Cooks: I need a little help trying to recreate an old family recipe that's been lost (more inside)

This is just a guess, but…

I think the bacon was used as the source of oil for the frying, not for adding to the recipe. It was common 50–100 years ago to use bacon fat for frying, plus it added a hint of flavor from the grease.

I guess the bacon was not added to the recipe. It may have been eaten separately, but the bacon was removed from the pan and the crepe cooked in the remaining hot grease.

Here’s my best guess, looking at the recipe. If your dad said the bacon grease was to keep the crepes from sticking, you should definitely consider omitting the tablespoon of butter in the pan that that recipe calls for. You could also try mixing all the dry ingredients with the eggs, then adding the bacon and grease, then gradually adding milk until the batter seems like a good crepe/pancake consistency. That way maybe you wouldn’t end up too greasy or gooey.

But also: grease isn’t really either a “wet” or “dry” ingredient, it’s fat. The only fat in the recipe that you linked comes from the eggs. This is why @PerryDolia‘s suggestion might be a good one, because there’s nothing in the provided recipe that you could substitute bacon grease for (ie, no butter or lard). Also, I would try taking it in baby-steps: the first time you attempt the recipe modification, add the pieces of bacon and only a little of the grease, maybe use the rest for frying them in. If the batter holds together well, next time you could add more of the grease to the batter. Etc.

Good luck! Let us know what you do!

ps: the provided recipe includes vanilla and sugar. If you’re flavoring the crepes with bacon, you might want to omit the vanilla (and maybe cut back on the sugar?), unless you think vanilla flavor and bacon flavor will go together well!

although I have heard that chocolate-covered bacon is yummy, so the sugar/bacon conflict might not be an issue.

@PerryDolia: No, the bacon goes in the batter. Pieces, grease, everything… in the batter. I failed to mention the bacon pieces go in too… that I know. I didn’t know about the grease until my dad told me, and I questioned him multiple times about it, and he was absolutely 100% as sure as his name was Schuyler. lol

@hannahsugs: I planned on leaving out the sugar, since we ate these with maple syrup. I guess the way we had them, the crepe itself was more savory than sweet, like the recipe. I just chose that recipe because except for the bacon, it LOOKS the same.

Edit: I’m not entirely sure what the consistency is supposed to look like, so how would I know if I’ve added too much milk, or not enough?

I’m wondering if maybe I should start with a batch of the recipe as is, so I can see the consistency first. Sigh. I’m impatient… it’s been 20 years… I miss these stupid things lol.

In German cooking, there is that much bacon fat. @poofandmook Did you grow up having ibrunning (not sure on the spelling) in your vegetables?

The only thing I’ve ever had that resembles what you describe was a type of eierkuchen with tiny cubes of ham (Schinken in German, if that helps at all). But not really bacon (though it was similar).

I think your best bet is to just try it with what you remember, then slightly change the recipe until you get closer. I bet your grandma had her very own variation anyway, so even if we found the original recipe, it would not taste exactly the same (I’ve been trying to recreate my grandma’s butter cookies for a year now and after an extra 10 pounds of belly to show for it only got close once)

When you are experimenting with a recipe, just use small amounts of the ingredients in order to save money. Just use ¼ cup of flour, 1 egg, a tiny bit of the other ingredients.

@Marina: No, Eierkuchen was about the only thing that got passed down, I believe… great-grandma was long gone by the time I was born.

Perhaps this recipe for beer batter crepes will work for you, substituting the bacon grease for the oil and butter.
1 cup milk
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
½ cup butter, melted (1 stick)
3 teaspoons vegetable oil
4 eggs
2–½ cups flour
1 cup beer

In a food processor, combine milk, salt, sugar, butter and vegetable oil. Process quickly until blended. Add eggs, blend quickly. Add flour and beer and pulse until blended. Allow batter to rest 30 minutes, covered, in refrigerator before using. If batter is too thick, thin with remaining beer.

Makes approximately 12–18 crepes, depending on size

@Pandora: Could I substitute something not so flavored for the beer? That would add a flavor that shouldn’t be there…

You could try increasing the milk instead. I’m not so sure you would taste the beer over the bacon grease. Stir in the bacon pieces by hand, and you probably don’t want them minced. Add the cup of milk slowly into the batter. You may not need the full cup. The batter should be a little bit thicker than a normal crepe batter to support the weight of the bacon, but not as thick as pancake batter. The thing that makes this different than pancakes is that there is no leavening agent, such as baking soda or baking powder in it.