ESSAY: Everything Tastes Better with Bacon Grease

Read out loud for my family, Fall 2009:

We’ll all remember Mimi for many reasons, and I’m sure we all have our own. Whether what sticks with you is her humor, or her spirit, or the admirable hard-headedness she maintained like a full-time job, or the unparalleled devotion to her family that in fact was her life’s work, you have to admit: This is a whole lot of woman to fit into a few words, into a few hours of communal remembrance.

So let me quickly tell you a little of what I’ll remember. I’ll remember a strong-willed woman who never uttered a coarse word about anyone in her life. I’ll remember a parish celebrity who’d be waved down by dozens of admirers in the vestibule. I’ll remember a world traveler who took more pictures of food than buildings. I’ll remember a moviegoer who shamelessly shouted at characters on the screen and always ordered her popcorn with extra butter. I’ll remember the warm embrace that only a grandmother can provide.

But most of all—and I think this sums it up—I’ll remember these six words: Everything tastes better with bacon grease. Mimi uttered these words while explaining the secret behind her recipe for Texas Trash, a kind of homemade Chex Mix that was miles beyond the store bought stuff. Which is understandable, because I doubt the FDA would approve the addition of “pig fat and hot oil” to the ingredients list.

Everything tastes better with bacon grease. And so it does. If Mimi had her way, bacon grease would be a condiment you could dip chips into. It would be marketed and appear on the shelf between Fluff and Nutella. Its slogan would be “When butter or lard just won’t cut it.” It would be packaged in an old Folgers coffee can.

Everything tastes better with bacon grease. These words carry meaning for me because they prove that all her life, Mimi did things her way. But that’s not to say she did them for herself. While being a shining example of self-assuredness, she was most selfless woman I ever knew. Mimi put bacon grease on her Chex Mix and Thanksgiving stuffing because it tasted good and would make her family happy. What’s more, she never passed judgment, and never acted in a way that God would not approve of.

I once told her that spending any amount of time with her was like shaking hands with an angel. I realize that while she was here, she literally was an angel to all she knew. And now, up in a better place with Papa by her side once again, she can continue her life’s work as she lives on within our hearts forever.