Diannie wrote:Sigh, the real problem isn't generally inside one's own plumbing, it is that all this grease gets into the municipal sewer system and causes problems downstream, as it were.

I was responding to the rent/own post which suggested (to me) that it would cause internal plumbing issues. This has not been the case. That said, I save most fats, and the deep frying oil, when it's been reused as much as it can be, gets poured back into the big plastic jar and thrown in the garbage.

I just made popcorn with bacon fat, and it got me wondering how many others used "recycled" fats. I'm encouraged by this thread. Nice to know there are others. Because popcorn popped in bacon fat is pretty amazing stuff.

Not mentioned so far, but also great, is lamb fat. If I make a lamb roast, I'll save the fat for frying potatoes. Yum.

(Oh -- and I, too, remember mom saving the fat in a coffee can and throwing it out. Save the sewer system! Today, if I have too little fat to save, I'll wipe out the pan with a paper towel, rather than rinsing it down the drain. Some lessons stick.)

We keep a glass almond butter jar with bacon grease that's been strained. I eat over-easy eggs almost every morning so I'll cook them in the bacon grease some days.

I also saved the fat that rendered off of a duck I roasted a few weeks ago. I haven't made anything with it yet but was thinking sweet potato fries or popcorn would probably be good with it.

My mom kept the coffee can or pickle jar for grease/fat under the sink all the time. I don't think she ever reused any of it though, it just went in the garbage.

When I first started putting used cans or pickle jars under the sink by wife would question me as to what I was doing. Apparently she wasn't familiar with this practice and would often toss my container before I had a chance to use it. (To her it was just garbage under the sink.)

We've cut down on fatty foods so much now that I don't really need to keep jars anymore. Now I either just wipe out the pan with paper towels or if it's a lot of grease I'll put it in a ceramic bowl and let it sit overnight, then toss it when it's mostly solidified in the morning. If I happen to use a can of something while cooking I'll set it aside to pour any grease or oil in when I finish up, then toss it once it cools down.

I keep separate cans of schmalz, tallow, and bacon grease in the freezer. Keeps it all nice and fresh. Not to mention tasty.


Geo

Cathy2 wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:In my refrigerator, I have a small container with bacon fat. I have another container of rendered pork fat. In a quart mason jar, I have oil devoted to deep fat frying. This has been used several times, it is strained and returned to this jar afterwards. Since we rarely deep fat fry, it lasts a very long time.

I was reading a Cook's Illustrated the other day where some queried on how to best store used oil for frying. The best method was to strain, cool and store in the freezer. While it can be done in the refrigerator, too, it lasted longer in the freezer.

Regards,

Just read it in one of the old issues. I've deep-fried for the first time ever in my home this year. I let the oil cool, strain it and place it in mason jars in the freezer. So far I've made a couple of rounds fried, and stuffed olives, as well as CI's cold oil french fries without any noticeable decrease in taste.

Geo wrote: tallow

how did you come upon tallow, Geo?

Hi Kenji--

I went to my local Kansas City butcher, bought a couple of pounds of good beef fat/suet and rendered it myself. Tastes *great*!

Geo

Geo wrote:Hi Kenji--

I went to my local Kansas City butcher, bought a couple of pounds of good beef fat/suet and rendered it myself. Tastes *great*!

Geo

As someone who remembers McDonald's fries from back in the days when they were still made with beef tallow, I can well imagine the taste would be splendid. The fries at McDonald's have never been the same since the company was forced to go with a vegetarian oil. Even Julia Child liked McDonald's fries when they were still cooked in tallow.

Cynthia wrote:

Geo wrote:Hi Kenji--

I went to my local Kansas City butcher, bought a couple of pounds of good beef fat/suet and rendered it myself. Tastes *great*!

Geo

As someone who remembers McDonald's fries from back in the days when they were still made with beef tallow, I can well imagine the taste would be splendid. The fries at McDonald's have never been the same since the company was forced to go with a vegetarian oil. Even Julia Child liked McDonald's fries when they were still cooked in tallow.

OT but the irony is vegetarians still can't eat the fries. They still have some sort of animal coating on them. They may as well go back.

From McDonald's http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/getnutri ... tslist.pdf

French Fries:
Potatoes, vegetable oil (canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor [wheat and milk derivatives]*, citric acid [preservative]), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent.
CONTAINS: WHEAT AND MILK.

pairs4life wrote:
OT but the irony is vegetarians still can't eat the fries. They still have some sort of animal coating on them. They may as well go back.

From McDonald's http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/getnutri ... tslist.pdf

French Fries:
Potatoes, vegetable oil (canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor [wheat and milk derivatives]*, citric acid [preservative]), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent.
CONTAINS: WHEAT AND MILK.

That's pretty wacky -- getting rid of the flavor but still not meeting the needs of vegetarians. However, I'm puzzled. The site says the beef flavor is made with wheat and milk, so I can see this not working for vegans, but why would that be a problem for vegetarians?

Cynthia wrote:

pairs4life wrote:
OT but the irony is vegetarians still can't eat the fries. They still have some sort of animal coating on them. They may as well go back.

From McDonald's http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/getnutri ... tslist.pdf

French Fries:
Potatoes, vegetable oil (canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor [wheat and milk derivatives]*, citric acid [preservative]), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent.
CONTAINS: WHEAT AND MILK.

That's pretty wacky -- getting rid of the flavor but still not meeting the needs of vegetarians. However, I'm puzzled. The site says the beef flavor is made with wheat and milk, so I can see this not working for vegans, but why would that be a problem for vegetarians?

They don't say it's vegetarian so my guess is a bit of an animal, albeit really minuscule, is still in there.

We've been down this road with McDoo before: I was in London in early 2000s when Hindu-activists discovered that they'd been lied to, and sued. And earlier this month, the same thing happened in Seattle. Just a 'trace' is too much, in religious/philosophical domains.

Geo

The intention never was to make the fries vegetarian, was it? It was to cook them without saturated fat. I don't recall that McD's ever advertised the post-beef-tallow fries as vegetarian.

Katie wrote:The intention never was to make the fries vegetarian, was it? It was to cook them without saturated fat. I don't recall that McD's ever advertised the post-beef-tallow fries as vegetarian.

This vegetarian thinks sacrificing flavor was a huge mistake. No one started eating those fries because they were now cooked w/o saturated fat. This feels like Coke 2.

Okay, back to the topic at hand.