Baconmayo
July 7, 2012 3:31 PM Subscribe
I'm considering making some mayonnaise with bacon grease. I'd love some input on the idea.
My concerns/thoughts are as follows:
1) Should I use the grease for 100% of the oil, or some fraction?
2) If a fraction, what should the other oil be?
3) Obviously I'll make a bunch of bacon getting the grease. Should I use that bacon in that same meal or save it for something else? If I use it with the meal, what do do with it?
4) My inclination would be to make some kind of burgers to go with the mayo, any other ideas?
5) Finally, my plan is to just run the bacon grease through a paper coffee filter before using it in the mayo process. That should work, right?
Thanks!
My concerns/thoughts are as follows:
1) Should I use the grease for 100% of the oil, or some fraction?
2) If a fraction, what should the other oil be?
3) Obviously I'll make a bunch of bacon getting the grease. Should I use that bacon in that same meal or save it for something else? If I use it with the meal, what do do with it?
4) My inclination would be to make some kind of burgers to go with the mayo, any other ideas?
5) Finally, my plan is to just run the bacon grease through a paper coffee filter before using it in the mayo process. That should work, right?
Thanks!
One other suggestion for the grease - a friend says his mother always made chocolate chip cookies using bacon grease...that sounds heavenly.
posted by dbmcd at 3:46 PM on July 7, 2012 [4 favorites]
posted by dbmcd at 3:46 PM on July 7, 2012 [4 favorites]
I wouldn't filter it, and I'd go no more than about 1/3 of the fat from bacon. My biggest concern would be that bacon grease is solid at room temp, which means you run the risk of mayo with bacon fat chunks (I'm not sure this is a problem, exactly).
What to serve it with? A few months ago I made gougeres mini-sandwiches with mayo and bacon (if it had been summer, I would have made BLTs). If you make your sandwiches warm, any solids in the mayo should soften up to basically mayo texture.
Please do that, while it's still summer and the tomatoes are perfect. I just took two sheets of gougeres out of the oven for BBQ pork sliders tonight, and I'm a little sorry it's not bacon.
posted by Lyn Never at 3:49 PM on July 7, 2012 [2 favorites]
What to serve it with? A few months ago I made gougeres mini-sandwiches with mayo and bacon (if it had been summer, I would have made BLTs). If you make your sandwiches warm, any solids in the mayo should soften up to basically mayo texture.
Please do that, while it's still summer and the tomatoes are perfect. I just took two sheets of gougeres out of the oven for BBQ pork sliders tonight, and I'm a little sorry it's not bacon.
posted by Lyn Never at 3:49 PM on July 7, 2012 [2 favorites]
Best answer: A good experiment would be to make several different mayos, each with a different proportion of bacon grease. Personally, I think you could go 100% with no problem, but it might be worth trying a few different ones.
Add bacon pieces to the mayo.
Burgers would be good. French fries cooked in bacon grease would be good. How about potato salad with the bacon mayo and some bacon bits added in?
A coffee filter may be too fine to get the oil through - I'd try running it through some cheesecloth first (double it up) and if there's still fine particulate then try the coffee filter.
posted by backseatpilot at 3:49 PM on July 7, 2012
Add bacon pieces to the mayo.
Burgers would be good. French fries cooked in bacon grease would be good. How about potato salad with the bacon mayo and some bacon bits added in?
A coffee filter may be too fine to get the oil through - I'd try running it through some cheesecloth first (double it up) and if there's still fine particulate then try the coffee filter.
posted by backseatpilot at 3:49 PM on July 7, 2012
Best answer: 1) My only concern would be that the grease might be too solid to emulsify, or so hot it cooks your yolk.
2) Maybe blend it 50/50 with veg oil for liquidity??
3) BLT. Deviled eggs with bacon. I dunno, I wouldn't be worried abut too much bacon flavor. Anything, really.
4) Bacon burgers? Maybe turkey burgers with lots of parsley so you can manage some brightness in your meat flavor fest.
5) I kinda doubt it, but I don't know. You're just filtering it? Cheesecloth.
posted by cmoj at 3:52 PM on July 7, 2012
2) Maybe blend it 50/50 with veg oil for liquidity??
3) BLT. Deviled eggs with bacon. I dunno, I wouldn't be worried abut too much bacon flavor. Anything, really.
4) Bacon burgers? Maybe turkey burgers with lots of parsley so you can manage some brightness in your meat flavor fest.
5) I kinda doubt it, but I don't know. You're just filtering it? Cheesecloth.
posted by cmoj at 3:52 PM on July 7, 2012
I am a big fan of The Food Lab at Serious Eats. He made a series of animal fat mayos, to include bacon fat - article, direct to recipe.
posted by ftm at 3:55 PM on July 7, 2012 [12 favorites]
posted by ftm at 3:55 PM on July 7, 2012 [12 favorites]
Bacon aiolli can be made with all bacon grease, no need to dilute. I would make sure the bacon was high-quality because cheap bacon tends to be extra salty.
posted by oneirodynia at 3:59 PM on July 7, 2012
posted by oneirodynia at 3:59 PM on July 7, 2012
Oh, and somewhere I saw a ratio of 2/3 cup bacon fat to 4 yolks, but I can't find it again. I thought it was on Chow, but can't locate it.
posted by oneirodynia at 4:01 PM on July 7, 2012
posted by oneirodynia at 4:01 PM on July 7, 2012
Best answer: Have you seen this chow recipe for bacon mayonnaise? I just found it on reddit today, and promised myself I'd make at the first opportunity. Be sure to come back and let us know the results!
posted by yb2006shasta at 4:19 PM on July 7, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by yb2006shasta at 4:19 PM on July 7, 2012 [2 favorites]
As I am a big fan of mayo with my french fries, I would go that route.
posted by Ardiril at 4:35 PM on July 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Ardiril at 4:35 PM on July 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Yes, I agree with ftm, Serious Eats is the place to go. In the baconnaise recipe (1/2 bacon fat, 1/2 canola oil) there is a comment that links to another recipe that uses 100% rendered bacon fat.
posted by snaparapans at 4:36 PM on July 7, 2012
posted by snaparapans at 4:36 PM on July 7, 2012
Response by poster: Thanks everyone! Really good answers, and especially with recipes in hand I'll feel a lot more confident approaching this. I'll almost certainly be making this this coming Friday and can try to remember to post an update then.
posted by kavasa at 5:27 PM on July 7, 2012
posted by kavasa at 5:27 PM on July 7, 2012
i made this. it emuslified just fine (see details below), but i have to admit, it was weird. i love bacon, but it was weird. maybe it was the olive oil influence on the bacon? or the fact that i never got around to putting it on a burger?
1) half bacon fat
2) the rest olive oil, i think? i may have used some coconut oil and/or flax-seed oil.
3) i cook bacon for breakfast and save the grease in a container in the fridge on a regular basis.
4) i love sweet potato fries in mayo. i like the potato salad idea above.
5) i didn't bother to filter it.
posted by nevers at 7:48 PM on July 7, 2012
1) half bacon fat
2) the rest olive oil, i think? i may have used some coconut oil and/or flax-seed oil.
3) i cook bacon for breakfast and save the grease in a container in the fridge on a regular basis.
4) i love sweet potato fries in mayo. i like the potato salad idea above.
5) i didn't bother to filter it.
posted by nevers at 7:48 PM on July 7, 2012
If the bacon grease is really full of burnt bits, you might consider rendering it, i.e. dumping the lot into boiling water, and then sweeping out the burnt bits.
As for other uses, try to find some old recipes for cookies and other baked goods. I heard somewhere that prior to WWII, bacon grease was the most common household fat, so there should be plenty of classic recipes that call for lard..which is what you have.
posted by Sunburnt at 3:16 PM on July 8, 2012
As for other uses, try to find some old recipes for cookies and other baked goods. I heard somewhere that prior to WWII, bacon grease was the most common household fat, so there should be plenty of classic recipes that call for lard..which is what you have.
posted by Sunburnt at 3:16 PM on July 8, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by dbmcd at 3:45 PM on July 7, 2012