Saturday, September 23, 2006

tell me

When you cook ground beef or bacon, what do you do with the grease? We put it in an old pasta sauce jar we keep under the sink until it's full and then throw it away. I remember when I was a little girl, my Grandma always had a little ramekin of bacon fat in the fridge that she would use when she made eggs.

So what do you do?

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

I poor it in an old juice carton. Except yesterday when my boyfriend and I were cooking and he poored it down the sink. This morning we got a phone call from my friends house where we were, saying how the sink was blocked and did we know why. um, noo....

Holly {ArtistMotherTeacher} said...

Mr. Fab—That could be a bad thing if you don't want a clogged sink.

Melissa—"um, noo..." I know nothing. ;)

Naynayfazz said...

I used to do the coffee can thing. Now since I rarely make either bacon or beef, I just put the grease down the drain. Shhh! Don't tell anyone. :) Probably not the smartest thing to do but if it is once every two months or so, why save hard bacon grease in coffee can?

Jen said...

*sigh* My mom has one of those ramekins. She uses it for green beans. Ick. I hate when my green beans taste like bacon. When I got old enough to help with the cooking, I started leaving it out. She got mad at me.

I don't buy bacon much, but when I do, it suffers the same fate as the ground beef. I drain it off, into some empty can, container or other, and set it in the fridge to solidify before tossing it.

Sometimes, I save just enough to add to some of the homemade dog treat recipes I make- for flavoring. Then I usually end up saving too much and throwing it out, anyway.

When I was a kid, I thought hot water was hot enough to keep it from solidifying and also, the ads for Dawn always said it was a grease-buster so I'd just flush the hot grease down the sink with hot water and a Dawn chaser...when my mom found out, I had to amend my ways...I think it must have worked, though, because we didn't have clogged sinks that often...only when mom put too many potato peels down the garbage disposal at once...

I don't even put stuff down the garbage disposal, after years of either living in apartments with broken ones or living without one. It's just too much risk and hassle and I'm in the habit of peeling things on paper or over the trash can.

DutchBitch said...

* GAG *

Ok thanks hon... that little story and the pic just made it that much easier to "get rid" of my lunch..

Anonymous said...

YOu keep it in a jar under the sink?!?!? I've never heard of anyone keeping it!!

Holly {ArtistMotherTeacher} said...

Fuzzy—Not forever, just until the jar is full. I'm not going to waste empty jars—we recycle and only have a jar for grease every so often. It's not gross, it's enviromentally friendly.

edee—That's one way around it.

Dutchy—Aww, come on, you've got to have a stronger stomach than that.

Naynay—I think the jar keeps it...umm...fresher. Meaning, the smell doesn't permeate from the jar like it might the can. Plus, the jar takes up less space and holds less so it fills up quicker.

Jen—I bet Kansas (and now Leo) love the treats when you add the "flavor".

Blogarita said...

I save the bacon fat and use it to cook with (eggs, fried potatoes, green beans, etc.).

Other fat, like from ground beef or from our deep fat fryer, I let cool so it's not hot, but not solid, either. Then I pour it into an old gallon jug (milk jub or vinegar jug) until it's full, then I through it out with the trash.

Cupcake Blonde said...

Disposing of grease would be the result of cooking and since I don't do that I am of no help to you. However, my mother always put it into a small glass jar, waited until it solidified and then threw it away.

Anonymous said...

Keep it in a soup can in the fridge, and then take it to get recycled. You shouldn't just throw it away. That's wasteful.

Holly {ArtistMotherTeacher} said...

TF—Where are you recycling old beef and pork fat?

Tim said...

I used to pour it off the deck in my old house. It created a sink hole.

Anonymous said...

I remember that bacon grease Grandma had, and now I too have one in my fridge. I use it when I'm making cornbread or greenbeans. Just a smidge, but it makes such a difference in taste!!

~bck

BO Snagley said...

I feed it to the garden gnomes

Anonymous said...

Keep in a can in the freezer until it's full and toss it - just like you. Of course, the plumbers LOVE IT if you pour it down the drain.

egan said...

Become a vegetarian, problem solved.

Anonymous said...

I have nothing to report. I eat out too much to accumulate any food or food byproducts.

But I have to wonder how eggs fried in bacon fat taste. Good.

Lisa said...

I bring it to work and put it in the file drawer belonging to the mean accountant that works in the next office.

Jen said...

I agree with Egan
Become a vegetarian, problem solved!
no more nasty grease disposal

=)

Naynayfazz said...

Ya know, I am a little envious that you can get 22 comments about bacon grease. That is pretty impressive! :)

The Boy said...

I keep goose or duck fat, but beef or bacon fat? Out it goes, either into a yoghurt pot or mixed in the pan with hot hot water and dish soap. It emulsifies the fat so it doesn't stick in the pot.

We're on a composting septic tank, so it all feeds the garden eventually.

Hypersonic said...

I used to do the same as your mum. But then when I realised that it was saturated anima fat and what that did to your body, in the can and thrown in the trash. I used to have a job unblocking house drains and 80% of blocked drains were caused by fat being chucked down the sink.

Lynda said...

I put it in a can and throw it out. Even if said can is sitting on top of the garbage. I won't dig for a can though. Then I just put it down the sink with really, really, really hot water.

Spinning Girl said...

I keep it in a jar & then fill my suet birdfeeder with it.