What a great idea! Can't believe I never thought to do this. I hate making bacon because I hate cleaning up after it so much--but I love the taste so much. How long would this kind of bacon fat keep in the fridge?

i do!!! and when we are feeling particularly indulgent we fry up potatoes in it

I JUST started saving my bacon grease last week. I have a small container in the fridge, but have yet to use it. I'm looking forward to it, though!

I keep a can in the freezer and just pour in the bacon greases after I'm done using it. To be honest, though, I hardly ever use it. I just find it an easier way to dispose of it.

Brooklynnina -- bacon fat stays good for a long time if you keep it in a mason jar in the fridge -- about the same amount of time that lard stays good. I love using drippings in place of oil in cornbread, or when I'm making pinto beans, or any/all of the above applications. It's especially good when you're making egg dishes that you don't want to stick to the pan (like omlettes) because there aren't any solids to scorch and stick like when you use butter.

We do. A pat of it makes a can of refried beans taste 10 times better.

I started saving bacon grease after making cornbread for the first time and having to substitute for it.

Yep - it's the secret ingredient in our family cornbread recipe. Which is actually the recipe that is/was on clabber girl baking powder with bacon fat in lieu of shortening. And we use it to make refried beans, sometimes fry tortillas in it to make tostadas, and it's the fat of choice for fried eggs.

http://ayearinbread.earthandhearth.com/2007/06/kevin-summer-bread-buns.html

This is my favorite way to use up bacon grease -- and you don't have to make buns, this is a great dinner roll recipe as well.

Oh yeah, now you are talking my language! I've been doing this for some time now - but not just with bacon fat. Any leftover fat from pork chops or ham hocks or whatever gets rendered and saved. I even pressure-can it for future use. You can use it in place of butter or margarine just about anywhere. Bacon flavoured pie crust anyone?

I'll soon be doing a Youtube video on how to render fat - very useful!

A couple months ago I participated in a bacon recipe cookoff, and my modest entry was a batch of caramel apple bacon cookies (some straightforward cookies with a caramel-flavored icing; I just substituted candied bacon chopped up in place of the chopped nuts). The icing called for some butter -- I replaced a tablespoon of the butter with more bacon fat.

....Okay, that may be an unorthodox use. But still!

Oh -- I've heard that using a blob of bacon fat in place of butter when you're making popcorn on the stovetop is GOOD.

Get some crusty bread. Slice it thick. Spread it with bacon fat and throw it on the grill until it's nice and toasty.

wow. my first reaction was "this is a tip? who WOULDN'T save bacon fat? its like gold!!!". but apparently this is news to some folks, and i'm happy they're in on the 'secret'. :)

Ahhh! I just cooked up a pound of bacon over the past week, and I had some strange compulsion to save the fat. It's sitting in a custard cup all ivory and speckled with little bits of bacon, begging me to use it, but not being very cooperative with any information as to how. I'm glad an explanation has materialized.

I already had it consigned for general frying, but I'm a little leery of involving it in any baking as empresscallipygos suggests, seeing as how I haven't really crossed the "bacon desserts = omg bff!" line yet. Buuuuuut, this may be a good excuse to make some tentative overtures, if the bacon flavour is subtle. It sounds weird enough to be interesting. Anyone have any decent recipes along that line?

My mom used to use it when making molasses cookies, just like her mom did. Good stuff!

Two of my favorite uses:
1. When making black beans (for burritos, salads, etc). Soak overnight in water, Bring to rolling boil, add bacon fat, onion, and black pepper, let simmer until squishy and delicious.

2. Drizzled over spinach/salad greens. Not even a pat, just a tiny bit, into the pan to get hot, and then toss the greens with it and cover with good vinegar. Better than dressing any day!

We also have a jar of this in our fridge but I love the other ideas that the author and posters have given me. Bacon (fat), like cheese, makes most everything taste better.

Best scrambled eggs ever are made with bacon fat. Just a tiny bit goes a long way, it adds so much flavor (especially if it's strongly smoked bacon) you can use about half as much as you would butter.

Holy Smokes! Do I save my bacon fat? Actually, after 27 years of keeping a bacon grease strainer/canister---I tossed it during a move (and that was 12 years ago). Don't misunderstand---I LOVE using bacon grease, and if you've never baked homemade biscuits in bacon grease, or substituted it for the 1/4 cup of shortening in your corn bread, then you need to do it at least once. Not to mention frying potatoes and onions ... dear heaven.

But have you ever had a gall bladder attack? It will cure you of your love for bacon grease. Now I save it for my sister, who makes lye soap.

This is a very over the top use for bacon fat, but I like to make bacon mayo and use it on fried fish sandwiches or a BLT pannini. Drizzle warm-ish bacon fat into a bowl of mayo while whisking to combine. Add lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste, sooo good.

I LOVE the Smart Balance ad just after the jump.

With an enormous amount of guilt, I started saving mine in a jar in the fridge and using it for cooking a couple of years ago. I'm so happy for this post, because now I can stop feeling guilty! Everyone doing it makes it less bad for me, right?

My favorite use? Bacon aioli made with all or part bacon fat in place of the olive oil. Bonus points for getting lots of crispy bits in there. Delicious on just about anything.

I grew up saving bacon fat, and still do so. I use it to make pancakes in, french toast, eggs, all sorts of things. Sometimes I toss a spoonful or two into a pot of beans. It's perfect for nearly everything, really.

My grandmother always sauteed green beans in a bit of bacon fat. Way better (tasting not for you). My mother never understood why I would eat "mamaw's green beans" but not hers.

I can't wait to try bacon fat in cornbread, but I always forget to save the fat when I make bacon (not that often).

i started saving bacon grease after making these maple bacon cupcakes, and now use it regularly for frying eggs.

For well over a decade (probably over 15 years), I have wanted to make these Swedish Ginger cookies featured in an issue of Martha Stewart cooking. The problem is that despite my best efforts at saving bacon grease, we rarely eat bacon, and so I have never been able to accumulate a half cup between our moves.

One day.

http://community.tasteofhome.com/forums/t/683623.aspx

(it's not the first Martha ginger cookie recipe, but rather the second)

When I was growing up, there was always a coffee can with bacon grease in it in the refrigerator. When I moved to New York many years ago, I carefully washed the first can of Cafe Bustelo I finished and started my own bacon grease can. So far, the can (yes, the same one) has lived in eleven different apartment refrigerators.

Collard Greens. So So delicious!

I grew up on this "seasoning" Please, think of your arteries and reach for the olive oil instead. Southern cooking, it is to die for.

In the south this is customary, especially with the elderly population. I've seen countless jars of bacon fat that lives on the counter or under the sink. I can't quite wrap my head around keeping bacon fat out of the refrigerator but my boyfriends family has been doing it forever and they never get sick.

Pop popcorn in bacon grease, top with parmesan cheese, butter and salt. It might give you a heart attack, but at least you'll die happy!

Bacon fat in yorkshire puddings is ridonculously good. Fer realz, yo.

Biscuits and gravy!!! Bacon grease is our secret to making good white gravy. I also occasionally use it instead of olive oil when making pasta or collard greens.

Everything in moderation, people....

For those using it as a "secret" ingredient, make sure you know for a fact that everyone you're serving it to eats pork. If you're eating at your house, then sure, I have no doubt it's a good addition if that's the sort of thing you like.

I find it pretty selfish when people bring something to a potluck or whatnot and have put a meat ingredient in something that doesn't need it (like beans, rice, veggies, etc.) so that people who eat vegetarian, Kosher, Hindu, Halal, etc. can't eat it. If you're cooking for a crowd, please don't ruin something that would normally be something these folks could have!

I don't understand how anyone bringing a dish to a potluck can be considered "selfish" and to have "ruined" a dish because they decide to cook something they, and the vast majority of people, can happily enjoy.

Sure, if your job is to bring a vegetarian dish and you bring pork-refried beans, you're a confused jerk. But otherwise, people with allergies/sensitivities/religious stuff/whatever should make sure to bring a dish they can eat, eat beforehand, whatever, and to not get bitter if other guests fail to worry about accommodating them. If you're vegetarian and it's a choice you made for whatever reason rather than a medical necessity, that's even more true. Your choice, your consequences. Sure, it's nice if people who know you look out at you, but those who don't aren't "selfish."

We kept a can of bacon grease inside a decorative stoneware container with a lid. On the counter. Never refridgerated. I think all the preservative nitrates that went into the curing of the bacon meant that essentially the stuff pretty much never went rancid.

Man oh man were the cornmeal pancakes we made with that stuff growing up delicious.

I've always had the dream of starting a bar where basically the only food served there was bacon. Wouldn't beer and bacon be an amazing combo. Instead of beer nuts, bacon. And, then use the bacon grease to make cornbread "sticks". All that salty goodness with the beer? The smell of bacon attracting the customers...
wouldn't you want to go there!?

http://www.margincomments.blogspot.com

I also use it for Biscuits and Gravy, but most often mix it with black oil sunflower seeds and hang in the trees for the birds.

Ahhh! So happy to see that others save bacon fat. My mom always did, so when I moved out and went to college, I did too. My roommates, friends, and even my husband made fun of me for doing this, but over the years the hubbie has caught on that it makes food tasty. I also saved some duck fat not long ago and it was wonderful for warm vinaigrette and to fry potatoes in.

Uses: Fried potatoes & hashbrowns (I'll have my hashbrowns cooked in nothing else), potato soup, soup beans, greens, warm vinaigrettes, fried breadcrumbs with egg... Mmmm. I'm sure there are more, but those are the ones I use most.

My favorite use for bacon fat is in biscuits. Just substitute it for half or all of the shortening and you get bacon flavored biscuits (might go well with the tip to use it in the gravy for biscuits and gravy.

I also love using it to fry mushrooms to top burgers with. Also for most breakfast foods like pancakes and french toast.

Like one of the other commenters, I've had the same coffee tin of bacon grease for many, many years. I've been through a few dozen plastic tops pub the can is the same.

Unlike my grandmothers, I keep mine in the fridge. But it doesn't seem to go bad.

I can't imagine making beans, or peas, or okra or ... well, most anything southern without bacon grease.

And to all the people worried about all that fat -- a little bacon grease goes a LONG way in adding flavor. And let's remember that people have been eating animal fats for, well, as long as there have been people. And eating it without much problem. It wasn't until all this chemically processed "food product" (i.e. New Balance, and margarine) that we started having all these heart problems and obesity and cancers. Just saying.

I save my bacon fat in the fridge. There is nothing like an egg fried in bacon fat for Saturday morning breakfast. Yum! It's also great with beans--adds a deep, smoky flavor to them.

I recently shocked my Georgia Peach mother by serving her popcorn popped in bacon fat and sprinkled with S&P. Unable to describe the difference she said, "It reminds me of the potatoes from a pot roast. So meaty for a starch."

My only concern, aside from the cholesterol LOL, is that the fat must go off at some point. I mean, I've taken our provincial FoodSafe training and learnt a lot about food poisoning, bacteria, etc. How can animal fat possibly stay good for a long time, especially for those who don't refrigerate it and keep adding more and more over a period of months to their coffee container/whatever. It kind of grosses me out.

Just a little FYI to novice bacon fat savers. If you choose to store it in the frig in an empty glass jelly jar, as I often do, be SURE to allow the jar to warm up to room temp before pouring hot grease into the jar. I have broken a few in my lifetime. No injuries, but did lose what I had already saved. I have always saved bacon fat, as did my mother and her mother and hopefully will my daughters.

@Buckster: I beg to differ. My grandmother - who's had multiple heart attacks, several small strokes, and multiple surgeries to clear her arteries - has never cooked with margarine or any of the "modern" fats. She'll cook with bacon grease until the day she dies. I love bacon. I cook it every so often and probably cook with a tablespoon of the residual grease 1-2 times a year. But after years of witnessing the poor health and quality of life of my grandmother and some of my other relatives - I firmly believe, "Everything in moderation." To think that people are again keeping jars of this stuff like it's an everyday seasoning...*shudder*

In general, I'm tired of idea that the only "real" Southern or soul food cooking is that which is flavored with pork. Pork has its place - but too often it is used as a crutch by people who never learned how to use herbs, spices and other seasonings to their advantage. Seriously, has anyone else sat down to Thanksgiving dinner where literally every single side dish (and maybe even the turkey) was flavored with bacon grease or a ham hock or fatback, and there was a simmering pot of chitlins (chitterlings, for those who need to look it up) on the stove?

That said, there are few things yummier than hash browns fried up in a mixture of olive oil and bacon grease. I've found they get crispier that way.