If anyone knows me or begins to learn more about me, he/she will soon find out that I am not a cook nor ever want to be. I love to eat and also appreciate all the work that goes into constructing a meal but I abhor the preparation and timing of the whole cooking process. So when the Cookbook was discussed at the WOPB Board Meeting, I cringed back in my chair trying to figure out what I could bring to the table in terms of recipes. When I realized that an egg sandwich or french toast would not be welcomed by Margie as a unique Palmetto Bluff recipe, I asked the chef in the family (Bob) to come up with something that was creatively "low country-ish". This now leads me to what I am about to pass along to you all.
Bob came up with a fabulous recipe for lightly fried crab beignets and immediately did a test run for both me and Margie. After devouring two each, we both looked at each other and said "This is perfect!" At the end of our meal, I began the cleaning process (which is my job) and I saw an entire pan of used cooking oil. We don't usually eat fried foods so I wasn't sure what to do with all of that oil. I knew it shouldn't go down the drain since it coagulates in the pipes and I knew it shouldn't be thrown outside in the yard because animals will start to gravitate towards it. Margie suggested that it go into a container and then into the freezer. When it solidified, it could be placed in the trash can. There just had to be a better way.
In San Francisco, used cooking oil is treated like gold since bio-diesel has become more prevalent as fuel for both commercial and residential vehicles. Doesn't South Carolina have a collection area to turn used cooking oil into bio-diesel? I immediately Googled "Used Cooking Oil Bluffton SC" and, lo and behold, this turned up:
2011-
US Foodservice is getting into the biofuels business with the purchase of a company specializing in recycling used cooking oil into bio-diesel. US Foodservice acquired Bluffton, S.C.-based WVO Industries with plans to convert the waste vegetable oil used in its customers' deep fryers into bio-diesel to fuel its fleet.
Great. Now to contact a restaurant to find out how and where they have collection barrels. I called Richard from Pour Richards and he told me that there is a large green barrel located behind their little strip mall next to the waste bin that has "Recycled Cooking Oil" labeled on it and go ahead and pour the oil in the bin so that it could be recycled into bio-diesel. I decided to strain the oil first and place it in a few closed containers so there wouldn't be a smell and then, eventually, I got around to dumping it into the bins and then recycling the bottles at home.
I was so excited to find out about this resource that I wanted to pass it along to you all since the used cooking oil dilemma may not have only been regulated to me. So, in the future, if you are looking down at a large pan filled with a greasy mess, please know that there is a welcoming green barrel located in Bluffton that will gladly accept your oil and, eventually, turn it into a fuel which will cut down on the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
