What are the decision parameters, when you have rendered fat to store? Glass or plastic? Refrigerated or not? I'm not looking for long-term storage; just what's the best-practice way to store it for use over a month or two?
asked Nov 28, 2010 at 14:46
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1 Answer
To store fats, you should always use glass as plastics react to fats by absorbing some and perhaps discoloring or transferring flavors to your fat. Depending on use, I prefer to work with cold fat at the start as it has a much broader possible use and I don't like to wait when I make biscuits, so I keep mine in the fridge. However, you gain very little extra life out of keeping it in the fridge and if you don't keep it in a sealed container you run a very real risk of flavor transference there to. If you don't make pastry dough or other such, your counter top is a perfectly acceptable place to store, as long as you use it up before it goes rancid. One thing to keep in mind is that fats can sometimes have very different shelf lives, so make sure you taste or smell before use, regardless of storage method.
answered Nov 28, 2010 at 15:41
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What sort of plastic is that? Most people use metal, glass, or ceramic because they are pouring off hot fat from a cooking dish, and the plastic could melt– TFDCommented Nov 28, 2010 at 20:47
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1Plastic is made from oil, and the oils in your food can bond to it. All plastics are susceptible to this to a smaller or larger degree depending on manufacture. Under normal circumstances it merely makes it harder to clean, but it can, as stated in the answer, result in flavor transference, especially over long term storage. This is why you could store things in Tupperware over and over again, but put tomato sauce in it just once and it will be stained for ever. Commented Nov 29, 2010 at 6:19