One of my friends in college—we'll call him "Josh," because that's his real name—had a funny way of throwing away bacon grease. He rented the second floor of a two-family home, the sole adornment of the intersection of two small but dangerous county roads, and each of the windows on the second floor looked out on a kind of eave that ran the length of one side of the house, with a runnel at its edge for rainwater.
Whenever he finished cooking up a batch of bacon, he'd walk over to a window that looked over the eave and just dump the grease out. The first time I saw this, I think I was too shocked to say anything. But every time thereafter, I'd say or shout, really , "Josh! Why are you throwing bacon grease out the window? Of course, Josh, in his odd way, was right. You should never, ever pour grease of any kind down the drain in your home. But, of course, Josh, in his odd way, was also totally wrong.
Unless you're defending a besieged castle from an invading army, you should never, ever pour grease out your window, either. Don't be like Josh.
Let's talk about how to dispose of grease properly. You must have seen the news reports and the public-health campaigns , warning of the monster that lies underneath many cities' streets, growing steadily in their sewers day by day. It goes by many names—"gross," "disgusting," "really gross," "I'd rather not think about it," "super freaking gnarly"—but it is commonly known as a fatberg, a massive agglomeration of nonbiodegradable waste combined with fats and oils.
The science of the fatberg is far from settled , but the working theory is that cooking fats in the sewer system undergo a process called saponification, which basically means the free fatty acids in sewer water react with alkaline salts to produce a solid substance that is essentially soap. The fatberg soap comes together on a scaffolding made up of wet wipes, which, no matter what manufacturers say, should not be flushed down your toilet.
If you, like me, have ever let that last itty-bitty bit of your soap bar just kind of sit on your shower drain, figuring that eventually it will dissolve and be washed away, only to remain disappointed for weeks until you throw the dang thing out, then you'll have some idea of how whale-size pieces of soap might mess with a sewer system. Of course, the fatberg is a city-scale problem that has city-scale origins, and you might think that the quarter cup of bacon fat you've poured down your sink can hardly make a difference compared with the output from commercial kitchens and industrial manufacturers.
Still, there's another, more personal reason to avoid tossing fry oil down the drain: Cooking fats will also mess up your own drains, potentially creating clogs that only an expensive call to the plumber can fix. So, you've cooked something—a steak , a duck breast , a flock of chicken thighs , a mess of karaage —and you've got a lot of used grease on your hands and in your skillet.
What should you do? The first thing to consider is whether the grease is reusable, and whether you want to reuse it if so. Different cooks have different tolerances for the amount of effort they're willing to expend to save a few bucks, but I personally save as much reusable fat as possible. That and if everyone did it and it made it all the way through, water companies would be forced to increase our rates for the cleaning process. We live on a property with acreage and a septic tank so no chance of it going into sewage pipes or drains.
How to Dispose of Bacon Grease and Oil the Right Way The best way to get rid of cooking oil and grease is simple — throw it in the trash. Follow these steps to learn the safest way to dispose of these hot liquids: Let the oil or grease cool and solidify. Once cooled, scrape the grease into a container that can be thrown away.
When the container is full, place it in a plastic bag to prevent leakage and then throw it in the garbage. Reuse Your Cooking Oil at Home As long as it has been cooked correctly and not heated past its smoke point , you can take steps to reuse your oil and fats. To reuse cooking oil: Strain the semi-warm oil using a cheesecloth, paper towels or coffee filters to remove any food particles.
Store in an air tight container in the fridge, freezer or other cool dark place. To recycle your oil: Strain the oil to remove food particles. Store in a sealable container. Deliver it to your local collection site. Source: Roto-Rooter.
Related Posts. September 30, May 19, 0. April 2, 0. Nikki Brownl on September 12, at pm. Roberta J Smith on April 21, at pm. The cooking oil we used does not solidify but stay a liquid.
What then, please? Luis on September 7, at pm. Mix it with flour and then dispose of it in a trash can. Lyric on June 5, at am. A godsend. Thank YOU so much for this advice for my oil is not solid either. A big thumbs up! Alexa on September 24, at pm. Paul on January 23, at pm. But to attract wanted critters of the winged and feathered variety, you can cry incorporating bacon grease into a suet cake.
And if you happen to hold a bacon cook-off at home and end up with large amounts of grease on your hands, contact your local waste management facility to see how it can be properly disposed of. A neighborhood restaurant may even be willing to take it off your hands and recycle it.
I think that covers just about everything, Maura. Keep it greasy. Got a question? Submit a question to Mother Nature and one of our many experts will track down the answer.
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