Let’s talk about oil baby!

Fair warning, the following may disgust you and cause you nightmares.  Only dare to read on and you may be pleasantly surprised.

In my home growing up we saved grease.  There, I’ve said it publically and without shame.  In fact in most homes in my neighborhood, they saved grease.  I was actually shocked when I grew older and discovered that most people found this distasteful.

The practice came from the depression-WWII era when people couldn’t afford Crisco and later oil products were rationed so homemakers saved the oil from cooking bacon and other meat products to be reused for other dishes.

My Father was born in 1927 and my mother in 1942 so they grew up with the practice and continued it in our home.  I actually didn’t know you could buy Crisco in the store until I was in my late teens.  It’s funny, we had an old Crisco can in which we kept the repurposed oil and referred to the name whenever we were going to cook with it but I suppose I just thought we purchased the can to put the oil in.  More than likely, the can was used at some point and we just refilled it with the used oil. 

Other families had a coffee can they used to keep it the oil in and some had mason jars of it.  I actually use a mason jar myself, but to be honest I don’t have a really good used oil stash.  The thing that makes used oil so good is the combination of flavors you get.  The oil from the bacon, fried chicken, pork chops, & hamburgers you cook all combine to make whatever you’re cooking next in the oil taste absolutely amazing.  I rarely if ever eat any of those dishes so I don’t have a lot of oil to add to the mix.  My stash is ok, but some folks have an amazing stash.

As mentioned you might think this practice is gross and you’re probably right.  I think of it more as seasoning than anything else and frankly the cost of oil is pretty outrageous so you might want to try an open mind on this one.  I would also suggest you consider that the fast food chains we all frequent use the same oil day after day.  They change it once a week or less frequently depending on the requirements of the municipality they are in.  Quite often they cook everything from fries to fish in the same oil so it’s not as unusual as you might think.

A few things stand out in my memory of great dishes made with the used oil. Greens in particular, one of my favorite things in the world to eat, are not complete without a smidge of used oil in the water. Another is my mother’s steak fries.  OMG folks, best fries ever.