My question comes from a place seeking less waste while maintaining food-safe ways of reusing appropriate fat types. I am coming from a place of poor food science knowledge, so please be patient!
I hear of southern folk in the states saving bacon grease and cooking with it and I agree it has great flavour, but.
1) Are grandmothers who store bacon fat at room temperature simply exposing themselves to unseen bacteria growth?
2) What about using bacon to season cast iron pans? Does high heat simply “cook off” bacteria on greased surfaces that have been exposed to air a long time?
3) Do animal fat and oils both get trapped in our bodies the same way as subcutaneous fat?
4) And does eating bacon grease of a poorly fed or sick animal affect us in anyway? Or this would all bypass the animal’s (removed) digestive tract and not necessarily be consumed by humans later? Thinking of heavy metals and pesticides, for example.
The internet says seed oils are high in polyunsaturated fats and are can turn toxic at high temperatures. This is supposedly bad for you. A lot of picked Italian products are preserved in oil.
6) When I’m done with a commercial jar [(canola oil for example)](https://images.app.goo.gl/FizK1wQwodKNJttY7), is it a safe idea to re-use the oil for cooking?
7) Does the presence of previously preserved food remnants start a bacteria growth process and this jar of used (but uncooked) oil should be discarded?
Olive oil is touted as the healthiest oil to cook with…
8) Is this a marketing gimmick? Chefs advise to avoided cooking with olive oil at high temperatures, but it seems like an oxymoron to me as you would think to use high temperature to kill bacteria on chicken etc.
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I can answer number 2 and 8. Oils have a certain burning point. Bacon grease has a low burning point so not good for cast iron pans because it would just burn and taste bad. Olive oil has a low burning point too but not as low as bacon grease. You can use olive oil for cooking at lower temps but I wouldn’t use it for higher temps.
Avocado oil and coconut oil have very high burning points
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