burning fat....

We bought a big slab of pork today.... with a ton of fat on the outside of it.

When you look at the chemistry of it, the fat is just pure energy and should be good to burn in a non-cat stove... if done in small portions.

BUT it doesnt seem like a great idea, so it all just got thrown away.

That being said, I am sure I am not the first to think of it and was curious if anyone has successfully used it as a firestarter/fuel?

Melt it onto a pine cone?

I've used paper towel with bacon grease on it as a fire starter for my charcoal offset barbeque before. It worked well, but the smoke it puts out is a little acrid. Personally, I don't think the energy used to make starters from the fat would be worth the effort. Use too much of it and I think it would deposit in your stove and/or chimney, although I'm sure most would burn off once things get up to temp. I'll stick with Super Cedars and my other homemade (paraffin based) starters.

+1
birds love it, great for them in the winter.
render it:
pork lard makes great pie crust.
home made soap
Pork cracklings

I'm with Bogydave. Melt it and use it to make the best pie crusts and biscuits. That type of lard has less saturated fat than butter, if you buy it it costs a fortune.

No sir, throwing it out was wrong. I use it by grinding it up, mixing with fresh ground venison about 10-1, then for patties.. You talk about a good burger. At 15 -1, makes for a good summer sausage..

Fat has a high water content.

Whenever my wife makes bacon she waits for the pan to cool and puts most of it into a container for later cooking. What is left in the pan goes into a few paper towels and into an already hot fire or bed of coals. I would rather it end up in the stove than stuck to the sewer pipes.

A few paper towels, maybe, but a whole slab of pork? Now, that's a lot of blubber. :lol:

I agree with the bird lovers. Birds need energy too, and they will warm your heart by at least several degrees as they fuss around their suet cage mid-January.

Toss is in the woods, the dogs, bears and whatever will like it.

It's been used as a fuel by humans for thousands of years. They skipped the stove part and ate it.

I knew a Native man who worked on the now-famous ice roads many years ago. He said that he always carried salmon strips with him, because that was a high-energy food. Once he inadvertently got sprayed down, and got in his cab, stripped down and ate the salmon strips to warm himself up.

A few other friends, European-Americans were both married to Alaska Natives (note to our Canadian and Oz/Kiwi members: that term is used respectfully here, not as a pejorative) and they were chatting about the fact that if they were winter camping with their husbands on a cold night, they just fed them something high-fat right before bedtime and snuggled up. Apparently the men had very efficient metabolisms.

So back in the day when you wore your house and you were the stove, fat was indeed a very popular fuel. Not that I am recommending that--I just get homesick for the caves sometimes. How much longer can an interglacial last? . . .

Appreciate moving it to the right place.

So, lots of uses, could burn it, some uses much better than others! i like the idea of bird food, but I am a bit short on time now (have a 5 month old daughter), will keep that in mind though!

Thanks

Save some of the melted fat from maple-cured bacon & use a teaspoon of it instead of canola or olive oil next time you are popping popcorn. :coolsmirk:

And water can also have a high fat content. I was passing this beach one day..... Oh, never mind.

Ohh snap! You just described half the eastern seaboard :D