Dripping and grease

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

[Mod.edit: this and following few posts moved to form a new topic (MG)]

grease

I read the word grease and immediately think of axles and engineers and dirty hands, not food for some reason. Fat or drippings on the other hand say food. Is it an American thing to say grease rather than fat?

 

[kaneohegirlinaz]

I read the word grease and immediately think of axles and engineers and dirty hands, not food for some reason. Fat or drippings on the other hand say food. Is it an American thing to say grease rather than fat?

y'know SatNavSaysStraightOn that's an interesting question, for sure!
I found this online at Wikipedia.
I've always had a small covered plastic container of the stuff in my refrigerator.
Basted Fried Eggs in Bacon grease is delicious!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

y'know SatNavSaysStraightOn that's an interesting question, for sure!
I found this online at Wikipedia.
I've always had a small covered plastic container of the stuff in my refrigerator.
Basted Fried Eggs in Bacon grease is delicious!

The link doesn't work for me.

 

[TastyReuben]

I read the word grease and immediately think of axles and engineers and dirty hands, not food for some reason. Fat or drippings on the other hand say food. Is it an American thing to say grease rather than fat?

To me, “fat” indicates the stuff that’s still on the meat, like fat on a steak, and “grease” is fat in its rendered form, although it seems to be used most frequently in my vocabulary specifically with bacon.

 

[TastyReuben]

The link doesn't work for me.

Nor for me.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

To me, “fat” indicates the stuff that’s still on the meat, like fat on a steak, and “grease” is fat in its rendered form, although it seems to be used most frequently in my vocabulary specifically with bacon.

Isn't that dipping?

 

[TastyReuben]

Isn't that dipping?

I’d only ever heard “drippings” from British TV shows when I was a kid, and I always that it sounded delightfully disgusting, like blood dripping from a stab wound.

I watched a lot of horror movies.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I’d only ever heard “drippings” from British TV shows when I was a kid, and I always that it sounded delightfully disgusting, like blood dripping from a stab wound.

I watched a lot of horror movies.

Beef dripping

Beef dripping

Dripping is the fat that drips from a joint during roasting, it is clarified and forms a solid fat that is sold in blocks.

Uses: In the past, dripping was served as a spread and 'bread and dripping' was considered to be a real treat after the traditional Sunday roast. Nowadays it is used mainly as a cooking fat - either for shallow frying meat, as a roasting fat for potatoes or to dot over a joint to keep it moist during cooking.

You can get it in pork, beef, duck & goose I think.
Waitrose & Partners

 

[caseydog]

Beef dripping


You can get it in pork, beef, duck & goose I think.
Waitrose & Partners

Have you noticed Tasty's signature line? "Keep your skillet good and greasy all the time."

Grease in the US, in the food sense, is just rendered fat. Fat, grease and drippings are all used in the US version of the English language. Which word used depends on the person, and the circumstances. For example, most people would make gravy using the "pan drippings" from cooking a roast. But, you would fry eggs in bacon "grease" left from cooking bacon.

So yes, it is an American thing. It is something I never gave any thought to until you asked.

CD

 

[JAS_OH1]

I read the word grease and immediately think of axles and engineers and dirty hands, not food for some reason. Fat or drippings on the other hand say food. Is it an American thing to say grease rather than fat?

Yeah.

 

[kaneohegirlinaz]

y'know SatNavSaysStraightOn that's an interesting question, for sure!
I found this online at Wikipedia.
I've always had a small covered plastic container of the stuff in my refrigerator.
Basted Fried Eggs in Bacon grease is delicious!

Here's a portion of that Wikipedia link that for some reason won't open ...

"Bacon fat​

Bacon fat liquefies and becomes drippings when it is heated. Once cool, it firms into a form of lard. Bacon fat is flavourful and is used for various cooking purposes. Traditionally, bacon grease is saved in British and southern US cuisine, and used as a base for cooking and as an all-purpose flavouring, for everything from gravy to cornbread[50] to salad dressing.[51]"

 

[Morning Glory]

Traditionally, bacon grease is saved in British and southern US cuisine, and used as a base for cooking and as an all-purpose flavouring, for everything from gravy to cornbread[50] to salad dressing.[51]"

I think wiki is erroneous as not many (any?) in the UK would save bacon fat (and we certainly wouldn't call it 'grease'). Dripping in the UK is from beef, traditionally.

Dripping (not 'drippings' in the UK) has a long history:

The first mention of a dripping pan appears in an Act of Parliament in 1463 during the reign of Edward IV. At the time, dogs and geese, and even children, were employed as “turnbroaches” to keep iron spit-jacks rotating in castle and manor kitchens. It was fiercely sweaty work next to blistering flames. In cages positioned above the fireplace, the animals were forced to run on wooden wheels that were attached by a chain system to the spit. (Mechanized, weight-driven “gravity jack” wheels eventually ended this inhumane practice.)

England's Rich and Golden History of Dripping

 

[JAS_OH1]

Yeah, drippings and grease are not synonymous in my vocabulary. Drippings are for gravies or soup base maybe, bacon grease is for frying or sautéing.

 

[caseydog]

I think wiki is erroneous as not many (any?) in the UK would save bacon fat (and we certainly wouldn't call it 'grease'). Dripping in the UK is from beef, traditionally.

Dripping (not 'drippings' in the UK) has a long history:


England's Rich and Golden History of Dripping

Child and animal abuse, eh? Some American food classics were created by African slaves. I guess food history isn't always pleasant.

CD

 

[Yorky]

Dripping (not 'drippings' in the UK) has a long history:

Most chippies in the UK when I was a lad used beef dripping in their deep fryers. Unfortunately, it's become so expensive it's almost a delicacy now (so I hear).

We can buy beef dripping here for around £4.00/kg.