Meat Lite: Oven Roasted Potato Wedges with Bacon Grease
Editor's Note: This is the first installment of Meat Lite, a weekly column that will celebrate meat in moderation by Philadelphia food writers Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond. Meat Lite was inspired by the book the two coauthored, Almost Meatless, coming out in Spring 2009.
A jar of bacon grease. Photograph by unclerib on Flickr.
Even among fats, bacon grease is considered a special kind of villain. It represents all the evils of saturated fat, calories, and cholesterol. But the fact is: bacon fat has the same amount of calories as olive oil. It's true that it has more saturated fat than some oils do, but it's no worse on that score than butter. And, if you start with high-quality bacon from Heritage pigs, it would be unforgivable to allow that flavorful fat to go to waste. I have a jar of congealed bacon fat in my fridge at all times.
In my experiences, a tablespoon of bacon fat makes a tray of ultra-healthy Brussels sprouts palatable to people who claim to hate this cruciferous veggie (the cruciferous family also includes kale, cabbage, and collards). Just melt the fat down in a skillet, toss with a mess of halved Brussels sprouts, sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper, and roast those cancer-fighters at 400 degrees until they are just brown and tender. Bacon fat also makes an excellent base for sauteing aromatics in otherwise vegetarian soups. It adds tremendous depth of flavor and meatiness with a tiny amount of extra fat.
But my favorite use for this wrongly vilified foodstuff is in my roasted potatoes. I eat them like French fries, as a side for mussels, burgers and salad. And yes, I serve them with an even eviler ingredient: homemade mayonnaise. But that's another post.
About the author: Joy Manning is the restaurant critic for Philadelphia magazine.
Oven Roasted Potato Wedges with Bacon Grease
1 pound red bliss or new potatoes
2 slices thick-cut bacon (Something from a gourmet market, mail order, or a farmers' market)
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh chives, minced
Procedure
1. Preheat your oven to 450ºF. (Do you have a convection function? Now is the time to crank it up.) Wash the potatoes, then place them on a rimmed baking sheet and put them in the oven for three minutes to dry completely. (Dry things brown better, as do things cooked on pre-heated baking sheets.) Remove potatoes and return baking sheet to your still-heating oven. Cut the potatoes into uniform wedges--six or eight wedges per potato depending on their size.
Meanwhile, fry the bacon until crisp, chop into bits and reserve for an accompanying salad. Strain bacon grease (you'll need between one to two tablespoons worth) into a large mixing bowl. (Put any additional bacon fat into your stash in the fridge.)
2. Toss the potato wedges with the bacon fat and a liberal sprinkle of salt and pepper. When the oven is properly preheated, remove the hot baking sheet and lay the potatoes on it in one layer, cut side down.
3. Roast for 20 minutes or until well browned. Toss with chives while hot. Serve with ketchup or mayonnaise.
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
12 Comments:
Lacking Crisco one evening, we made flour tortillas for our bean burritos with bacon fat from the jar instead. (We used this with the beans too.) They were the finest tortillas we'd ever made.
darly gross at 12:07PM on 09/23/08
Try spreading some of the bacon grease from your fridge on warm bread instead of butter.
greenolivemedia at 12:42PM on 09/23/08
I keep a reserver of bacon fat in the frig....do you think it can go bad after awhile? I haven't noticed any changes.....but then I don't keep it stored for longer than 6 months....
Any thoughts?
Uglycuss at 12:44PM on 09/23/08
My father swears by bacon fat. Maybe I should get him a "Praise the Lard" shirt too!
gastronomeg at 1:23PM on 09/23/08
I also have never had bacon fat go bad in the fridge, but when I can't remember how long it's been since I last added to the container, I toss it. Straining it before storing it seems to help, I've noticed that when I store it with little bacon bits in it, it doesn't taste as good when I reuse it.
Buckethead at 1:33PM on 09/23/08
Uglycuss--I think bacon fat will keep a long time in the fridge. But if you have any doubts, sniff it. Rancid fats don't smell right.
Joy Manning at 3:08PM on 09/23/08
My northern Italian mother always used her bacon fat (and free suet from Safeway) and so do I. But the suet isn’t free any more. Thanks. Put the fat in the freezer, keeps forever.
Fred Rickson at 3:50PM on 09/24/08
Pop your popcorn in the bacon grease. Bacon popcorn.
stevebillings at 4:12PM on 09/24/08
If Brussels sprouts, kale -- just about any vegetable -- tasted like bacon, everyone would be healthy as horses. As for the relative dangers of bacon, my mother (God rest her soul) NEVER threw out bacon fat. She fried potatoes in it, even polenta (actually she let plain old Deep South grits solidify, then cut them into thick batons and fried them in bacon fat along with eggs for breakfast). My dad, who ate up everything she cooked, lived to be 83. She was forever dieting and avoiding fatty foods even back in the '70s, and she died at 69. Go figure.
expat39520 at 10:05AM on 09/29/08
I am so amazed to read this. I know serious eats loves bacon but it's usually something crazy like bacon donuts. I love this idea it's so MFK Fisher. I always feel a tinge of frugal guilt every time I toss bacon fat. Thanks for making it ok. I'm going to start my bacon fat reserve tomorrow morning.
peanuty at 8:05PM on 11/15/08
I made this last night, and the potatoes turned out so well. Yum!
homewithmandy at 9:57AM on 03/09/09
Bacon fat in the title of a recipe??? That's a great way to grab my attention. I have a slab of bacon that I cured and smoked. Can't wait to render some of it and make some potatoes!!!
Johnny K at 9:38PM on 11/18/09