Bacon bits and rendering the fat

Since my previous post requires bacon pieces, I thought I'd give you advice on cooking the bacon and redering the fat for use in other recipes. Bacon fat will keep for as long as you keep it in your fridge. It's pretty much it's own preservative. So find yourself a glass jar to keep it in, and use it for any number of recipes for that extra bit of flavor. Me? A health nut? Where'd you hear that?

So here it goes:
Heat a large skillet to meduim-low temp. I like to use cast iron skillets, because they tend to soak up some of the grease and it serves as a "seasoning" for the skillet. Non-stick is not necessary, since you should generate enough fat to lubricate the skillet thoroughly.

Put on it as many bacon pieces as the skillet will comfortably hold. Fry for 10-15 minutes, depending on your desired crispiness. For making bacon bits, I'd suggest getting them crisp, but not burnt.

Or for bacon bits, you may want to cut them up before-hand. This will create more surface area for the fat to melt off of, and produce a leaner pile-o-bits. But, if you're using the resulting bacon fat in the recipe anyway, the lean-ity won't matter, but you may still want the quality of bits that you'd get by this method.

For a little extra flavor, see if your meat guy can supply you with prosciutto. It's like a big slab of bacon or ham.

Put the bacon on paper towels to absorb some of the excess grease.

Pour the resulting fat into a warmed jar (warmed so that the jar doesn't crack resulting from the temp change), and stick in the fridge. You may add to this jar at any time.

And remember, under NO circumstances should you pour the grease down the drain. If you don't want to keep the fat, use a paper towel to saok it up, and then throw in the trash. Or give it your pet if you want it to have a heart attack.