Now, why would you want to cook 2 pounds of bacon for a cocktail? Because adding warm bacon grease to bourbon and letting it sit for 24 hours produces smoky, rich, bacon-flavored liquor. Strain and funnel the mixture into a bar bottle and add it to your favorite drinks that call for bourbon. Clever idea fromAaron Butler of Russell House Tavern.
4 oz warm bacon grease (from about 2 lbs cooked bacon)
1 liter (4 cups) bourbon
Special Equipment
fine-mesh strainer
coffee filter
funnel
1 liter bottle with pouring spout
How-to
Combine bacon grease and bourbon in a large, shallow container
Cover and allow to sit for 24 hours at room temperature. This process is called “fat washing” the bourbon. The fat will solidify at the top of the mixture
Place a coffee filter inside a fine-mesh strainer and pass mixture through strainer to remove all fat particles
Aaron Butler is the friendly and articulate bar manager/bartender at Russell House Tavern in Cambridge, MA. A student of History and Art History at Boston College, he has the ability and desire to teach and has an encyclopedic knowledge of liquors. Aaron hopes to some day open his own establishment where he can experiment with all types of potent potables but in the meantime is enjoying the crowds at Russell House.
Now, why would you want to cook 2 pounds of bacon for a cocktail? Because adding warm bacon grease to bourbon and letting it sit for 24 hours produces smoky, rich, bacon-flavored liquor. Strain and funnel the mixture into a bar bottle and add it to your favorite drinks that call for bourbon. Clever idea fromAaron Butler of Russell House Tavern.