Can I substitute bacon grease for suet in making suet cakes?

saaak

14 years ago

I was just wondering.

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Comments (5)

donald lucius
14 years ago
i do all the time. i use shortning or lard or ground suet or beef tallow or bacon grease. The only concern i have heard is some people say that the bacon grease has salt from the curing bacon. but most say by the time you add all the other ingredients it is not enough to matter. we don't cook bacon much anymoe but i save the grease and freeze it till i want to use it. And lots of the time i will use up the bacon grease along with suet or lard to make a bigger batch which also dilutes down what salt might be in the bacon grease
algeritapicker
14 years ago
How much salt is in bacon grease?? What is a good "recipe" for bird suet? And how much salt is good or bad for wild birds?
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I thought I posted here but maybe I closed out before it was finalized or something. I have heard that the salt in bacon is not good for the birds. But I don't know if it's true. I made up a batch today, and put some out in the bird feeder that is made from the bottom part of an old stove-top rotisserie. I pressed it down into the tray so I hope this discourages the squirrel. I made it with chicken fat so I hope that's not like cannibalism or anything for the birds. The dog now wants to go outside. I let him out for a little while and he went and stood under the bird feeder. Such a pig-dog. Thanks for that recipe! Is it supposed to be a little on the crumbley side? Maybe that is just because I made it with chicken fat, which seems to have a lower melting point than something like lard or beef fat. From now on I'll save the fat that drains off when we cook hamburgers, or what I skim off beef broth. Gosh, I just threw some away about a month ago. Wish I'd kept it now.
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Since bacon is a brined meat I doubt you will ever find unsalted bacon except for what is sold as fresh fatback. You can remove much of the salt by putting in a pan of water and heating. Stir while melting. This will disolve some of the salt in the rendered grease into the water. Let the solution set in a cool place to firm the fat. Remove the fat cake that should form on the top and throw away the water. This can be repeated several times to remove additional salt. If your bacon fat is fresh you can dice up potatoes and cook in the water. This is a method that is used by cooks to reduce oversalted dishes. If the bacon fat is fresh the potatoes can be eaten or thrown away. Only eat if the bacon fat is VERY fresh.
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i just warm up the grease or lard enough along with the peanut butter in the micro wave to be able to mix in the other ingredients in a glass bowl. by the time i get it mixed up it's already cooled off some and i spoon it in the lid or tray and mash it flat.I leave it on the counter for a little while so it's not runny and then put it outside. I usually make up extra ahead of time and usally freeze the ectra trays till i am ready to use them
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i was born on a farm way out in the county 72 years ago We did all of our own butchering and canning and gardening ect. In the fall when we butchered a cow or pig or venison or even a sheep we trimmed all the excess fat from the meat. we put it all in a large metal pot over a fire in the yard and melted it down and it was called rendering. we ladled off all the liquid and poured it into the 5 gallon lined tin cans that syrup or coffee or other bulk foods came in. we would put fresh butcherd chickens or steaks or other fresh meat in the liquid and in no time it would harden around the meats. With no electricity or refrigeration the busckets would keep for months down in the root celler. We used the lard or suet for frying food or seasoning veggies or in pie crusts or pastrys. The hard pieces or stuff that did not melt good we fed to the ducks or chickens or geese or even the pigs and the dogs loved cornbread made with lard. The fats from all the different animals was called suet or lard and varied which was used for what or as needed. the suet was not always melted but was ground up to use also. the flakiest pie crusts and pasterys were from pork lard. the beef suet used a lot in meat pies. and the sheep and venison suet used to season stews and soup and all were mixed with elk or venison that was ground for hamburger because it was not so dry then. Bacon grease was always saved to season foods cooked on the stove especilly snap beans or green beans or dry beans.
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donald lucius
14 years ago
i have googled use of bacon grease and also bing search and asked about it with a bunch of different audubon societys in different states. the majority of them recomend useing bacon grease as long as the birds have sufficient water supplys. I have used bacon grease for many years and have lots of birds but i do keep fresh water or heated water trays in winter. I usually mix equal parts of suet or lard or bacon grease or tallow or shortning with peanut butter and add some chopped nuts and then thicken it with cornmeal and rolled oats or grits or flour to make a paste. we don't eat a lot of bacon or fatty meats anymore but do save the fats and freeze them. and mix whatever i have on hand into the mix and the bacon grease is usually pretty well diluted down.
Most say it attracts the woodpeckers and chickadees and nuthatches but i get almost every kind of bird i get eating mine. including the jays and juncos and finches ect.
terrene
14 years ago
I have used raw suet, rendered suet, and Snow cap lard in my mixture for the birds, with only minor adjustments. The birds have loved it all.

My son has been eating pork bacon lately, and I've been saving the fat in paper cups and put it in the freezer. I will add it to the suet or lard next time making the bird mixture. Because it will be mixed with other fat, peanut butter, corn meal, flour, nuts, etc. I think the salt content would be significantly diluted from pure bacon fat. I'm not sure how much salt is too much though.

Here is an an interesting web page to read if you want to know more about using fats in home-made mixtures for the birds:

"The Great Crisco Debate" - The Suet vs. Lard vs. Shortening question
HU-203863634
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Bacon grease is a soft spreadable fat. Not good at all, if they get it on their feathers they will starve to death trying to clean it off of themselves.

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Can I substitute bacon grease for suet in making suet cakes?

Comments (5)

donald lucius

algeritapicker

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donald lucius

terrene

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