Kids Love Bacon Fat
Summer break is really a mixed blessing. This year Young Master Fussy didn’t want to attend any structured camp. Frankly, I had no interest in pushing the issue. During the summers he likes to take a break from the regimented world of school, and I can’t blame him.
The upside is that while Little Miss Fussy is at her camp, I get to spend some time alone with my boy. The downside is that I cannot just pursue my own interests willy nilly.
But I’ve been enjoying going around trying to find ways to make the summer a treat for him. Naturally many of those involve food. So earlier this week I offered him the chance to have anything he wanted for lunch. However, it didn’t work out quite the way I had planned.
One of his favorite things to eat is gyro meat. We almost never get it unless he’s with his grandparents. But then he’s been known to put away two plates of the stuff. He has no interest in the pita, vegetables or yogurt sauce. He just wants meat on a plate.
But not this week.
He said he still loves the stuff, but just wasn’t in the mood for gyro meat. What he really felt like at that particular moment was scrambled eggs.
“Great,” I said, “I’m sure I can find someplace good for scrambled eggs.”
“Daddy, but is there any place that can make them as good as you do?”
I love this boy, and after thinking about it, I had to say no.
So we went home, and I scrambled up a couple of Stewart’s eggs in my cast iron skillet with plenty of butter and a little bit of salt. He took them between a couple pieces of bread, as usual, with a healthy dose of ketchup.
Those were good eggs. But yesterday I blew his mind.
We’re cleaning out the refrigerator before the move. And I found a little stash of reserved bacon fat. So I asked him how he felt about switching out the butter fat for bacon fat. I explained how it actually would give the eggs a nice bacon flavor.
With a thumbs up from the adventurous kiddo I went ahead as usual, but now instead of butter melting in the pan, there was an equal quantity of rendered bacon fat.
He declared these to be the best eggs ever.
Me? I just grabbed a nibble from the pan, only to check how they came out. Man, the kid is right. Eggs cooked in bacon fat are among one of life’s great pleasures. Never forget. Especially as we are going into the weekend. Buy some good bacon, pick up the best eggs you can find. Don’t forget a bottle of sparkling wine and a bag of oranges, so you can squeeze them for juice.
You might want something with bubbles or acid to clear the bacon fat from your mouth. Or then again, maybe you don’t.
FUSSYlittleBLOG 
I know it is not good for me, however lately I often finding myself cooking my eggs in the fat leftover from making bacon moments before, they have to be some of the best eggs made.
I guess it depends on the bacon fat for me. Most mass-market bacons (and even a lot of supposedly quality packaged stuff) use a lot of sugar in the cure. Also, they are packaged in plastic with that wet protein filled goo that I find so very unpleasant. If you use the fat from this sort of bacon I am not a fan. You get all sorts of burnt sugars and proteins swimming around in your fat and that sort of ruins the eggs for me. Good clean bacon fat is another story.
But isn’t it funny? As much as I am a fan of bacon, I sort of prefer copious amounts of really good butter in my eggs…
We save bacon fat, too. So did my mother…and her mother, back in the old country. Ours is kept in a coffee mug with foil on top in the back corner of the fridge. We saute potatoes and onions in bacon fat and put a sunnyside up egg on top or saute mushrooms with it that then get a splash (or four) of Maker’s Mark to top a beef filet. Mmmm…bacon.
It is my southern upbringing to drain every morsel of bacon fat into a jar that sits on the side of the stove. Celery cures… nasty Oscar’s Smokehouse… bits of protein from the skillet…. it all goes in together unless it’s burned (which would never happen in my house). Then it’s doled out liberally whenever a dish of eggs, beans, whatever needs a kick.
Fond memories of my father coming home from the evening shift and cooking the bacon, then frying the egg for a sandwich. You are right – bacon and eggs just go together. (Try some crisp bacon in egg salad.)
That sounds like an excellent Sunday brunch … :)
LOVE bacon fat! We save every last drop when we cook off the bacon at TJ’s and save it for , well …LOTS of great stuff. We rub the evening’ baked potatoes in it before they go in the oven. I use it for sweating mire poix for most of my soups. And ALWAYS in My New England Clam Chowder. It just has more dimension than cooking oil and most butters. Darn good stuff !!!