Disposing of grease from ground beef - do you think this is gross?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would this be gross?

OP here, thanks everyone for the feedback.

Maybe because the paper towel is a communal roll on the counter and possobly slightly less sanitary than say a metal utensil in a open basket on the counter?

Or maybe it could be seen as something that could possibly lint? (It's bounty so it doesn't really lint, but idk).

We're clean, my house is very clean.

In general I think beef/animal fat of any sort is gross, I haven't seen people use the paper towel soak up method, and it was a random thought that popped into my head while doing it the other day - would people think this is gross. The paper towels soaked in grease seem kind of gross, but really any disposal method is kind of gross I guess.

Do you have anxiety? It would never have occurred to be that a paper towel would somehow contaminate food because it is on an open roll. Personally, I wouldn’t use paper towels unless it was a super small amount; something one piece could easily handle. Otherwise it seems like you could risk burning yourself or making a mess if it over saturates or are using multiple paper towels. I just pour it into a small mason jar and scrape it out into the trash when it is solidified

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I cut the top off a Bud Light can and pour it in there. The can stays on the countertop until full and then goes to the trash van.

You have a trash van? Exactly how much trash do you produce?



To OP, what I do is fold aluminum foil into the sink drain, collect the grease in IT, close it up and dispose of the foil. Otherwise, if I'm doing something like chili, I pour it into the opened cans of beans. I don't drink Bud Light. It's vile. I mean, I tried it again after that whole right-wing backlash against it, since I hate conservatives with the heat of a million suns, but, nope, it's just vile liquid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t eat beef but if I did I wouldn’t think this was gross.

I roasted potatoes yesterday and after the oil cooled I poured it back in the oil container. I reuse it for roast potatoes ( nothing else) next time. My spouse thinks this is gross.

Now THAT is gross.

Do you eat McDonald's fries? It is coated in beef tallow. That is what gives it that gross lasting taste in the mouth.

I don’t think you are proving your point. Fresh, hot McDonald’s fries are delicious, one of the very few reasons to go there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t eat beef but if I did I wouldn’t think this was gross.

I roasted potatoes yesterday and after the oil cooled I poured it back in the oil container. I reuse it for roast potatoes ( nothing else) next time. My spouse thinks this is gross.

Now THAT is gross.

Do you eat McDonald's fries? It is coated in beef tallow. That is what gives it that gross lasting taste in the mouth.

I thought they stopped using that forever ago, no?

Yes, it’s been years since McDonald’s stopped using beef tallow.

[Anonymous]

The paper towel is fine - I also sometimes use a paper towel to dry things like beans.

The poster who pours the oil back in the container - that's gross. I hope you don't cook for company with that oil. I was at someone's house once and I think they were making pancakes and then poured the oil back in. I never want to eat there again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t eat beef but if I did I wouldn’t think this was gross.

I roasted potatoes yesterday and after the oil cooled I poured it back in the oil container. I reuse it for roast potatoes ( nothing else) next time. My spouse thinks this is gross.

Now THAT is gross.

Do you eat McDonald's fries? It is coated in beef tallow. That is what gives it that gross lasting taste in the mouth.

I thought they stopped using that forever ago, no?

They stopped frying the French fries in animal fat in the 1990s, but then people didn’t like the taste of the fries as much so they quietly started adding “natural beef flavoring” to the fries before the frying process. Earlier this year lawsuits were filed by vegetarian and Hindu consumers and McDonald’s admitted that they use a “minuscule” amount of beef in their flavoring here in the US. They do not use beef in the fries in the UK, India and Fiji.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cut the top off a Bud Light can and pour it in there. The can stays on the countertop until full and then goes to the trash van.

You have a trash van? Exactly how much trash do you produce?



To OP, what I do is fold aluminum foil into the sink drain, collect the grease in IT, close it up and dispose of the foil. Otherwise, if I'm doing something like chili, I pour it into the opened cans of beans. I don't drink Bud Light. It's vile. I mean, I tried it again after that whole right-wing backlash against it, since I hate conservatives with the heat of a million suns, but, nope, it's just vile liquid.

The tin foil trick is new to me. Thanks for sharing. As others have said, we pour the grease into either a can to harden and throw out (often when browning beef, some canned food is also being used like tomato sauce) or an old coffee mug (let harden, scrape out into trash, wipe mug and put in dishwasher).

As for the paper towel being unsanitary, I don't think so. I often use them on food and haven't had any contamination -- that I know of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cut the top off a Bud Light can and pour it in there. The can stays on the countertop until full and then goes to the trash van.

You have a trash van? Exactly how much trash do you produce?



To OP, what I do is fold aluminum foil into the sink drain, collect the grease in IT, close it up and dispose of the foil. Otherwise, if I'm doing something like chili, I pour it into the opened cans of beans. I don't drink Bud Light. It's vile. I mean, I tried it again after that whole right-wing backlash against it, since I hate conservatives with the heat of a million suns, but, nope, it's just vile liquid.

I…don’t think PP’s method requires the can to be a Bud Light can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t eat beef but if I did I wouldn’t think this was gross.

I roasted potatoes yesterday and after the oil cooled I poured it back in the oil container. I reuse it for roast potatoes ( nothing else) next time. My spouse thinks this is gross.

Now THAT is gross.

NP. Why would anyone think that’s gross?you can typically reuse frying oil 3-4 times before pitching, more if you use this clever method Kenji came up with: https://www.seriouseats.com/clean-cooking-oil-with-gelatin-technique

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not appetizing, but not gross. You have to dispose of the grease somehow. I generally pour it into a coffee cup, wait for it to congeal, then scrape it onto silver foil and throw it out. But I sometimes use paper towels when there isn’t much to dispose of. Anything that has the potential to smell and/or get rancid I put in the freezer until garbage collection day.

We have trash collection places that have oil disposal stations, that is where the grease should go, not into your trash.

What? Yeah..let me add that to my to do list.

I guess we will thank you when our city burns down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not appetizing, but not gross. You have to dispose of the grease somehow. I generally pour it into a coffee cup, wait for it to congeal, then scrape it onto silver foil and throw it out. But I sometimes use paper towels when there isn’t much to dispose of. Anything that has the potential to smell and/or get rancid I put in the freezer until garbage collection day.

We have trash collection places that have oil disposal stations, that is where the grease should go, not into your trash.

What? Yeah..let me add that to my to do list.

I guess we will thank you when our city burns down.

That's not how any of this works. Oil (not grease) I large quantities is accepted for recycling. It's not a fire hazard.

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/fats-oils-grease

[Anonymous]

If I was having company over and just HAD to serve something that involved ground beef, I would cook/brown it before they arrived, so no one would know WHAT I did!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cut the top off a Bud Light can and pour it in there. The can stays on the countertop until full and then goes to the trash van.

Grease should never be throw into the garbage and into the garbage truck. How do you not know this? Thanks for being irresponsible.

100% false.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t eat beef but if I did I wouldn’t think this was gross.

I roasted potatoes yesterday and after the oil cooled I poured it back in the oil container. I reuse it for roast potatoes ( nothing else) next time. My spouse thinks this is gross.

Now THAT is gross.

Why is that gross? Much more flavorful for roast potatoes and much less wasteful. More environmentally friendly and tastier!

Yep. People pay a lot of money for duck fat fries! Same principle.

[Anonymous]

The open roll of paper towel being unsanitary is a new level of DCUM cleanliness paranoia for me!