I've been gathering bacon grease from my George Foreman grill. The grease is not just from bacon but also from sausages, frankfurters, beef, liver, pork, lamb, even some fish. So what I gather is really a mix of various things I grill.
Now, can you still call this bacon grease? In other words, is frying with this melange of various animal greases ok? If you include fish, aren't you getting some Omega-3 FAs, i.e., PUFA? If so, doesn't fish oil become quite unstable at room temperature and when reheated?
If so, then is the solution to gather all animal oils except for the fish? Perhaps the solution is to just use butter or ghee instead?
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6 Answers
Do not eat the melange! Other things besides fat have likely accumulated inside of your meaty petri dish. Meat juices and bits get putrid quickly, so unless it's collected over the course of one day maximum, there's a good chance some unsavory bacteria has been introduced in addition to the rancid oils.
This answer +1000. Unfortunately fat isn't the only thing that comes dripping out the front of those grills.
Pop your grease in the fridge AS you collect it. Perhaps labeling it would be a good idea, too.
Rancid fats are almost as bad for you as trans fats, which are awful. Fats can be rancid without smelling spoiled, and generally most fats turn rancid when stored at room temperature and exposed to oxygen. Put these things together, and my nonscientific analysis suggests that collecting and using the fats from your grill might not be a good idea.
I usually collect the fat rendered from frying bacon, though I keep the temp down so that it doesn't burn or smoke, which I believe breaks down the fat in undesirable ways. It is a particularly good fat for cooking potatoes and cabbage. But I don't think I would collect the fats from the grill, as I would be worried that they have been modified i some bad way.
Why use a george forman?
I cook my bacon in the am in a frying pan, once the bacon is cooked enough I scramble eggs in the grease... I dont need butter etc and by the time the scrambling is done I have no grease left.
I do this with all foods, last night I cooked sausages and the left over juice I poured over my steamed veggies for flavour..
Not to mention the runoff on a foreman grill will also include cooked-out blood, water, and other things that when matched with the caloric value of fats could lead to all sorts of nasty.
i would say you can't call it bacon grease... after all, it's, uh, so much more.
i'd also say if you skipped the fish grease you might be ok with the other stuff. In his bachelor days, my husband had a George Foreman that he rather liked. That thing never got too hot really, so in a sense, you might not have to worry about going over the smoke point of the fats and turning them into something nasty. They just drip away. I think you could reuse them actually.
I would think a combo of all the fats might not be so tasty. maybe you might consider doing one batch of beef and lamb together and one batch of pork, sausages, and bacon. I'd leave both the liver and the fish out altogether.
Consider adding a basic herb or two to your foreman drippings collection, i suggest rosemary for beef and thyme or sage for pork. You could have flavored oils!
Casey_1
(7970)
on May 03, 2011
at 12:54 PM
This answer +1000. Unfortunately fat isn't the only thing that comes dripping out the front of those grills.