Today daughter Mary wrote on Facebook about having a jar of bacon grease in her fridge. She and I were talking this afternoon and she asked me if I did as well. It used to be a staple in my kitchen. It sat on the stove in a jar that had matching salt and pepper shakers. I think we originally got a set for a wedding present.
Bacon Grease was a staple like Crisco and butter. And they all had their place in the kitchen. Actually we very seldom bought butter. Maybe at Thanksgiving I would buy a pound and squirrel part of it away for Christmas. We used margarine for toast and sandwiches. Butter was way too expensive for a family of eight. Vern's mother made butter but she waited until the cream had soured before she churned it. When I was there visiting and doing chores, I would wash and wash the butter hoping to get rid of that sour taste but it wasn't possible. She always insisted we bring some home and I tried 'doctoring' it up with salt and sugar and washing it some more but it still was not my taste. Vern would have been beside himself if I had thrown it away and, of course, he liked it because he had grown up with it. So I usually had margarine for me and Clara' s butter for him. I'm not sure what the daughters used. I'm sure Leah ate the same as her dad because if he was for something so was she.
Crisco was used for baking. I was never good at making pie crust - I tried everyone's 'fool proof' recipe but this fool could never do it right. I was thrilled when Alissa became old enough to want to bake and she made amazing pie crust. In fact, at least one year her cherry pie won a blue ribbon at The Heart of Illinois Fair. After she moved to California, when she would come home for a visit she would make about a half dozen Dutch Apple pies and we would put them in the freezer. This was Vern's favorite. I did manage to piece together enough pie dough to make an occasional peach or blackberry cobbler. Not much to look at but pretty tasty!
The bacon grease was used for frying eggs, frying potatoes, I even fried chicken fried pork chops in it. And, of course, the only seasoning for home grown green beans was bacon grease. In fact every year sometime early in the season, we would have green beans, new potatoes and some bacon slices that had cooked slowly all day plus fresh lettuce with bacon crumbles with a little of the grease, a little sugar and vinegar - wilted lettuce. One of Vern's favorite meals. Rereading this, I realize it was no wonder he had his first heart attack at 49! Vern's parents grew their own pop corn and used bacon grease and salt to season it. yikes!
How times have changed. The bacon grease/s&p set went to good will. For several years I kept a small amount in the fridge for just green beans, I don't have it in the house anymore. If I cook bacon, the grease gets thrown out. I don't use Crisco but coconut oil and never have margarine, only butter and used sparingly. I fix scrambled eggs in the microwave with a spoon of butter for flavor. If I bake cookies, I use butter. I fried onions and peppers recently and used a mixture of olive oil and butter. I probably use olive oil for cooking most and I always buy extra, extra virgin and a good quality. I don't use much so feel its worth it.
Actually, I seldom eat fried foods but if I do cook bacon, I cut each slice in threes. It fries up easier and I can use it for a sandwich or crumble it for a salad. A favorite salad is fresh spinach, feta cheese, dried cranberries and crumbled bacon with a vinegar and oil dressing. Sometimes I might add celery, grape tomatoes and green onions, depending what's on hand.
For the most part, we all tend to eat a little healthier but every once in awhile fresh green beans, new potatoes and a little bacon rendered including the grease makes life just a little better. And life IS good.
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