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When mom cooked breakfast, she'd collect bacon grease (as, like, supplemental butter) and add that to subsequent meals. AFAIK, it still happens, but is probably less common.
I can assure you that this is not uncommon at all xD
I know it's bad for me, so I use it very sparingly, but I have a jar of bacon grease that gets used every so often. I'll be honest, I don't know anyone outside my family that still does it.
I'm also from bumfuck nowhere, so that could be an influencing factor on why I am the way I am.
Isn't that basically lard and can't you just buy the lard in a jar or can?
Reduce, reuse, recycle
You must do a ton of bacon because I can only at most use the leftover fat from doing some pork (bacon very rarely) in a frying pan to, immediately afterwards, sauté some vegetables or such on that fat.
Yes and no. Bacon has curing salts and spices and some time in a cold smoker ideally. That all adds some additional flavor to the grease.
Lard is just plain pig fat that is rendered down and strained to remove bits of meat and skin. No seasoning and no smoke
I don’t use it sparingly and I also have a jar of bacon grease.
The day I learned to put a coffee filter or paper towel in the jar under the lid ring to filter the hot oil? Game changer.
My grocery store carries “bulk bacon” which is packs of low quality fatty bacon that’s great for cooking. I buy that sometimes and the grease off a pound fills a pint jar about halfway, sometimes more.
Good news, it's not bad for you at all compared to industrially refined oils. Enjoy your bacon grease!
Cooking for two people, I do half a pound of thick cut bacon, and when it's done and the bacon off to the side, put in 6 eggs scrambled up right into the grease. I've found this is the perfect ratio of bacon grease to eggs.
Breakfast?
Bacon grease has a higher smoke point, a longer shelf life, and makes veggies taste amazing. It's also high in saturated fat and sodium, but ya don't need much of it - often just a knife tip's worth. The only time we buy bacon is when we run out of bacon grease for cooking, maybe 3 times a year.
My grandma did this and it made pancakes AMAZING!