Cooking & Baking
Related: About this forumhow long will bacon grease keep in the refrigerator?
which is totally NOT what i was gonna post, but it's the first question that came up as i was contemplating mashed potato pancake recipes for our 'breakfast for dinner' tonight
Scuba
(53,475 posts)... assuming your family isn't particularly long-lived.
NMDemDist2
(49,313 posts)we should live a while yet I'm thinking...
gkhouston
(21,642 posts)My mom kept a drippings can on the kitchen counter (probably still does) for years and never had a problem with the grease going rancid.
Remember Me
(1,532 posts)have been used as a kind of preservative for certain foods -- (trying to remember) -- I think fresh eggs, for one.
Both will go rancid, but only over a very long time and air is the main culprit for that, so keep it covered and you extend its life.
Whisp
(24,096 posts)It's a paste of dried and pounded meat mixed with melted fat and other ingredients such as berries, originally made by North American Indians and later adapted by Arctic explorers
barbtries
(28,811 posts)a long time. but will defer to others who may know something i don't.
NMDemDist2
(49,313 posts)than potato pancakes fried in bacon grease with eggs
just saying....
Worried senior
(1,328 posts)fried in bacon grease but then I love bread dipped in the grease from fresh fried bacon.
Remember Me
(1,532 posts)there ain't much that isn't tastier fried in bacon grease. LOL.
And you know what? Many of the alt health folks are saying that saturated fat isn't the demon we've been told, which isn't the same as saying, "so use bacon grease exclusively" or anything, but now and then won't kill ya.
gkhouston
(21,642 posts)My mom puts bacon grease in her fried apples, and damn, are they good.
Lucinda
(31,170 posts)But she used it a lot.
ret5hd
(20,523 posts)Denninmi
(6,581 posts)I would say 2-3 weeks at a minimum IF you package it tightly sealed with minimal air space. The oxygen is the enemy -- try to put it into some kind of container with the minimum possible air space above it, and with a tight lid. I suspect it would actually last a lot longer than 2-3 weeks in the fridge if stored this way, but I haven't ever tried.
pinto
(106,886 posts)May be a good thing or a bad thing. Your call.
Glassunion
(10,201 posts)sinkingfeeling
(51,474 posts)http://www.ehow.com/how_4523256_store-bacon-grease.html
4
Store it in the refrigerator for short term use. If you plan to use the bacon grease in the next few weeks, you can store it in the refrigerator. Many southern coosk claim that bacon grease lasts forever, but its best not to take any chances.
5
Place excess grease in the freezer. If
Read more: How to Store Bacon Grease | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4523256_store-bacon-grease.html#ixzz1khIF0HIp
northoftheborder
(7,574 posts).....never put it in the frig. I had an aluminum can which was made for saving bacon grease, and it had a little strainer in the top and a lid. This was the days before microwaves and all bacon was cooked in the skillet, therefore, since we ate bacon all the time, I had plenty of bacon grease which was used liberally to brown meat, put greet beans, etc. Eventually, it of course would begin to turn rancid and I threw it away. I'm still alive, no hardened arteries or heart attacks!!!
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)Heat and light will cause it to go bad faster, but it will keep quite a while at room temperature. Even rancid the grease would still not be 'bad' in terms of being toxic or unhealthy (any more so than normal), but because of bad taste and smell obviously wouldn't be all that great to use.
I keep all saturated fats in the refrigerator, but only because they last longer there.
gkhouston
(21,642 posts)Or a butter ruler. She's got an aluminum butter ruler that I envy.
HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)Whatever she was cooking (not just bacon), the lard would go into the can, congeal, and be used to cook the next thing - whenever.
I don't know if it goes bad or not, but that's how she learned to cook and that's what she did. Nobody died because of it, but a lot of my relatives on that side were a little, um, well, "plump".
NMDemDist2
(49,313 posts)but i rarely use it, it's a treat not a staple since we are doing our best to stay out of the 'plump' area
HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)It wasn't even a "full-sized" oven by today's standards. Everything was double or triple burning. That's how they had to cook with a dozen kids in the house.
northoftheborder
(7,574 posts)Originally, I saved bacon grease, and used it all the time, as my mother and in-laws did. I also baked with shortning, or margarine. When the microwave was installed in my kitchen, all the bacon was cooked there, as it was so much faster, and paper towels were needed to keep from spattering. So, there went the bacon grease can. About that time, fats in general were considered unhealthy, so I went to margarine, for eating and cooking. Then, the trans-fats issue caused me to turn to real butter, which I love anyway. Fortunately, I do not have high cholesterol or serious weight issues. I no longer use shortning, but my son declares that it is best for frying chicken as he remembers it, but I don't fry chicken or anything else any longer. I use canola, olive oil, and safflower oil for browning meat, or for salads. I still sometimes wish I had some bacon grease, especially for green beans, and cooked greens!!
csziggy
(34,138 posts)I get bacon about three or four times a year to make quiche or to add a little to other dishes. Lay out the bacon on a foil covered cookie sheet and bake at 400 F until it's done as much as you like, turn it over at least once. Some people like to put the bacon on racks so the fat drains as it cooks but I keep forgetting to do that.
Once the bacon is done and the cookie sheets are cool enough to handle, I pour the bacon grease off into a small container and keep it in the refrigerator. I might use a tablespoon to add flavor to green beans or a teaspoon to put in the pan when I cook eggs. It gives me bacon flavor without me eating the three slices I used to eat with my eggs.
The grease from a pound of bacon has lasted me pretty much until the next time I buy a pound of bacon to make quiches with - two quiches per pound, sometimes with a couple of slices reserved to flavor something else.
TheCruces
(224 posts)If it smells rancid toss it, otherwise it's fine.
kdmorris
(5,649 posts)In seriousness, it can last a LONG time in the fridge...months to years.
Our grease never makes it to the fridge as we put it on the dog food to help them get the fat they need for shiny coats
Response to NMDemDist2 (Original post)
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Whisp
(24,096 posts)my bacon grease stays for a looong time.
I don't think I've ever had smelly or molding bacon grease.