When you have fat left in the pan after frying bacon, don’t throw it away, says Tom Hunt in The Guardian. Instead, store it in the fridge in a sealed jar, where it will keep for several months (or put it in the freezer and you can keep it even longer). Then, when the time is right, you can take it out and use it to create an “umami potion of a salad dressing”.
In her 2017 book “Too Good to Waste”, Victoria Glass has a recipe for a warm bacon fat vinaigrette, which she recommends pairing with beetroot, basil, bacon and green beans. The resulting salad is indeed “lovely”, but the vinaigrette is equally good drizzled over many other things. For instance, you can try it with a simple salad of gem lettuce, tomatoes, basil and extra crisped bacon; or use it to “turbocharge” cooked vegetables such as sautéed mushrooms, boiled new potatoes or roast carrots.
To make the vinaigrette, warm about two tablespoons of the bacon fat in a pan (or of course you can use fat from bacon you’ve just fried) and then add it to a small jam jar with one tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and one small clove of crushed garlic. Shake vigorously, taste, and then season as required with flaked sea salt and black pepper. Use while still warm to dress “your salad of choice”.