Saving Your Meat Drippings

When roasting, stewing or grilling meat of any kind I always pour the drippings into a freezer container and freeze them just as soon as they have cooled just a little. When they have frozen, I pry up the layer of frozen fat with a fork and discard it, leaving only the defatted, seasoned broth or drippings. I always have a pork, a chicken, and a beef container in the process of being filled at all times in my refrigerator freezer. I just pour new layers over the old since the fat always rises to the top.

If I don't need to use all or some of the container I retire it to the larger freezer once it is filled and start another container. I find that I almost never need a bullion cube since I always have access to pre-seasoned broth or drippings. I just break up what I need with a fork and drop it in a sauce pan or micro-thaw as much as I need.

I often use defrosted drippings to add flavor to cooking rice, pasta, potatoes, or vegetables. In fall or winter I can pull a container out of the freezer and add precooked meat and fresh vegetables to have an almost instant soup or stew--a tremendous help when I need a quick meal for unexpected guests. Especially since I also try to keep frozen corn muffins and biscuits in the freezer as well.

Hint: Quick microwaving of fresh veggies to a stage that leaves them just a little crisp can have them ready to add to micro-thawed meat and broth in almost no time. Nearly micro-baked (not quite cooked all the way) potatoes can be quickly skinned and chunked and crispy tender carrots that are already prepared can be quickly cut into chunks so they finish cooking in a very short time in the broth. This keeps veggies from overcooking and "mushing up" in the broth.

By Jeanne from South Daytona, FL