Did your mom save 'drippings' in a coffee can in the fridge?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

What happened to reusing bacon fat et al?

Also: my grandma saved both foil and ziplock bags, like a Grapes of Wrath Okie.

― andy ---, Wednesday, 11 January 2006 23:20 (twenty years ago)

Show me a Jewish family that does anything like this and I'll give you a prize.

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 23:23 (twenty years ago)

I do these things (not bacon fat, since I don't eat bacon, but I do save other things like that, I certainly save and re-use foil and ziplock bags and plastic bags from the supermarket and other such granny-type things). Waste not, want not, etc - I picked up all these habits from my mum. Who picked them up from her mum.

― ailsa (ailsa), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 23:24 (twenty years ago)

My mom does but only because it's easier to dispose of the fat that way.

― tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 23:25 (twenty years ago)

It's a Great Depression post-generational hangover!!

― andy --, Wednesday, 11 January 2006 23:26 (twenty years ago)

my guy does this. except it's in an empty orange juice can, it's in the freezer, and (as far as i know) the vile bacon fatz do not get "reused". they just periodically disappear, all mysterious like.

― Kim (Kim), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 23:27 (twenty years ago)

My parents have have a little canister that I think is made specifically for this use. It has a little lid and a little knob on the lid. I think it helps, having the special canister.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 23:34 (twenty years ago)

In our house it was called Dripping (no "s") and there always used to be a little tundish of pork fat with a solid crust on top in the fridge. I never fancied it as a kid, but I reckon it'd be gorgeous on toast.

― Excelsior Syndrum (noodle vague), Thursday, 12 January 2006 00:08 (twenty years ago)

grandparents dumped the skillets' drippings into an instant coffee jar. they might've used it occasionally, but mostly for disposal reasons. can't be dumping sizzling hot grease down the sink.

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Thursday, 12 January 2006 00:12 (twenty years ago)

just use it instead of butter or oil when you're cooking, it makes everything 10x more delicious

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 12 January 2006 00:37 (twenty years ago)

unless that's obvious to everyone (hangs head)

(especially corn bread, ov course)

(lifts head meekly)

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 12 January 2006 00:42 (twenty years ago)

Not pound cake, though.

― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Thursday, 12 January 2006 01:22 (twenty years ago)

my grandma does this so she can reuse the fat. I'm not even sure she refrigerates it though, eurgh. My folks wash and reuse ziploc bags and I would too if that type of behavior wouldn't make my husband's head explode.

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 12 January 2006 01:48 (twenty years ago)

my mother used to do this all the time

― latebloomer: Let's just say I do for bullshit what Stonehenge did for Rocks (lat, Thursday, 12 January 2006 02:19 (twenty years ago)

I thought everyone did this.

― shookout (shookout), Thursday, 12 January 2006 03:31 (twenty years ago)

my mum used to do this when i was little, but with the fat from the weekly roast, not from bacon. makes beautiful gravy. now she only ever does roasts in the bbq so no need anymore. my grandma still does it though.

― gem (trisk), Thursday, 12 January 2006 03:33 (twenty years ago)

my grandma saved it in an International Foods coffee can on the stove-no refrigeration, 'cause she was OG

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Thursday, 12 January 2006 03:35 (twenty years ago)

My parents used to do this in a Hills Bros. can, and they put it under the sink. I don't think they ever reused the fat. Just filled up the can then threw it out.

― wmlynch (wlynch), Thursday, 12 January 2006 03:42 (twenty years ago)

in my neck of the swamp we call it SCHMALTZ

― 2 columbus circle in 1964 (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 12 January 2006 03:50 (twenty years ago)

I was just going to toss out my coffee can tonight because it's full up (again already!); but now I will save it to give to Tracer. I keep it under the sink but it doesn't smell rancid yet.

I used to have cool '20s-vintage canisters labeled with the Southern food groups: Sugar, Brown Sugar, Flour, and Grease.

― Paul Eater (eater), Thursday, 12 January 2006 04:53 (twenty years ago)

Yes! My parents' canister says "grease," written in kind of raised letters on the side of the can.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 12 January 2006 05:43 (twenty years ago)

I do this.

But, uh, guys? Moms/whoever don't do this to reuse the fat; it's because pouring fat down drains is totally stupid. Once it cools down, it will congeal and clog your pipes. Being able to reuse it is just a benefit.

― gbx (skowly), Thursday, 12 January 2006 06:05 (twenty years ago)

I am a great one or saving dripping and gravy etc. My figure can partially be put down to post roast chicken breakfasts of chicken dripping and gravy on toast.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 12 January 2006 08:26 (twenty years ago)

My grandmother used to do this (I certainly remember one of those blue-and-white Devin pottery bowls filled with fat/jelly in her kitchen), and I think I remember my Father raving about the wonders of tasty bread-and-dripping, but I don't think it was something I was ever tempted to eat. I don't much like greasiness.

I save and re-use ziplock bags though. And lots of other things too - I'm quite a keen recycler. If anyone gives me a present in a lovely giftbag, I keep the bag to pass on with my own gift-giving. If the wrapping paper was particularly gorgeous, I've been known to save that to use again too. After ironing it. I'm not a particularly tight-fisted person by any means - in fact if anything I err on the side of reckless generosity - but maybe I just don't like waste.

― C J (C J), Thursday, 12 January 2006 08:51 (twenty years ago)

I have such a can and I oured bleach into it for fun - it bubbled

― Latham Green (mike), Thursday, 12 January 2006 09:15 (twenty years ago)

I used to reuse bacon fat, until my flatmates started whinging that it minged.

My grandmother definitely used to keep dripping, and give it to me spread on toast as a treat.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Thursday, 12 January 2006 09:24 (twenty years ago)

Fat is brilliant re-used. I once got the fat I took from making stock and re-used that to cook sausages in. The fat was all dark and manky, and the sausages were AMAZING.

― Johnny B Was Quizzical (Johnney B), Thursday, 12 January 2006 11:27 (twenty years ago)

my crazy old great-aunt is the only person i can think of who had dripping... or at any rate, her house was the only place i had it. it was utterly, utterly revolting. my grandma h used to (poss still does) save the fat in the chip pan and use it again and again, but i think that's fairly standard behaviour?

― emsk ( emsk), Thursday, 12 January 2006 11:35 (twenty years ago)

My ex's mum used to leave fat in the frying pan for weeks on end and just keep reusing it. I thought it was revolting.

She'd also have a pot of beans on the hob for up to a week at a time too, heating it up and having a scoop with her tea every night.

― Rumpie (lil drummer girl parumpumpumpu), Thursday, 12 January 2006 11:37 (twenty years ago)

Num num, bread and dripping. I have got out of the habit of collecting it from the tin (mainly due to deglazin' gravy) but whenever there is congealed animal fat around, i will not be far away with a slice of bread.

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 12 January 2006 11:39 (twenty years ago)

My mum keeps dripping in a ceramic pudding bowl in the fridge. Though thinking about it, I don't remember seeing it for ages. Perhaps she's stopped!

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 12 January 2006 11:40 (twenty years ago)

george foreman grills were invented for exactly this!

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 12 January 2006 12:01 (twenty years ago)

also cooking eggs with chicken fat gives it extra chicken flavour and it also gives you the satisfaction of eating the whole family in one go

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 12 January 2006 12:04 (twenty years ago)

I bought a schmaltz pot in Germany for this specific purpose. It is now full of goose fat. Num.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Thursday, 12 January 2006 14:18 (twenty years ago)

my friend's family kept grease in a chock full o' nuts coffee can that sat on the back of the stove. what happened once the can was full(ish) was a mystery. my friend had no idea. nothing seemed to be fried using it.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 12 January 2006 14:28 (twenty years ago)

I used to have a drippings can with a filter insert in the top -- medium mesh, don't want to strain out ALL the flavor -- I loved it. But I seem to have lost it in one of my moves. I probably won't replace it — it was only for bacon fat, and I'm not eating as much of that.

― truck-patch pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 12 January 2006 14:34 (twenty years ago)

This was a standard practise in my house growing up. It's more than just a Great Depression hangover, though, in that fats have always been a fairly precious commodity up until quite recently - circa the 1970s.

Parenthetically, during WWII, civilians were encouraged to save fat for the war effort. Apparently the glycerines in fat were useful in making high explosives.

― Aimless (Aimless), Thursday, 12 January 2006 17:31 (twenty years ago)

My family does as Tracer's. In fact I was looking for said grease can on ebay yesterday. Just for looks though.

― Miss Misery xox (MissMiseryTX), Thursday, 12 January 2006 17:35 (twenty years ago)

Wal-Mart sells a flimsy aluminum can with the embossed word "Grease" on it, and a little lid with a handle. I know this because it is popular with some backpackers to use as a very lightweight pot in which to boil water on a camp stove.

― Aimless (Aimless), Thursday, 12 January 2006 17:40 (twenty years ago)

i don't do wal-mart. but it's nice to know grease convservation is alive and well in the south.

― Miss Misery xox (MissMiseryTX), Thursday, 12 January 2006 17:55 (twenty years ago)

I might start saving dripping from the Sunday roast now, thanks to this thread.

― C J (C J), Thursday, 12 January 2006 17:56 (twenty years ago)

"Spread on toast as a treat"??? Ugh.

― andy --, Thursday, 12 January 2006 18:25 (twenty years ago)

bacon fat is so urgent and key for southern cooking. I don't really make bacon (har) myself, but you can taste the difference in foods cooked without it.

― Jimmy Mod (I myself am lethal at 100 -110dB) (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Thursday, 12 January 2006 18:29 (twenty years ago)

sometimes i like to take a loaf of wonder bread and, by cover of night, hit up all the black iron grease dumps behind restaurants around town. just lift the lid and dip that shit down in there. mmm-mmm. but maybe that's just a southern thing.

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Thursday, 12 January 2006 18:41 (twenty years ago)

I don't save bacon fat but if I cook duck, I'll save some of the fat. Duck fat is sublime.

― M. White (Miguelito), Thursday, 12 January 2006 18:47 (twenty years ago)

duck fat is amazing. i hardly ever get a chance to eat it though. :-(

― jbr, Thursday, 12 January 2006 19:02 (twenty years ago)

My Mum used to save dripping, then never got around to using it so it would be emptied out of the pudding bowl in a great lump and left on the lawn for the birds, who loved it. The numerous pourings made stripey layers that looked kind of pretty.

I'll keep duck fat for roasting potatoes and small bags for taking sandwiches to work in.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Thursday, 12 January 2006 19:04 (twenty years ago)

something i'm glad there isn't more of around here: fonduta, the mexican pork-fat & cheese fondue. there's your one-way ticket to triple bypass surgery.

― jbr, Thursday, 12 January 2006 19:05 (twenty years ago)

i'm sorry, queso fundido.

― jbr, Thursday, 12 January 2006 19:05 (twenty years ago)

Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan

― detoxyDancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 12 January 2006 19:09 (twenty years ago)

oops wrong thread

― detoxyDancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 12 January 2006 19:10 (twenty years ago)

Just chew spit.

― Orange cooki, Thursday, 12 January 2006 19:31 (twenty years ago)

it would be emptied out of the pudding bowl in a great lump and left on the lawn for the birds, who loved it.

Actually, this is U&K. If you're not saving it to eat, you should save it for the birds. Anything, basically, rather than put it down the drain - it's very difficult to clear and ends up aggregating in giant fat plugs, making sewers back up.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Friday, 13 January 2006 10:21 (twenty years ago)

Once mum saved some chicken fat in the fridge in a drink jug. It looked like pineapple juice, so I got it out and had a swig. OMG. Never again.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 13 January 2006 10:29 (twenty years ago)

Dripping, lard, fat - all AOK in my book

― Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Dada), Friday, 13 January 2006 10:38 (twenty years ago)

Roast chicken drippings = gold.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 13 January 2006 10:42 (twenty years ago)

I bought a schmaltz pot in Germany for this specific purpose. It is now full of goose fat. Num.

From the man who once gave the gift of goose fat at Christmas :-)

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Friday, 13 January 2006 12:48 (twenty years ago)

I like to share the love around.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Friday, 13 January 2006 12:58 (twenty years ago)

I saved the turkey fat from our turkey this christmas, and put it outside for the birds. And they refused to even touch it.

― JimD (JimD), Friday, 13 January 2006 13:18 (twenty years ago)

Yes, in one of these:

http://www.redbagcollection.com/fm_creole_blend.gif

My mom used it to fry eggs and chicken in it (not simultaneously).

― Nemo (JND), Friday, 13 January 2006 15:25 (twenty years ago)

And by "it" I mean the drippings, not the can.

― Nemo (JND), Friday, 13 January 2006 15:33 (twenty years ago)

The Knoxville Utilities Board gave out these little steel canisters emblazoned with "CAN THE GREASE!!!" that are made specifically for this purpose, I think.

― öROXYMUZAKö (roxymuzak), Friday, 13 January 2006 15:45 (twenty years ago)

Ally's ex-roommate needs to read this thread, she seemed to love keeping grease around but never seemed to make it to the whole "get it out of the pan" stage of things.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 13 January 2006 21:38 (twenty years ago)

Also it was fucking Wesson.

― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Friday, 13 January 2006 21:51 (twenty years ago)

Wow, Ally, does EVERYbody know about that roommate??

I have never re-used the fat, I'm just saving my drains.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 13 January 2006 21:53 (twenty years ago)

I've got so many class ex-roommates.

I never keep fat, I really had no idea that it damaged drains either but I generally don't have tons of it when I cook though. I rarely cook bacon and usually when I do it's followed up immediately by either cooking burgers or eggs or etc in the same pan so there's not much left to really get rid of. I really am very sparing with using fats to begin with and use very lean meats so there's never very much drippings.

― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Friday, 13 January 2006 21:55 (twenty years ago)

There's a guy with a diesel car who retrieves it from the restaurants, and what comes out of his exhaust pipe smells like fish & chips. I heard this.

― andy ----, Friday, 13 January 2006 23:32 (twenty years ago)

my old roomate did this, in old pasta sauce jars. i didnt know what it was at first, having never seen him do it. i just saw the levels changing and sometimes a new bottle would be in there. my girlfriend had to tell me what it was. he cooked bacon everyonceinawhile, it couldve been from that. i opened it up though, and it didnt smell like anything at all. i reckon that anything cooked in it would be extremely delicious, but i think he'd just throw it out.

― AaronK (AaronK), Saturday, 14 January 2006 01:43 (twenty years ago)

don't believe in this

― RJG (RJG), Saturday, 14 January 2006 01:45 (twenty years ago)

it happens

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Saturday, 14 January 2006 01:52 (twenty years ago)

not to me, it doesn't

― RJG (RJG), Saturday, 14 January 2006 01:53 (twenty years ago)

I thought the point of it not going down the sink wasnt so much cos it damages drains but because it is terrible for the environment. Grease ends up in the waterways and icks up our rivers etc etc.

I think here you can buy nifty things that look a bit like a milk carton, full of some special sandy substance that absorbs fats.

― Trayce (trayce), Saturday, 14 January 2006 02:59 (twenty years ago)

It doesn't tend to make it to the rivers because it solidifies in the seweres in great hunks.

Jim, you must have the wrong kind of birds where you live.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Saturday, 14 January 2006 17:30 (twenty years ago)

I was in Manchester for christmas, and yes, they definitely have the wrong kind of birds up there. That's why I moved to London.

― JimD (JimD), Saturday, 14 January 2006 17:33 (twenty years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.