it for soap or frying. I got like 5# in the freezer right now. All the cracklin' stuff? Save in old coffee containers for fish chum--make some bad soap?--melt, mix with cracklin's for catfish bait.

[MaryB]

Now I want to make some homemade bacon again... maybe shoulder(cottage) bacon... hard to find fresh pork bellies here

Ready to vac bag

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd248/maryalanab/bacon-003.jpg

Bagged for the freezer

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd248/maryalanab/bacon-004.jpg

Fresh off the smoker

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd248/maryalanab/bacon002.jpg

[frankenfab]

Peace, Love, and Bacon Grease!

[popper]

Dad made string and tin foil balls, got sugar, nylons, gas & tire ration cards. Friends gave him used tires when we moved. People pulled together in those days.

[Bad Water Bill]

I had completely forgotten about pealing the tinfoil off of the cigarette packs or the balls of string.



MARY B

That looks so good me and Girty will be over for breakfast.:bigsmyl2:

Will bring a jar of homemade blueberry jelly.

[Ramar]

I had to share my bacon grease ingots. This is how I freeze them now. I had to use the wife's trays; no Pb alloyed. No more 2 gallon container in the freezer.
Ramar
9066890669

[MBTcustom]

See, now if only I could invent some sort of meat frosting.......

Boy those look like a heart attack on the halfshell! LOL! ROFLMAO!

[Charlie Two Tracks]

I have to post in this thread........ just because. It's kind of like someone knowing where they were when Kennedy was killed or 9-11. I can't imagine what it would be like to have someone ask me (10 years down the road) about the bacon thread and why I never posted. Almost un American.

[oneokie]

I have to post in this thread........ just because. It's kind of like someone knowing where they were when Kennedy was killed or 9-11. I can't imagine what it would be like to have someone ask me (10 years down the road) about the bacon thread and why I never posted. Almost un American.

Mom, apple pie, baseball and bacon grease.

[brassrat]

I am recently out of grease as well as cooked, frozen, bacon. After this, it is time to fry a few, frozen, uncooked lbs. up.

[BNE]

Anybody else hungry now?

[Catshooter]

Oh MaryB! :)


Cat

[jcwit]

Mom, apple pie, baseball, bacon grease and Crestor.

[Ledslnger]

I know they use bacon fat in Silver Bullet Gun Oil. Maybe you shouldn't throw the old stuff away. I know SBGO donates some of their gun oil to military units fighting camel riders overseas. Help send the camel riders to H#LL. Sounds like a good thing to me. :)

[MaryB]

Bacon fat popcorn is really good, especially if you use the bottom of the jar with all the little bacon bits