Bacon fat has a unique, rounded, umami-rich flavour that works well in both sweet and savoury dishes, so always be sure to save any left over after cooking, and make sure you scrape the bottom of the pan to get all those flavourful, caramelised bacony bits. Bacon fat makes just about any dish more mouthwatering, and turbo-charges it with flavour: use it for sauteing potatoes, frying chicken or, if you fancy stepping up your dessert game, making today’s bacon fat salted caramel. I love it drizzled over popcorn or pancakes, though my favourite is to use it as a topping for vanilla ice-cream. Also, you don’t even need to use any salt, because the fat alone gives the caramel a good, salty twang.
