All Things Bacon

[kathleenmariekg]

Do you eat bacon?

If so, do you save the bacon fat to cook with? What do you do with it?

Do you use it for anything other than cooking: like making soap or seasoning cast-iron?

 

[Benjamin]

Do you eat bacon?

Sparingly. I went for several years without eating any bacon at all unless I ate breakfast at a restaurant which is quite rare. In the last year or so I have bought a large package of bacon at Sam's Club 3 times and froze 7 piece portions which I will eat once about 2-3 weeks.

If so, do you save the bacon fat to cook with? What do you do with it?

I will NEVER forget when I was 18 living in a studio apartment and learning to cook for myself. I got paid on a Friday and had enough money to splurge on some bacon so I treated myself. I cooked up a big batch of bacon the next morning and thought how good my eggs would would be if I cooked them in the bacon grease afterward. They were so greasy I could hardly eat them and about 30 minutes later I barfed my guts out. Was a huge disappointment that I felt pretty stupid about and ever since I put my cooked bacon on paper towels and blot the top with another.

These days I cook my bacon on a broiler pan in the oven (comes out great!) with foil lining the bottom to catch the grease which I lift out, fold up and discard afterward. I pretty much feel guilty about eating bacon though and try to compensate by eliminating as much of the artery clogging fat as possible.

 

[kyredneck]

Do you eat bacon?

Yep, not as much as I used to, although am eating more since I got an air fryer (makes perfect crispy bacon).

If so, do you save the bacon fat to cook with?

Yep. My mom and grandmas saved it. Had grease strainers kept on top the stove specifically for bacon grease. I don't bother to strain it, any crumbs settle to the bottom before the grease hardens and easy to avoid when using.

What do you do with it?

Frying and seasoning. We rendered our own lard, which if done correctly is neutral in taste, a little bacon grease give the neutral lard some flavor, or you can just use bacon grease alone to fry with. Fish or chicken fried in lard or bacon is fantastic. Ever had "killed lettuce"? Fresh leaf lettuce from the garden wilted with a little hot bacon grease....hmm, hmm...

Do you use it for anything other than cooking: like making soap or seasoning cast-iron?

Never made soap. I think bacon smelling soap not a good idea but seasoning a skillet would be good, I know I've used lard to do that.

 

[kathleenmariekg]

I fry my eggs in bacon grease in a small cast-iron pan that I season with bacon grease. I cook smaller amounts of bacon at a time, because it is just me. I need some type of narrower container to store the grease, so the crumbs will have more of a bottom to settle, or I need to buy a strainer. I tend to only cook bacon when I run out of grease. I also toast bread and make grilled cheese with bacon grease in the cast-iron fry pan.

Years ago, I used to render lard under very different circumstances than I live now. Bacon grease and butter are my primary access to animal fat right now. Unlike modern thinking, I am not sold on the idea of too much vegetable fat, especially typical solvent extracted name-brand oils. My primary source of vegetable oil is natural peanutbutter and walnuts. I need to buy some olive oil.

I live alone. I live in a desert with limited access to water. I live in poverty. I have to adapt what I did in the past to my current circumstances in my "covid-bunker" as everyone calls it.

The oven is too expensive to run, so I have not made any biscuits or bread yet. I just got approved for some fuel assistance, but I still need to ration because the stove and heaters are all old and very inefficient. I might try some frying pan breads and might use bacon grease in them. I also have a pressure cooker that I might try "baking" in.

 

[kyredneck]

The oven is too expensive to run, so I have not made any biscuits or bread yet. I just got approved for some fuel assistance, but I still need to ration because the stove and heaters are all old and very inefficient. I might try some frying pan breads and might use bacon grease in them. I also have a pressure cooker that I might try "baking" in.

Wish I was there to help you with some things Kathleen.

Which desert?

Ever made hot water cornbread?

[add]

I love my eggs fried in butter.

 

[JonC]

I love bacon (too much). I cook collard greens with bacon fat.

I am happy to see bacon in the health and fitness thread. I was starting to feel left out

 

[kathleenmariekg]

We do not have a dedicated place to discuss cooking, and I never know where to put cooking stuff and tend to scatter it everywhere.

Jon, during your break from facebook, maybe we could start some conversations that have been absent from these boards for awhile or have never taken place here. I am not expecting an end to this virus anytime soon and expect more wandering souls to click onto this forum over the winter.

People need a replacement for what has been taken from them. I will make a special effort to participate in anything that forum leaders want to experiment with.

People are cooking and stockpiling this pandemic. They are reading books. They are starting hobbies and doing crafts. How can we support that and maybe offer some community and share our expertise and knowledge with each other?

 

[kathleenmariekg]

Wish I was there to help you with some things Kathleen.

Which desert?

Ever made hot water cornbread?

[add]

I love my eggs fried in butter.

I'm okay. God has this in control. I don't like it. I want it to end. I have peace that I growing in many critical areas at a pace that would not be possible otherwise and maybe never possible otherwise.

Google does all sorts of weird stuff with keywords that it mines off public sites. So I am going to tell you without using the name. LOL. I am surrounded by California, Utah, Arizona, Idaho and Oregon. I am smack in the middle of a Spanish speaking slum and in many ways that is a very efficient place to be on food during a pandemic.

People are adapting and they are resilient, and have contacts that are adaptable and resilient. The supply pipelines into this place are not the ones at the borders of this place. If I walk at least two miles, I can make it to American supplied retailers, and access whatever I can carry back 2-3 miles. The toilet seat had to come home partially on my head, because my arms were too weak to carry something that heavy and awkward that far, but I made it, and make people laugh when they try and picture me doing that.

People increasingly drive through the areas with trucks, and pushing little carts, selling Mexican cheese and soda pop and icecream. I have noticed some of the young men buying items for the children in what appears to be an attempt to support the old men, more than to please the children. Someone bought me an icecream cone yesterday and I let him when I realized what he was doing, and will treasure that experience for the rest of my life. God bless that young man.

I have not made hot water corn bread. I will google that. Thanks for the tip!

 

[kyredneck]

Google does all sorts of weird stuff with keywords that it mines off public sites. So I am going to tell you without using the name. LOL. I am surrounded by California, Utah, Arizona, Idaho and Oregon.

Dumb me. Didn't think before asking. Honestly, no harm intended.

I am smack in the middle of a Spanish speaking slum and in many ways that is a very efficient place to be on food during a pandemic.

Yea, I was raised by the generation that survived the Great Depression in E KY, "making do" is no new notion to me.

 

[Yeshua1]

Do you eat bacon?

If so, do you save the bacon fat to cook with? What do you do with it?

Do you use it for anything other than cooking: like making soap or seasoning cast-iron?

One of the greatest gifts from God, best is bacon lined port tenderloins!

 

[SGO]

Available at Costco and on Amazon:

 

[JonC]

Available at Costco and on Amazon:

View attachment 4481

I've always been fond of bacon pudding.

 

[kathleenmariekg]

I've always been fond of bacon pudding.

Never heard of it!

 

[JonC]

Never heard of it!

 

[Revmitchell]

Do you eat bacon?

If so, do you save the bacon fat to cook with? What do you do with it?

Do you use it for anything other than cooking: like making soap or seasoning cast-iron?

Yep especially with my biscuits and gravy.

 

[kathleenmariekg]

Yep especially with my biscuits and gravy.

Recipe??

 

[kathleenmariekg]

One of the greatest gifts from God, best is bacon lined port tenderloins!

Bacon wrapped scallops on a grill in the summer: I have not had those in a long long LONG time.

 

[kathleenmariekg]

Dumb me. Didn't think before asking. Honestly, no harm intended.

Yea, I was raised by the generation that survived the Great Depression in E KY, "making do" is no new notion to me.

Not dumb!!!!

My major was cybersecurity for a semester, before Covid struck, so now I know just enough to show how much I don't know. And I am just accustomed to some online friends who have trained me to never mention their country when we post, because it causes them problems that I do not fully understand.

I take a lot of risks that make not mentioning my location useless. LOL. I just have been trained not to do it so consistently, that I keep not doing it.

The only problem with making do, is that sometimes saving a penny costs me a dollar, and I try not to do that. But if you don't have the penny? I think that is how generational poverty is different than new poverty. Poverty levels things out so you have NOTHING left, that is above your current level of income. Stuff gets destroyed, when you don't have the means to upkeep it. Opportunities cannot be taken advantage of, because people do not have the clothes or transportation or some minor thing.

 

[Revmitchell]

Recipe??

I use the bacon grease as the base for my gravy. Add milk and flower.

 

[Yeshua1]

Never heard of it!

How about bacon bits on ice cream?