# What to do with beef drippings **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [November 22, 2021, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774 "2021-11-22T17:20:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2021, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774/1 "2021-11-22T17:20:03Z")
Whenever I cook ground beef, I drain off the drippings and then wonder what I could do with them. What do all of you guys do? ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2021, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774/2 "2021-11-22T17:30:33Z")
Chips! (fries). Or roast potatoes. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2021, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774/3 "2021-11-22T17:30:49Z")
That goes in the grease can which is eventually thrown away. It’s not drippings, it’s fat. My mom used to put it on the dog’s food to add weight to the pup. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2021, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774/4 "2021-11-22T17:38:20Z")
> [@peedin](#): > > It’s not drippings, it’s fat. What do you think drippings is? OP, you may find the fat separates when cold into dripping (the white fat) and a clearish brown jelly-like substance. Use this jelly as a flavouring for stock or stock. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2021, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774/5 "2021-11-22T17:39:11Z")
> [@peedin](#): > > That goes in the grease can which is eventually thrown away. That’s what I do as well. I avoid putting it down the drain out of concern for our septic system. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2021, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774/6 "2021-11-22T17:47:55Z")
I use it as cooking fat, especially for frying onions as the base for my beef stews. (More typically, I use pork fat, as I cook much more with pork. And chicken fat I’ll save for the same reason, or for using for making matzo balls. It’s also good simply as a spread on some good solid rye bread, topped with onions, salt, and maybe a sprinkle of paprika for color. Once again, I usually use pork or chicken for that, but beef should work, too. It may be the kind of thing you had to have grown up with, though, to appreciate. It was a typical bar snack in Hungary, when made with pork or goose fat.) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2021, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774/7 "2021-11-22T18:02:07Z")
I was taught to throw out beef fat. Bacon fat is great for seasoning vegetables and cooking. I used to fry eggs in bacon fat. I never questioned why my family threw out beef fat. They just said it wasn’t supposed to be used. Maybe the tallow in it? ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2021, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774/8 "2021-11-22T20:18:48Z")
Maybe I’ll stick a note on the olive oil to remind me to use the saved beef fat when frying from now on. And I originally began throwing the drippings away instead of pouring them down the drain after one of my coworkers from Utilities telling me what a pain it is on the city wastewater treatment systems. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2021, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774/9 "2021-11-22T22:56:56Z")
Beef Drippings would be a helluva name, though it would require a good backstory. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2021, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774/10 "2021-11-22T23:02:35Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I never questioned why my family threw out beef fat. They just said it wasn’t supposed to be used. Maybe the tallow in it? Rendered beef fat is tallow. Tallow is just the beef version of lard. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2021, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774/11 "2021-11-22T23:04:47Z")
Yorkshire pudding. Duh. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2021, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774/12 "2021-11-22T23:09:43Z")
Well, if you have drippings for a nice lean roast beef, you have three choices: 1. Make _a jus_ for sandwiches. 2. Make gravy. 3. Just soak with good crusty bread and enjoy! (YUM! 👨‍🍳 ) Oops- Four choices, as [Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida) wisely points out. But hamburger grease is too greasy. We used to pour it over dry dog food, but those were huskies, and they had iron plated stomachs. ymmv, depending on your dog. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2021, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774/13 "2021-11-22T23:15:51Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > We used to pour it over dry dog food, but those were huskies, and they had iron plated stomachs. ymmv, depending on your dog. Shit. You beat me to it by 5 minutes. Dogs love stuff like this. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2021, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774/14 "2021-11-22T23:18:56Z")
Yep. I had to add that caveat as some small dog owners recoiled in fear and disgust at the very idea, assuring me that their pooch would have severe gastric distress. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2021, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774/15 "2021-11-22T23:34:15Z")
It’s not just that. Some folk will lecture you that it’s bad for them. I love my dog. But he is just a dog. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2021, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774/16 "2021-11-22T23:40:34Z")
Oh yes, at length . If it don’t come in a can or a bag with a dog picture, and isn’t expensive, don’t feed it to your dog. You know that omnivore that evolved over 30 thousand fucking years to eat our leftovers? That dog that will cheerfully eat cat shit? Yeah, precious can’t eat that stuff. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774/17 "2021-11-23T00:46:48Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > hamburger grease is too greasy What _else_ would it possibly be? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774/18 "2021-11-23T02:09:18Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I use it as cooking fat, especially for frying onions as the base for my beef stews. Also delicious for sauteing potatoes (or roasting, as SanVito mentioned), and to enrich the flavor of soups, or really anywhere else that a tasty meat fat is useful. Beef grease, chicken grease, bacon grease, I don’t really understand why anyone throws any of that stuff away. I’m trying to think of another home cooking situation where good-quality fat or oil is discarded, and other than used deep-frying oil I can’t come up with one. Usually cooking fats end up being absorbed by the cooked food, except in the case of meats where they release more fats than they absorb. Maybe some people just consume so much meat at home that they wouldn’t be able to use up the saved grease, and/or the meat’s not that good-quality anyway? But for households like mine where meat cooking is an occasional special treat involving a fairly expensive “naturally farmed”/free-range/etc. whatsit, all the by-products are salvaged and hoarded like nutrient-rich gold. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774/19 "2021-11-23T03:14:19Z")
There’s a difference in the delicious bits you get from deglazing a pan and the grease you pour from a hamburger skillet. 😉 I always make gravy after cooking a pot roast or baking a chicken. I did cut back on using bacon fat. Heart Healthy diets changed everyone’s lives. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2021, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774/20 "2021-11-23T07:27:47Z")
I save the fat off our burgers (cooked in a George Foreman grill), and use it for cooking roast potatoes/yorkshire puddings. I also save the bone, skin and fat from hams over summer, and boil them up, render out the lard, and turn the actual stock into pea and ham soup. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-beef-drippings/954774.md?page=2)