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Rendered Fats: uses & storage?

post #1 of 13
3/21/10 at 8:03am
Thread Starter 
I'm going to show off my lack of professional training here, but I'd like to know...

What is the best way to store fats, both short term and long term?

What are your favourite uses for fats?

With the plethora of stocks, broths, and roasts we are going through this winter I have accumulated quite a collection of lovely, creamy containers of rendered fat.  Now what?
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post #2 of 13
3/21/10 at 9:03am
Make pemmican...oh wait that should be done in the fall.  

 One thing I will use is bacon fat.  I love to fry up broccoli or brussels sprouts with some good 'ol bacon fat or instead of using just a bland oil like canola, I'll impart some flavour when I fry by blending a small amount of fat with the oil. For example, I will take some tallow (rendered beef fat) with a little canola (or not) and fry my eggs in it.  Who doesn't like steak and eggs? Just think of the flavour that the fat will impart to the dish you plan on cooking and substitute or blend with the oils you would normally use.

 Just remember that animal fats are rather unhealthy so use sparingly. 
 
   I keep my fats in a sealed container in the fridge for the short term as there is no long term for fat in my opinion.
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post #3 of 13
3/21/10 at 12:16pm
Charron,

Most rendered fats will keep a very long time in the fridge. It helps if you strain them, though, to assure there are no solids included.

For the very long term, say more than a year, I would recommend freezing them.

As you start using them you'll discover there are different flavor characteristics, both to the fats, themselves, and how they effect what they're cooked with. Even things as similar as duck and chicken fat have different flavor profiles, so you can imagine the differences between, say, chicken fat, bacon drippings, and lard.

As to uses, they easily substitute for almost any other fat or oil you'd use. Instead of butter, for instance, try frying your eggs in bacon fat. Or make a pie crust with lard. Etc.
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post #4 of 13
3/21/10 at 12:54pm
my dad loves roast dripping sandwiches!
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post #5 of 13
3/21/10 at 8:51pm
Thread Starter 
Dicey, do you mean dippin bread?  I can't imagine fat sammies...


I used a tiny portion tonight to make some Yorkshire puddings.  I finally went back to my recipe and noticed that it didn't call for an egg, but for a cup of egg.  Weird, but they turned out so much more puffy and tasty.

I've made use of bacon fat with my brekkie tatoes, and I'll use a bit of pork fat along with olive oil when frying up the shredded tatoes for non-veggie skillets.

I just seem to have so much still on hand.  What else can I use it for?  I have a collection growing of bacon, pork, beef, turkey, and chicken fat.  I have limited space in my fridge and I'm getting high cholesterol just looking at the containers.  I would rather get high cholesterol eating them creatively.
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post #6 of 13
3/22/10 at 3:01am
My wife gets a bit frustrated with the broths, small portions of stocks, dripping fat, etc, stored in the fridge.  I wish I had some easy labeling system to name it and date it, but  don't.  So that is how I determine what to throw out, if I can't rem what was in the storage container or the date it was saved, out it goes.   However the wife never complains about my dishes, and likes that she comes home and relaxes.
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post #7 of 13
3/22/10 at 3:23am
Thread Starter 
A very simple way to label containers is with a wet-erase whiteboard marker.  Anything and everything can be marked with the name of the contents and the date it was contained, and then the marker washes right off when the container is washed.  For ziplocks, a Sharpie or other permanent marker works very well.
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post #8 of 13
3/24/10 at 3:27pm
Sometimes I'll take bacon grease and cook a hamburger patty in it. I have a question though, in Europe the use goose fat (I don't know the name) do you use the same as bacon grease?
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post #9 of 13
3/24/10 at 4:27pm
Yes, refrigerated, all fat keeps for many month. Eventually oxygen attacks fat and slowly turns them rancid. If you have a way to eliminate oxygen, fat keeps fine forever. Placing in a Ziploc bag or a plastic container from which you squeeze all the air out before tightly screw on the lid preserves fat for the longest. If stored longer than, say, a year, taste it. Without oxygen, fat should taste perfectly fresh. Should it taste rancid, discard. Rancid fat or oil cannot be rescued.
I have a whole section devoted to this subject in my book (see below).
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post #10 of 13
3/24/10 at 4:49pm
My fav is pork drippings. Cold onto dark ryebread with lots of salt.  Very healthy for the mind, not so for the body.  And if there's any crackling left sit it on top...oh yes :)

Don't like chicken or lamb fat.

Beef dripping and pork drippings, and bacon fat are great for roast root veg, even cabbage.  Certainly for onions and mirepoix.  So much flavour.  Try roasting tomatoes in any of them - great flavour.

If you are making chunky lardons, the bacon fat will help get them going.  They are not the same as bacon where you start that in a dry cold pan, they need a bit of fat to get them cooked properly and then it draws out their fat.  So now you have more fat to use

If you are making meatbals with very lean meat, incorporate fat of choice to keep them juicy.

Have no idea about duck or goose fat, don't cook either of them, but I hear duck is particularly good for roast potatoes.

Try looking into recipes for potted shrimp - you may be able to substitute butter with some of your stored fats, or liver pates and the like.

Re: labelling items - I find masking tape useful . Not sure what it is called there, but you know when you are painting a wall and trying to separate the areas of different colours, its that tape.  Pretty much paper-based tape.  Can write on it, tape it onto container/ zip-lock bag etc, then once you've used the contents, it just strips off easily.
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post #11 of 13
3/24/10 at 7:00pm
"Sunshine said

"Don't like chicken or lamb fat."

Another caveat about lamb fat... we had a lamb feed years ago and fed the scraps - including a good deal of fat - to our dog.  That was a disaster.  It gave her gas like I have never experienced in my life.

We had to lock her out of the house for three days until it had - umm - passed away.She was heartbroken and couldn't understand why she had been banished.

Fortunately we lived in Santa Barbara at the time and she didn't freeze.

If we were living in Chicago - we would have let her freeze.  It was that bad.

Mike
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post #12 of 13
3/24/10 at 9:06pm
Poor dog, and poor you. It must have been terribly confused.  And not good on the nose.

 I don't know why I don't like them, just don't.

Some will rave about chicken fat with roast potatoes - I *have given it a go, just so I could have an informed opinion.  Just too greasy, for me, and not that much flavour.  Yes it's fat, same as the others, I know.  Palates differ.
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post #13 of 13
3/25/10 at 9:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charron View Post

I'm going to show off my lack of professional training here, but I'd like to know...

What is the best way to store fats, both short term and long term?

What are your favourite uses for fats?

With the plethora of stocks, broths, and roasts we are going through this winter I have accumulated quite a collection of lovely, creamy containers of rendered fat.  Now what?

Rendered fats will keep about three months if they are free from meat particulates in the refrigerator for about six months and usually longer.  Frozen they can last nearly indefinitely.

The key to long term storage of rendered fats is to remove as much oxygen from the container as you can.  However, for me, I've found that rendered fats don't last that long at my house...I'm constantly using duck fat and chicken fat for Mazo Balls and and beef fat for browning lean cuts of meat for stews.
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