Bacon Grease

One of the tastiest things I do in the kitchen is save bacon grease. Once you're done cooking bacon, just drain the pan into a ceramic bowl (don't pour hot grease into plastic!) and put it in the fridge. When its time to use it, I just scoop out a bunch of grease (it will solidify after it cools) and plop it in the pan. Its truly phenomenal with eggs.

Besides eggs, it is often used for Cuban beans, which I love. You cook up some onions, garlic, and hot & mild peppers in some bacon grease. Then you dump in some beans (which you have been soaking for 8 hours--dump out the soak water). Cook it all up together with fresh water until the beans are soft, which should be a couple of hours.

I've seen bacon grease in recipes for liver, as well. For that matter, you could use it in any recipe in place of cooking oil.

With all the talk about heart disease and weight gain in our society, it may be shocking to hear this kind of recommendation. However, there are many who recommend a diet high in fat, much like our ancestors ate. It could be that the confusion over fat in our society is related to the way the animals are raised. The fat is better for you if the animal was at least partially pasture-fed. Pasture-raised animals tend to have more even levels of omega-3 and 6 fatty acids, while grain-fed, factory-farmed animals are way high on the 6's but extremely low on the 3's. High omega-6 consumption without the 3's is linked to high blood pressure and heart disease. Not surprising that there is such a push for omega-3's in the health product business to balance this out. The common sense argument is this: Consuming animals that have eaten a natural diet that suits them and who are themselves healthy is going to make you healthy.

I have some pretty strict oil guidelines. I cook only in olive oil, butter and bacon grease. Absolutely no hydrogenated oils like margarine. Olive oil is expensive, but it is a strategic, well-thought-out purchase, and I feel it is worth it. Saving bacon grease cuts the cost of my oil usage. It also makes sense--why throw out something that is immensely useful!

Bacon is actually very good to have around if you don't like a lot of meat. A few strips of bacon can add a meat dimension to a plate without having to overpower it, and the grease can flavor meals even without the meat.