Carissa from Pretty Hungry emailed in the following:
I recently had a unexpected overnight visit from my father and aunt who had to come to town suddenly to care for my sick grandmother. I was delighted to have them stay with us, but I was slightly unprepared food-wise. I had already done our grocery shopping for the week a few days earlier, and unfortunately it had not involved a very extensive spread of breakfast options suitable for company.
We had one box of off-brand cocoa puffs, some eggs, some turkey bacon, a few small slices of Swiss cheese, and some vegetable odds & ends in the crisper. I could definitely see the makings of a decent quiche… except for one problem. I didn’t have any butter to make a pastry crust!
But did I give up and go back to the grocery store? No! Because I remembered something I did have that just might be the perfect substitute for butter… Frozen, reserved sausage fat!
I had been saving reserved fat from breakfast sausage for months in ice cube trays because it’s wonderful to have on hand for sautéing vegetables and making gravy. I have found that saving fat like this really helps me save money because I don’t pull out the expensive bottle of olive oil nearly as often.
I had never tried substituting it for butter in pie crust before, but I had a hunch that frozen sausage fat would taste amazing in a quiche crust and would work just as well as butter. And I was right!
The resulting crust was perfectly flaky with a wonderful savory taste. It was lovely!
Single Pastry Pie Crust
Here is the recipe I created:
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup frozen, cubed sausage fat
- 4-5 Tablespoon ice cold water
Directions:
In a mini food processor, pulse the flour and salt to combine. Add in the frozen, cubed sausage fat and pulse until incorporated. (Mixture will look like coarse crumbs.)
Add in the water gradually, pulsing until the mixture comes together in a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour.
Roll out to fit the pan of your choice. Transfer to the pan, taking care not to stretch dough. Trim edges and crimp as desired, and bake according to individual recipe directions.
Makes a single pastry crust.
I hope this inspires you to think outside the box before resorting to going over-budget! I LOVE the way reducing our budget has made me more resourceful, more grateful, and more financially aware. And so far, there have been no complaints from my family. 🙂
Jen says
Great idea! I always save bacon fat. It’s the best for sautéing fresh spinach or other greens. It’s also great in green beans, and for frying eggs. I also save any skimmed fat from my homemade chicken and beef stock for roasting or sautéing veggies. I never thought about saving sausage fat, or hamburger fat as someone else mentioned.
Danielle says
Does anyone have a substitute for milk? We don’t drink milk, so it goes bad if I try to keep it around, however often I can’t make a recipe I’d like to because I don’t have milk on hand at the time.
Thanks!
MSM Team says
You can keep a box of powdered milk (dehydrated milk powder) in the pantry and mix it up when you need some for cooking. It should keep for several months once opened. 🙂
Jen says
You could freeze your milk in recipe size portions. I do this with buttermilk. I freeze it in a regular sized muffin tin, and each portion is 1/2 cup. For smaller portions, use an ice cube tray. Each cube will be approximately 2 T. After it’s frozen, pop them out and store in a freezer bag. You could also keep dry milk powder on hand, and quickly mix up what you need for a recipe.
Sally says
What a brilliant idea.! I’ve used bacon fat to saute/fry cabbage and that is very good. I recently saved the pure fat from a roasted chicken. If you skim the fat from the juices it makes the most delightful and light but rich tasting sauteed mushrooms or scrambled eggs. It also solidifies nicely and keeps for some time in the fridge. Chicken fat is used often in Jewish cooking. Now I understand why. I am now going to be more creative with animal fats. My Mexican grandmother refried her kettle cooked beans in lard in a big skillet and slightly mashed them and rendered them down till they were on the thick side. They were the best! And yes, lard makes great tasting pie crusts. Thanks for the great idea!
susan says
Just thinking about how the sausage flavors would add to the dish has my mouth watering. Yum. What a brilliant idea. I’ll bet bacon fat would would too.
Tshanina @ Thrifty T's Treasures says
Carissa, I love that you improvised and used what you had on hand. I find myself doing this a lot, especially when I’m hankering a certain dish and don’t have all of the ingredients. Most of the time the dish turns out great!
Your quiche looks delicious!
Melissa says
I save the bacon fat after making bacon but have never thought to save any other fat, let alone freeze it. Great idea! I’m going to start freezing it and may even give working it into a crust/quiche.
Erin @ My Mommy World says
Yum, that sounds so good! It reminds me of a chicken and dumplings recipe in one of my cookbooks that calls for using the fat from the chicken to make the dumplings…they taste so good with that extra hint of chicken flavor in them.
Now I have a good excuse to save some of my bacon and sausage fat 🙂
R Baker says
I love quiche but hate making the crust. I found a recipe for a crust-less quiche from The Complete Tightwad Gazette and I was hooked! It is the only kind of quiche I make now. You basically add some flour to the egg mixture to make it thick enough to hold up without a crust.
But I think my husband would eat a lot more quiche if it had a sausage flavored crust 🙂
Melissa Robinson says
My niece wants a dish like the one shown. We’ve looked in many stores, but can’t find on that shape. Where would you suggest?
Erin says
It’s just a rectangular tart pan. Amazon and Williams Sonoma both carry them.
Carissa @ Pretty/Hungry says
Hi Melissa! I got mine off of Amazon… this is the one I purchased. Great deal too!
http://www.amazon.com/Fat-Daddios-Oblong-Removable-Bottom/dp/B0036C4MCQ/ref=as_li_ss_ssw?&linkCode=wss&tag=prethung-20
Anna @ The DIY Mom says
I used to freeze meat fat a lot when we bought ground beef regularly. My favorite use for it was frying potatoes, but I used in in pastry crust too and thought it was good as well.
You quiche looks delicious! Good resourcefulness.
Jessica says
Of all my frugal things – I’ve never saved fat before. Thanks for the inspiration! It just shows we can always be doing a little more 🙂
Carissa @ Pretty/Hungry says
Isn’t it so fun when you find a new tip? Glad you found this one useful!
Sheila Smith says
Mom always said lard made the best pie crust. Always use bacon grease. Warm up potatoes. Use for the fat in bread too.
Sara Furlong says
I liked this post! 😉 It’s so easy to cave and bust your budget when company is coming!
Carissa @ Pretty/Hungry says
So true, Sara! Part of it comes from pressure we put on ourselves to be the “ultimate” hostess. But making this experimental quiche was so fun and rewarding! Finding ways to avoid repeat trips to the store can be a fun game in itself!
Joyce Day says
Hi Carissa – great post! It is so easy to get caught up in food preparation for company.
I recently started saving my bacon drippings. We have been buying grass fed free range meat from a local CSA and because we pay a little more for it I have started becoming much more creative with it in the kitchen so that nothing goes to waste! I keep my bacon grease and use it to flavor the organic green beans I learned to can this year! LOL.
I also get whole free range chickens from the CSA and they are amazing! I use the giblets and neck as well as the drippings and bones from the roasted chicken to make homemade chicken broth. I also throw in the scraps from whatever veggies we are having and some herbs and let it simmer through the evening while I’m cleaning up. Once its done I freeze it in the BPA free baby food trays I used to use for my daughter. It feels great to make the most of our organic meat! And of course I’m saving money because I have a huge stash of broth in our freezer (I roast a chicken at least once a week).
Anyhow, I hadn’t thought to save sausage drippings – I will start adding it to my stash!
Take care,
Joyce
shannon says
Thanks for sharing and very clever! I save bacon grease and wouldn’t think to use it this way. It always makes me feel all Betty Crocker-like when I can rescue a dish or dream up something on my own.
Stephanie @ Mrs. Debtfighter says
LOL, Shannon! I totally agree! I definitely feel all Betty Crocker-like when I rescue a dish or come up with something on my own! 🙂
Jessica @ The Abundant Wife says
What a great solution! I’ve never thought of saving bacon drippings before. I’m often in the spot where I need to have a dish prepared after I’ve already done my shopping for the week. It’s great to see how you solved that problem!
Julie@teachinggoodeaters says
It has only recently occurred to me to save “fat,” but I have yet to freeze it. What a great idea!!
elizabeth says
so smart!