Long time ago, bacon grease was the "go to" grease to cook with. Then studies showed it was bad for our hearts, and other oils became more popular. I can remember Mom had a bacon keeper on the stove, when I was little. It was a tin container, round, with an insert in the top. The bacon was put on the insert, the grease dripped down into the container to be used for cooking. Mom said that I always smelled like bacon, and she couldn't figure out why. One day, when I was about 3 years old, she came into the kitchen to find me climbing onto the counter top to eat the bacon out of the bacon keeper. I never could figure out why anyone wanted to store perfectly good bacon. It simply must be eaten immediately. I have never seen another "bacon keeper", and when I've mentioned it to people, they look at me like I've sprouted three heads. The horror!! Leaving bacon out, using it's fat to cook with. Why would anyone in their right mind use such a flavorful grease to cook with? Why, not even Paula Deen uses bacon fat! wink wink.
I finally was organizing my loose recipes into a binder with those plastic sleeves, very convenient. I ran across this recipe from a dear family friend, Justine. It is her mothers recipe for Boiled Turnips. This is a very old recipe. Please don't turn your nose up at it, try it. You will be surprised and the flavor. You might just find yourself wanting more turnips in your diet.
Boiled Turnips
by Ora Wallace
6 medium turnips (cut the root and stem off, wash, then chop into bite size pieces)
2 tbs Bacon drippings (or just fry 4-5 slices of bacon, remove bacon and crumble, add crumpled bacon to turnips at end)
1 tbs sugar or to taste
salt to taste
Corn meal
Water to about top of turnips
Cook until tender
sprinkle plain corn meal in broth to thicken
eat immediately
Picture credit: http://www.bestinseason.ie/a-z/turnips/
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