Bacon is it’s own food group, who doesn’t love sweet, smokey, salty, crispy bacon. Of course it is normally expensive AF for something you would normally trim the fat from leaving very little meat – but the fat is the lovely part, and our forefathers mothers knew exactly what they were doing keeping that jar of bacon fat on the stove for cooking with, and yes we will do the same. Pure silliness to throw away perfectly good cooking fat and then go pay good money for cooking fat.
90% of the time when we use bacon the first thing we do is chop it up from those strips only occasionally do we actually use strips of bacon in strip form, right? So why not find it in other forms? No I’m not talking about full slabs and chopping your own. I’m talking about “ends and pieces”. Sometimes you will get different types of pieces, but all are useful in different ways.
Here is the package of bacon – this is 3 pounds and costs about $10.00. A serving of bacon is only about 3 ounces due to its rich and fatty nature.
Open the package and gently fluff it out, being careful not to break the actual pieces.
Begin sorting the bacon, separating out actual strips.
This pack had several usable strips, some chunks that were just fat, and the rest are usable as bacon for any other uses. Some packs also have big meaty chunks, or rind bits that are suitable for pots of bean soups, and sometimes you get large well marbled chunks that make great pork belly tacos, or Asian sticky pork belly. This is what we have, this is what we use.
Take the chunks of fat, cut them into uniform sizes, and place on a rack. Bake in a 350 oven for 20ish minutes. The time will depend on the size, so watch them carefully. Once they are crispy, and the fat has rendered, you have great topping for salads, soups or stir-frys. Or you could just nibble on them … you are, you are totally nibbling, aren’t you?Drain the fat into a jar. I like using pint canning jars as the can take the heat if the fat is hot, and you can put the lid on for storage, or set them on their caps like a coaster to keep your counters grease free. Once you start using chicken and bacon fats for cooking you will miss them when you have to go back to other cooking oils, and hey, these are basically free, right?
Meanwhile, back to the bacon. Sort the strips into equal servings of 3-4 strips each.
Put into snack size zipper bags or wrap each portion in plastic wrap for freezing, Then into a gallon zipper bag. Cut any overly large pieces to make uniform bits. Set aside a couple cups, and pop into the freezer on a sheet pan. Chillin …. You can see my rice, chicken, and chicken stock chillin’ away and the bins doing their job with the sheet tray. Some days my trusty sheet pans spend more time in the freezer than the oven. Little work horses. Once they are frozen break them up and bag them. I have found that even though they clump up a little they are easily separated if you freeze them first then bag them. Bacon done, the two reserved cups will be used in freezer breakfast burritos. In a post coming soon.
I have always cooked, I was that person who could make a meal from an empty fridge. I have lived alone and with large and small families, I have cooked for camps on wood stoves, and in professional kitchens. I have lived and worked all over the west from Montana, to Seattle to Arizona to San Diego. I have traveled, maybe not 'all over the world', yet, and have collected tastes recipes and techniques everywhere, and every one I meet.
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