Does anyone save the fat from cooking?

dandy-candy

Whenever I fry bacon or do a roast lamb there is alway loads of fat left in the pan. My old cookery books are all for pouring on boiling water, then once it's cooled skimming off the fat to use again - but does anyone do that still nowadays? I'm not sure if it's inviting a heart attack?!

Tibbie's_mum

OH cooked sausages for kids yesterday, the fat that he drained off them I used to cook the onions for tonight's curry. It's a waste not want house here, and I can't bear the idea of my drains getting blocked up with solidified fat. I make sure that any sort of fat gets collected and used in some sort of way.

Ladyhawk

Oh my mum defintely does (she's english). I would... if I ate things that produced that much fat!

thriftlady_2

I do it all the time. I consider it extremely wasteful to throw it away. I don't clarify it though. Yesterday for example I roasted some pork. There was a lot of fat so I poured it into a bowl and saved it. I shall use it for frying potatoes etc. It will freeze well too.

I do it with bacon, chicken, goose, duck -you'd be mad to throw away the last two they are fab for roast potatoes.

There is no proof that eating saturated fat causes heart attacks. Far more sensible is to avoid sugar and refined carbs than a food human beings have been eating for thousands of years, far longer than the incidence of heart attacks.

Norman_Bean

Yep we save ours and use it to roast rubber chicken and roast potatoes.

As Tibbie's mum says 'waste not want not'

Oh and I'm (fairly) young and English :rotfl:

Norman x

Taadaa

I haven't done this before, but this has given me food for thought. We would use the fat from the roasting pan for the gravy etc though.

I agree, think it is all that white bread, pasta and sugar that makes us heffers as well.

balmaiden

I have always saved the fat from cooking meat and used again. Likewise if I have fried in oil I always poor any that's left back into the bottle. When it has cooled obviously!

Actually I thought this was pretty common practice, it's certainly something I saw my Mum and Grandmother do. Gran died at 90 but not from heart disease Mum is still fighting fit and slim as a reed at 84. So, so far does not seem to have caused her any problems.

hermum

You used to be able to get dripping bowls to pour it all into, I used to love the jelly from underneath the solid fat on doorsteps of bread. I think the lack of exercise and junk food is far worse than the old fashioned diet we all used to have. I also think, probably wrongly, that because most people have central heating our bodies don't work as they used to to keep us warm, this must use lots of energy from the fat. Just my musings

THIRZAH

My mother-and grandmother-used to pour all fat from cooking into a "dripping jar". They probably started doing it in the war when fat was in short supply.My mother was very fond of dripping toast.

I wouldn't want to mix fats but do save the fat from a roast. If I am making a curry or something from the leftover meat I will use that fat to fry the onions.

The fat from a pork roast makes lovely fried bread.

HalfaSixpence_2

I always save dripping and usually use at least some of it before it gets manky. Using unsaturated fats for frying is actually less healthy because unsaturated fats usually degrade at frying temperatures and produce lots of free-radicals. Mono-sat (like olive oil) and *naturally* saturated (like meat fat) stand the temperatures much better.

Lamb fat I use less because the taste doesn't go with other foods so well; pork is brilliant, beef again the taste can be a bit specific and of course duck or goose you would actually pay a fortune for in waitrose or Sainsbury! (We usually have a duck on Christmas Eve and the bowl of fat that comes off it lasts for ages and works brilliantly for roast potatoes etc)

LooniesMum

We keep gravy or meat juices from a joint and cook with it during the next couple of days. However, we NEVER reuse cooking oil! :eek: Pouring oils back into the bottle means you will be consuming trans fats (and free radicals) and raising your cholesterol level. Have a read of : -

https://www.ehow.com/how_5596277_avoid-trans-fat.html

and

http://www.heartmark.co.za/docs/Vegetableoils.pdf

Or just Google it!