Oh My Bacon Grease!
I love it when my in-laws come to visit. My kids get to spend time with their grandparents, my husband gets to spend time with his parents, we all get to hang out and catch up, and I get more people to cook for. Of course, its that last part that I like the most. Having only a family of four (with two being pretty small), I don’t often get to cook the kind of big meals I grew up with so whenever Rick and Linda Jordan plan a trip over, I get busy meal planning!
This past weekend they came to spend the fourth with us so you can bet I had me a big old time in the kitchen. The wheels came to a screeching halt though, the morning I went to make french toast for breakfast. I decided some scrambled eggs would be good, too, so I cracked all of my eggs and had them good and beaten up, the skillet all warmed and ready, and went to reach for my bacon grease jar. It wasn’t there. I looked around a bit, because I am not prone to putting things back in the same place anyway, and I figured I’d moved it around and set it down somewhere else last time I used it. Still no bacon grease jar.
Now I knew full well I had a good supply of that liquid gold because the week before I had cooked over five pounds of bacon – just to have bacon grease to season all of the wonderful summer vegetables which were about to start pouring in from my garden. Five pounds of bacon, scraping the pan each time to get all of the goody-goody sediment that I so enjoy using in my cornbread and eggs. That was some of the best bacon grease I’ve ever seen in my life and I’d go to sleep at night thinking of all the wonderful things I could make with it. And now I couldn’t find it.
“Ricky, have you seen my bacon grease?”
I hated to ask the question, feeling certain I knew the answer already. You see Ricky had been helping clean up the house in anticipation of his parents arrival. Things are busy around Bountiful these days and Ricky and I just kinda cover the bases as best we can – and I will tell you he got a whole lot more of that “cleaning and organization” gene than I did. Actually, I don’t have a single organized bone in my body but that is a story for another day. He got that confused look on his face, the one with a little bit of “oh no” behind it because we both already knew this wasn’t going to end well.
“Bacon grease, what was it in? ” I could tell he was buying time.
“Same thing it is always in, a mason jar.”
He winced.
I died.
He had thrown it away.
~Hangs head for a moment of silence~ My heart was broken. I did the only thing I could do at a time such as this. I mourned the loss on Facebook. Y’all chimed in with condolences, howls of horrification, and questions, which I will now address. (Special thanks to Jeanna, whose comment had me laughing about this right off the bat!)
Dawn asked: “Where is he from?” Well Dawn, He is from Georgia. I know you were hoping for some other state that would possibly excuse such a crime but alas he is from Georgia.
Dale said: “How long y’all been married? You need to train that boy…” Twelve years next month, Dale. After today I can see that I am a complete failure as a wife. Based on that, I take the brunt of blame for this. God love ‘im. In my defense, I did tell him in front of his mama and daddy that if he ever threw my bacon grease away again I’d kill him in his sleep.
~batts lashes~
Cheryl asked “Are you sure he’s a Southern boy?” Good question, Cheryl. He speaks with a Georgia Accent and I know he was born and raised there. However, odd things are afoot with that boy and always have been. You see, he doesn’t like gravy. I have no explanation for that.
In his defense, he is truly sorry now that he sees the impact it has had on my morale. He has generously funded a trip to the grocery store to buy over six pounds of bacon (although he doesn’ t know that just yet) and I am devoting this week to replenish my bacon grease supply by bringing you a week of bacon dishes. I think he realizes how precious my liquid gold is to me now and is truly repentant, as evidenced by the pink roses and diet dr pepper he brought me last night. With our twelve year anniversary coming up in a few weeks, I’m plannin’ on keeping him.
So in the spirit of making lemonade from lemons, I set out to do the only thing I could and make more bacon grease from bacon.
Okay, so bacon is a heck of a lot more delectable than lemons but I needed an analogy to kick off the remainder of this post so roll with me here..
While my in laws were here I decided to make one of my mother in laws favorites.
I fried up a whole pound of bacon…
Got this big old tomato out of my garden
Layered it all with some toasted bread, lettuce, and mayo..
and made a champion BLT
It’s a start!
Tomorrow I’m bringing you one of my mother’s favorite recipes. Join me this week as we fill up the grease jar!
Me and my husband, who now fully understands the value of bacon grease.
Dream more.
Care more.
Be more.
Do more.
Posted by Christy Jordan
on Jul 6 2010. Filed under Main Course, Sauces/Other.
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Ok, here is my question…WHY would someone throw out a perfectly good mason jar?? That is also a crime in my opinion.
I know, right????
Yeah, that was going to be my comment. That faux pas deserves another dozen roses.
I agree jyl.
He seriously must have been having ‘a moment’ because between you and his mama… he should know the significance and importance of the bacon grease jar! Why on earth would he just toss it out?! lol. I’m glad he realizes it now. No more bacon grease has to suffer for it now. >.>
~shakes head~ I agree, definitely some kind of moment
Oh poor Ricky. To be honest it makes me feel better that you keep your bacon grease cause my mother keeps hers and as a kid I’d be so embarrassed and be thinking “throw it away! We have lots of oil” hehe
I loved your Mama before Su but now I think she’s the cats pajamas! lol
He will never do that again.
I got my fingers crossed!
Bless that boy’s heart. LOL! Sometimes when the hubbies help… they ain’t helpin’ much at all. But we love them anyway!
I know, God love them. God love them. God love them.
lol
Question: Do you keep your bacon grease in the fridge, or like my mama did, on the stove top? I used to just keep it out, but have gotten a little more paranoid over the years so I stuff it in the fridge. But sometimes I forget it’s out and leave it out. Which is correct? Is there a correct??
You missed a perfectly good opportunity to have a memorial service and have all your friends bring donations of bacon grease (instead of the required casserole or cake) to your house!
Renee
It is just because of reasons like this that my husband is not allowed in MY kitchen. LOL!
If the mason jar had a lid on it, why not just put on some rubber gloves and fish that precious gold out of the trash?? that’s what we do up here in the North!! (NY state) Of course, it’s only those of us who really know the value of bacon grease that even bother to keep it.
oh honey I would have, I would have! The other horrifying thing is that he had done it two days earlier, when the trash ran. I know, I know, I went a whole two days without using bacon grease. I am ashamed to admit that…
~sighs~
I am SO glad someone has asked the question about fridge or countertop storage for bacon grease. I have seen the little grease cans in different kitchen shops and have often wondered about where to store it. I keep mine in a jar in the fridge, but would love to have a “grease can” on the countertop. THANKS Christy and keep filling the jar!
If I know I am going to be using it in a day or so I just keep it on the counter but for larger quantities and long term I put it in the fridge. My mother and grandmothers have always kept it on the counter though.
Technically, it can go rancid and putting it in the fridge preserves it longer.
Tossing a mason jar ……w/ bacon grease…..that’s two serious offenses here in SC!
Honey – He CLEANED! I’m pretty sure that is equal if not more special than a mason jar full of bacon grease.
And yes, I am from the south AND my husband cleans. Sometimes.
Look, you get to start all over! Fresh grease! xoxox, Patti
I’m very happy to say, that though my significant other is a northern boy born and bred (Wisconsin) he learned very quickly the value of bacon grease. He now saves every drop and calls it the secret ingredient. He’s learned how much better his pancakes could have been all those wasted years if he’d only used bacon grease on the griddle. He lives for biscuits and gravy which, until he met me, he thought was only something he could get while he served his four years in the military 30 years ago. He’s begun to wonder where fried okra has been all his life. The only thing he’s given me some trouble with is cornbread. Granted, I may have missed out on the cornbread gene because my Grandmother makes the BEST and right on top of the stove and mine is generally hit and miss. But I’m giving your Dixie Cornbread a try to see if I can still turn him around. I dearly love your website and I’m getting in line for your cookbook. This is the stuff I grew up on and I sorely miss it….I keep trying to entice my mother to move up here and cook for us.
The cornbread gene is called BUTTERMILK. Learned it from my Daddy as he made it, melted BACON GREASE in a cast iron skillet, poured in the batter and put it in the oven.
I would definately try the Dixie Corn Bread. I have to confess to being a yankee, but thanks to Terri’s wonderful recipe, my husband doesn’t poke at it suspiciously anymore and ask if it is cake (what he refers to when it says jiffy on the box) and I never have leftover.
Oh no! What a shame. Glad to see that you’re well on your way to collecting more though. I come from CA, and even *I* know how important the bacon grease jar is! Guess I was just raised right lol.
oooooooH!!! What a calamiity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I store mine in the fridge. I just put bacon on my shopping list this morning – I’m all out.
Got to make some BLTs and I’m looking forward to the bacon grease recipes, Christy.
BLT’s are so good… A local restaurant used to sell them, but they sugared and baked their bacon. They dipped the bacon slices in brown sugar and sprinkled with black pepper, then baked a bunch in the oven. That made such good BLT’s!! As for throwing away the bacon grease… my mom always had a mason jar of bacon grease in our kitchen, too, but I can guarantee that my brothers never knew it existed! lol They just never paid attention to that kind of thing.
Ha ha! Once again I’m reminded of Marie Barone’s jar of fat that she and Frank fought over for years! My husband and I had an Everybody Loves Raymond marathon a couple of years ago and that episode really cracked us up. My husband threatened my jar of bacon grease for weeks afterward, once going so far as to hold it over the trash can!
I keep mine in the refrigerator. My older relatives used to keep it on the stove, but I don’t use mine as rapidly as they did so I feel better if it’s kept cold.
Nice tomato! I wish mine were so big. I don’t think they get enough light where I have them.
Wow, I revere my bacon grease jar. You sound like you handled it fairly well considering the crime!!!
Christy,
After that no one has ever touched my kitchen again – (hubby awkwardly, but sweetly tries to put up a dish or 2 now & then (always in the wrong spot) but knows the garage is HIS territory and the kitchen is MINE-only took 20 years- lol)
I truly empahtize with you – the very 1st and only time I hired someone to clean my home 20 year ago (in Decatur, AL at the time of all things) I was 8 1/2 mo’s pregnant – working, 1 child in diapers and just no time to clean – they threw away my ‘drippins’ – yes my heart absolutely broke – biscuits, veggies, all were morosely sad tasting without the ‘liquid gold’ as you call it- the crazy thing tho’ when they told me they threw away that ‘pile of grease’ I was collecting – they actually seemed proud & actually tho’t it was a good thing. I bit my tongue – somewhat calmly with hormones raging inwardly wrote the check & sent them on there merry way. So if semi pro’s can make the mistake – maybe you should forgive Ricky (shoot roses & diet pepper – he is a keeper methinks
btw – your tomato pic is to die for!! hugs and lookin forward to the other pounds of bacon recipes to come & good luck with the replenishment.
Love ur site & hugs!
Horrors! I would die without my bacon grease. I’m Colorado born and raised but still know the importance of bacon grease. I usually keep mine on the stove but if I don’t use it up fairly soon, it is moved to the fridge.
I sure am looking forward to your week of bacon.
I think I would keep your hubby though. There is a lot to be said for one that helps you with cleaning.
My youngest, who is very type “a” and organized, has committed similar breaches of southern etiquette. I attribute it to her college acquired, tree huggin’ hippie, bark and sprouts diet that she lives on. of course, she is a size 2/4, but every once in a while she has to have some of mama’s chicken and andouille gumbo, and cabbage fried in bacon grease with bacon, bell pepper, and onion. She graduated cum laude, but college did not manage to drum all the Southern out of her.
I’d say the boy musta had one of them thar mid age crisis moments .. a male hot flash of the brain nerve endings resulting in a “forget the value of a mason jar filled with gold” whilst thinking bout his mama bluez!!
I’d keep him too Christy….these good men will keep us on our southern tippy toes!
Oh My! What a wonderful image appeared in my inbox. I just asked my fiancee (as we were enjoying a blt the other day ). “…you recon Queen Elizabeth has ever had such a culinary delight…” Bless her heart if she has not!
Lana, if Christy’s cornbread recipe doesn’t do it, get a copy of “Cotton Country Cooking” and follow the cornbread recipe to a T. Then, your only problem will be how brown to let it get before pulling it out of the oven. Nowadays, though, I have cut back the bacon grease to 2 1/2 tablespoons instead of 3.
Christy, I am so so sorry for your loss.
Ok please don’t throw things at me, but what do you do with that bacon grease? Im from Ohio, my dads family is from Ky and Tn. Not sure if that is considered part of the south or not. But really what do you do with it? How long does it keep in the mason jar?
I am also from Ohio and I am sure Christy is going to elaborate on bacon grease but we use it to fry potatoes and cabbage, season summer vegetables, especially green beans, baked beans, and summer squash. Winter time uses include putting it in the dried beans and in the cornbread. Wilted leaf lettuce with a bacon grease/vinegar hot dressing is heavenly and can be used on spinach as well. Bacon grease makes a great base for pepper gravy too. I could not cook without it.
South GA born & raised & now living in FL here, but Elaine you pretty much covered the bases here- and yes – looove the wilted spinach with bacon vinaigrette dressing -only thing I saw left out was you have to put the drippings on top of the homemade buttermilk biscuits to add flavor & color !
wtg – gr8 answer! Elaine – I’m hungry now and hubby just went out of town – so I can’t truly justiy or do justice to dried beans or creating a huge meal – guess Christy’s blt (I do have bacon & tomatoes) will have to do! enjoyed your post! 
Let me first extend my sincerest sympathy for your dual loss. I would have been horrified. My mom always kept a can of bacon grease. Fried potatoes, eggs, green beans-most everything got seasoned with bacon grease. We used to pop our popcorn in bacon grease and it gave it a great flavor. Another time we discovered midday through mixing up a peanut butter cookie batch that we had no shortening. As a measure to save the other ingredients already in the bowl we subbed bacon grease and it turned out to be a happy discovery. It was strong enough in flavor that it was not hidden but turned out to be a salty/sweet treat. Sort of like a bacon cracker with peanut butter on it.
And I thought I had to HIDE my bacon grease!!!! All you ladies know that special taste of the south. Thank you–Glad to know you are out there!!
It all sounds good to me! I cant wait to see what the recipes are! I guess I never knew people kept bacon grease, all these years I have been tossing it…..
I’m def going to start a “bacon grease jar” but just wanted to ask how long will it last? (or does it ever ruin?)
Thanx! =)
& yes! I can’t WAIT to see some recipes using bacon grease!!! I’m going to try them ALLLL!!!
My mother-n-law gave me a metal container with a lid and a strainer inside. On the outside it is marked clearly by the name “grease”. She bought it at Dollar General this past year after I kept telling her how much I wanted one for myself. Maybe you could find one there!
April, i was wondering the same thing, how long does it keep and where do you keep it? In the cupboard or the fridge?
Does anyone else bake their bacon? I used to fry it but once I tried baking it on a baking sheet with sides I have never stopped! I just pour all the grease from the pan into my grease jar. I can cook more bacon with less attention from me…and no more burn spatters on my arm!!
That is exactly the way I do it, in the oven, no more spatter on my stove! and, the bacon comes out perfect “almost” all of the time, depends on whether or not I am reading some jewel of Christy’s.
Carol Ann, I have been baking my bacon for the grease lately since I discovered the ease of it as well. I use my cooling rack inside of my sheetcake pan and it works wonderfully…..after it’s done, I just pour the “liquid gold right into the jar!
Carol Ann,
I bake my bacon too. I use my Pampered Chef stoneware pan & put a pound of bacon in the over on 400 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes & it looks & tastes like I fried it in the frying pan. When it’s done, I just use the spatula & get out the bacon & pour my grease into my grease pot on the stove. (I use my Nanny’s old enamel ware tiny double boiler). It soooo much easier this way!
Oh lordy have mercy. That boy (repentant I know) done shamed his momma right there in your kitchen.
I have to keep mine in a bowl these days cuz for some reason I can’t fatham *wink* everyone in this house thinks my mason jars are for drinking tea out of, so they hid my lids ( best I can figure, can’t find them just the same).
On top of that, I have 5 adults living here and we all take turns in the kitchen, either cooking or cleaning so I spend the first 10 minutes just trying to find my “stuff”. But I spend the time, love that everyone pitches in.
All my simpathies, but at least it’s replaceable and not a cast iron skillet past down the family tree that people keep putting wet pot lids in. Someones needs killing round here, now if I can just figure out whoo.
(oops!) I’m sorry…just saw an above post about the “shelf-life” of the bacon grease. Sorry for posting so quickly!
so being you say if it’s not going to be used in the next day or so keep it in the fridge…I’ve done that and it hardens up. Would you just take out a “scoop” and use it like that in the recipe or re-heat it first?
Just take a big spoon (we call it a table spoon, but I think it’s really a serving spoon) out of the jar and plop it into anything you’re cooking.
you know those “kid gates” that keep babies out of certain areas…I think you may need to invent a “Ricky gate”!!
I just love you….you are truly a southern soul sister to me….LOL…..I had my own panic attack over not being able to locate my Ice Cream Freezer…(maker). What is fourth of July with out homemade Ice Cream….Never found it! Even called the church secretary and asked when was the last ice cream social we had at church…it was a year ago…Called relative, friends and eventually the police..LOL just kidding….Let me add have you ever tried to buy an ice cream freezer July 4th weekend….I called just about every store in Lubbock, Texas….every call met with a “No, sorry were out.”….but I thought I would try this one of a kind…Ace Hardware/Lowes grocery …combo store…and man and woman shopping place that fulfills both genders….and low and behold it was there that I found one!!! There were actually 2 on the shelf…….So fourth of July still had fireworks for me!!! I made a batch of Peach…and a batch of Coffee…..both were hits….
I understand the attachments to the things we treasure as cooks….;)
With that sweet face, you could not stay mad at him for very long!
Looking forward to the recipes. I love bacon!
I can’t wait to get your cookbook. I should have it in a few weeks. I really am enjoying your site!
I’m in my early 60′s, and our HS home economics teacher, Mrs. Rainey, taught us girls to broil in oven….BUT, it splatters and pops onto the sides of the oven!-hence, more cleaning! Thank goodness for microwave ovens now. I cook bacon on a microwave grilling plate designed for that purpose. Just cover the bacon with paper towel…flip the bacon half-way thru the cooking…viola, crisp bacon!
Speaking of bacon…my husband is the bacon eater of our house, he eats a whole pound at a time!
I made Bacon Cups for him and I had one and he ate the rest.
Cut bacon strips in half and weave in and out onto upside down muffin tins. I go across the top and cover the cup with doing the sides. Bake in 400 degree oven until bacon is crisp, just keep watching it. Put the upside down muffin tins on a cookie sheet to catch the grease. Take out of the oven and cool,slip the cups off and fill with tomato & lettuce and top with a dollop of mayo. It is so pretty too!
I wholly understand! Being from North Carolina I was brought up to use bacon grease. However, while I lived in Louisville KY, I had a couple of roommates from the north. I had set aside some of that valuable bacon grease and was about to use it. I discovered, to my horror, that one of my roommates had thrown it away. I was so upset. Of course, being from the north, they couldn’t have known because they hadn’t been “raised right”. (haha)
And if you hubby is anything like mine, I’d keep him, too.
I’m from Missouri and second everything Elaine mentioned. Mom couldn’t have cooked without bacon grease. Fried potatoes aren’t fried potatoes unless they are fried in bacon grease. And wilted lettuce…mmmmm. I have even eaten hot bacon grease and mustard mixed together and spread on bread……my mom came from a large (9 kids) family.
I have lived in Georgia about 32 two years now and I’m pretty sure in Georgia it’s a federal offense to throw out bacon grease.
I think you are one wise woman to keep that boy. He is obviously trainable, and repentant. Gotta keep the good ones! Mine is still trainable after 18 years, and “I wouldn’t trade him for a whole herd a goats!” (That’s one of my moms sayings.)
Sounds as if you and Ricky’s mother take very good care of your men. My father and brother wouldn’t know about saving bacon grease either. Their job was to eat and enjoy. Give Ricky a hug, and next time let him clean the kids’ rooms. =-)
For those who don’t know how to use it…use it everywhere you would normally use shortening or butter…..everywhere. Fry with it, bake with it, season with it. The problem is keeping enough around to use. I do keep mine in the fridge, but it ‘s no problem. If you are frying potatoes and onions, just plop it in the skillet and let it melt, then when it’s hot, add your potatoes. Add to hot veggies and it melts right up.
Guess some lessons must be learnt the hard way huh Ricky? Well as a good southern cook Christy you are sure to build up your supply in no time! Hey if you have time would ya mind popping over to vote for my turkey burger? I’d be forever grateful!!
Just wanted to pop back in to say that I tried the Dixie Cornbread recipe and it was the BEST cornbread I’ve ever made! It even got a big thumbs up from my previously cornbread wary S.O. YEA! No more Jiffy cake…uh…I mean cornbread :0)