Cornbread: Bacon Grease vs. Butter

Last night was a redux of Monday night...I made the vegetable soup again to use up the rest of my vegetables in the fridge. Co-op delivery day is every Friday, and it's a personal goal to use up the previous week's veggies before the next one arrives. In addition, my stomach was feeling a little rocky because of the previous night's dinner at a neighborhood bistro (see below): Chipotle Shrimp Scampi. Totally delicious and totally gluten free! Grilled shrimp swimming in chipotle butter with red pepper risotto and grilled squash on the side. Beyond sinful!!! Hence the need for a soothing soup last night!

Now I am finally getting around to the bacon grease -- in a roundabout way. For Monday night's dinner, I made the cornbread with butter instead of bacon grease. I thought the taste was good, but a little flat. So for last night's dinner, I whipped up another batch of cornbread, but this time used butter AND bacon grease.

First, I must discuss bacon grease. I was raised, as my sister can attest, in a home where my mom was afraid of food spoilage, contamination and salmonella. Consequently, the bacon grease container (a Folger's coffee can) at my folks' house was considered garbage on the stove (since you cannot throw grease down the drain). My mother and her older sister Margaret were pioneers in the days of "cooking light," and I don't believe I ever tasted a dish they made that contained bacon grease. Ever.

Fast forward to present day. My mother-in-law, Julia Ann, who is ten years older than my mom, is a proponent of homemade mayonnaise and bacon grease (two things I never consumed in my life).

I remember the first time I saw her use bacon grease to flavor a dish. I watched in horror as she scooped bacon grease out of the glass jar that sits by my range and dumped it into the bowl. But you know what? I let it ride, and I let her cook the dish. And no surprise, it was perfect! Simply delicious! And that bacon grease didn't kill me! WOW!! Food epiphany for Pam!!

Last night, I decided to taste-drive the bacon grease cornbread. Here are my ingredients:

1 T salted butter

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon fine ground sea salt

1 egg (slightly beaten)

2 cups of Bulgarian Buttermilk

2 cups of Bob's Red Mill Cornmeal (gluten free)

1 T bacon grease

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Then melt your butter in the microwave. Add the bacon grease to the melted butter and stir. Put grease mixture aside.

Then mix up your dry ingredients, and add the wet ones. Combine, but don't stir too much. Then as the finishing touch, add the butter and bacon grease. Stir to incorporate and then pour into greased muffin tins. Pour the leftover batter into a greased loaf pan for nice little flat corn cakes.

My muffin tins are not the deep-dish variety, and it takes 13 minutes to cook them in my convection oven. If you have a regular oven, I would add 5 minutes to the baking process.

Result?? They were amazing. Delicious with more depth than the butter-only cornbread. As an added bonus, that one tablespoon of bacon grease worked to hold the cornbread together. It has a good crumb, but not crumbly. PERFECT!! Try this recipe, and you'll begin your love affair with bacon grease (if you haven't already!).