Re-using grease in pan?

[Jan Primus]

Last night I made some deer tenderloin in a cast iron skillet using bacon grease. I did not yet clean the skillet and was planning to cook the same thing tonight. Can I use last night's grease again or do I need to clean the skillet and use fresh grease? Not so much worried about saving the grease just that cleaning cast iron is such a chore compared to other pans. Thanks.

[Smithy]

Hmm. I'd be concerned about the grease going off overnight, at least from a flavor standpoint. I also wonder if the meat juices in the grease might encourage bugs to grow, but maybe the hot grease effectively sterilizes those juices so that it isn't an issue. I'd probably try it, after sniffing (or tasting) the bacon grease to make sure it didn't have any off-flavors or -smells.

I don't find cleaning cast iron to be all that difficult. My first thought is to compromise: heat the pan gently so last night's bacon grease will flow; pour it out; replace it with fresh grease. If you really want to go hog-wild you can wipe the pan dry with a couple of paper towels before adding more grease.

What do you do, more than I just described, that makes cleaning the pan so tough? Or is your pan not well-seasoned yet?

[Jan Primus]

Yeah it's not yet well-seasoned but it is starting to get there. To clean it I would lightly heat it to pour out the leftover grease, then under warm water scrub with a brush, then dry it.

[Qwerty]

Yeah it's not yet well-seasoned but it is starting to get there. To clean it I would lightly heat it to pour out the leftover grease, then under warm water scrub with a brush, then dry it.

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Oh man, don't ever use water in a cast iron. Anytime you need to clean, just wipe out with a clean dish/paper towel. If you need to scrub it, then heat up some oil and add a little kosher salt to scrub the pan. Simply wipe out the salt, and you should have a nice film on the pan...virtually nonstick.

Anytime you take water to the pan you wash away the seasoning.

And I wouldn't use the leftover bacon grease. Just use fresh or a different oil.

[SheenaGreena]

bah, I am so unhygenic. I will cook bacon in a frying pan and then reuse the same grease (thats been left out all night) the next day to cook my grean beans in.

so gross, I know.

I don't leave my pans out all night, just when i'm lazy and bacon grease is a good excuse to be lazy.

the way I eat things should cause me to be dead or close to dying