The first rule of Bacon Club is NEVER THROW AWAY BACON FAT. There is so, so much you can do with it. You can use it more or less any time a recipe asks you to sauté or roast food with another fat like olive oil or vegetable oil — except that this way, that food will end up gloriously anointed with smoky, salty, delicious bacon flavor. And sure, you could limit the application of this magical liquid pork to just savory-type stuff, but also: bacon cookies.
First, here's how bacon fat is born into the world:
And here's what to do with that beautiful fat, courtesy of Marie Rama, coauthor of the just-released cookbook Bacon Nation.
1. Pop popcorn in bacon fat.
2. Make Caesar salad dressing with bacon drippings in place of the olive oil.
3. Add it to your ground beef or turkey before making burgers.
4. Use it to cook sunny-side-up eggs.
5. Add it to boiling water when making beans, polenta, grits, or rice.
6. Sauté onions, carrots, and/or garlic in bacon fat for soups.
7. Add to cookie dough before baking, as in these Bacon Lace Cookies, for extra crispy cookies.
8. Sauté sliced brussels sprouts in bacon fat.
9. Toss veggies like cauliflower florets or thick red pepper strips in bacon fat before roasting.
10. Use to brown bread crumbs for sprinkling over grilled veggies or a casserole of mac and cheese.
11. Toss sweet potato wedges in bacon drippings before roasting to make crispy baked sweet potato fries.
12. Add bacon fat when boiling water to cook or blanch green beans.
13. Mix with Sriracha and drizzle over ears of grilled corn — or sauté off-the-cob corn in drippings.
14. When you're baking potatoes, coat the skin with bacon fat before putting the potatoes in the oven.
15. Sauté sliced tomatoes in bacon drippings to make the ultimate BLT sandwich.
16.
