How long can I reuse this delicious bacon grease for cooking?

Question

I cooked some bacon about a week ago and left the grease in the pan. I've used it the last two nights with great success for cooking other meals.

How long is it safe to reuse? I figure since I'm heating it up to a million degrees each time I use it it's probably pretty safe, but.... I'd rather not get food poisoning.

Answer

Is it safe? maybe. Is it recommended? No.

If you're going to save bacon grease (or other fats), I'd recommend:

1. straining it
2. putting it into a different container to minimize the surface area exposed to air
3. keeping the container in the fridge.

Although, the first one, I admit I don't do -- as I'm not cooking bacon every day, I've generally used up my supply by the time I've got more ... so I fill a glass jar, and let solids settle to the bottom ... then just use the stuff off the top as I need it, until I get so far down the jar that I hit the darker strata, when I then dispose of the whole thing. (I recycle jars for this, then pitch the whole thing ... you don't want to go washing bacon grease down the drain, it does nasty things to your pipes)

...

If you're going to do what you are, you'll want to make sure that you hold the pan at 250°F (121°C) for at least three minutes, preferably longer, to kill off botulism spores, unless you're fond of that whole paralysis thing.

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