Bacon, sausage, hamburger – they smell great while browning, but the tricky part is draining off all that grease. The recipe instructs “drain the fat” and moves on, but how? I’ve tried pouring it off, and that’s nearly impossible, balancing and tilting the pan while holding back the food with a spatula/spoon/lid, and I always spill. It takes more patience than I have to spoon it out. I’ve attempted to suck it out with a turkey baster only to have it drip all over the stove.
Then I hit upon the easy “Sop & Drop Method”.
- Assemble a pair of tongs and some paper towels, and have a waste receptacle handy (use a plate or the pan lid to transfer if you like).
- Remove the pan from the heat.
- With a spatula, move the browned item(s) to one side of the pan, then tilt the pan slightly so the grease can puddle on the other side.
- Scrunch up the paper towels and drop them one at a time in the grease, move them about with the tongs. Use as many or few to sop up as much fat as you want to remove (smooshing them around helps).
- When they are soaked, shake off any attached food, remove the soggy towel with the tongs, and drop it into the garbage.
- Ta-da! You’re done. Resume cooking.
(Note: I buy only white paper towels to avoid any possible interaction of hot grease with the dyes used in printed ones.)
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