Best Way to Cook Bacon: Soft/Crisp? Fry/Bake/Microwave?

[Kim WB]

Am I being obssessive about this?  [don't answer!]  [[re viva vs. bounty -- but the results on the tv commercial showed bounty as the clear winner!]]

Glenn, remember, Bounty was the quicker picker upper...but you're not looking for speed!

I think that the cook and blot method works fine, and removes much of the grease..just get agressive, fold up a PT and really BLOT it, press down, and fold and unfold the PT for a clean surgface..

[Katherine]

I microwave the bacon between two sections of the newspaper, lined with paper towels. It makes for an easier cleanup, too.

[Anna N]

Have you tried those blue-tinted shop towels?  They're tough but I know you're looking for maximum absorbancy, and I'm not sure how they compare to a high-quality kitchen towel in that department.

It is my understanding based on some research done a while back, that blue shop towels are not food-safe and contain many contaminants that you would sooner not ingest.

Anna N

[elyse]

Bacon is fat heald together by whisps of meat anyway. Blotting it after cooking will take away as much grease as if you used 10 sheets per slice. If you blot it right.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Whether blotting during or after cooking, Katherine has the solution: Use 1 layer of paper towel between layers of newspaper. My mother-in-law taught me this decades ago! Still works.

[glenn]

I should've asked earlier, am I fooling myself by thinking that cooking bacon to a crisp in a microwave is not unhealthy? Not that I'm about to stop. Tomorrow I do the newspaper experiment, thanks for the tip.

[elyse]

For what it's worth, I wouldn't put ink in the microwave.

[nervousnelli]

I have a strange microwave bacon cooker plate that holds the slices upright so that all the grease drains down into the catch tray. The slices stand up between small plastic posts and always cook up crisp and almost dry while the trough on the bottom catches all the fat.

[glenn]

I have a strange microwave bacon cooker plate that holds the slices upright so that all the grease drains down into the catch tray.  The slices stand up between small plastic posts and always cook up crisp and almost dry while the trough on the bottom catches all the fat.

Is this it? How do you like it?

[glenn]

Sort of appropos is a small article in today's Times Dining section Still Absorbent After Most Towels Quit., though it's obviously not meant to be used for bacon fat. Pause. After checking the manufacturer's website, this product was apparently designed for boats! I guess that's what they call strategic marketing.

[Niall]

I always assumed the point of bacon was the fat..... why let it drain away?

[Ladybug]

For what it's worth, I wouldn't put ink in the microwave.

I read somewhere that newspaper ink is soy-based.

That makes it healthy, right?

Of course, the point of that article was that newspapers make fine additions to a compost pile.

[elyse]

Then by all means, chomp away!

[Toliver]

Comes out grease free!

The horror, the horror...

[Rachel Perlow]

I can't be bothered reviewing this whole damn 4 page long thread. Am about to cook thick-pre-sliced bacon on a sheet pan. Will lay them out in a single layer. Will start at 350 F so someone has time to respond: What the best temperature and timing? The last couple of times I cooked bacon I started at 400 with convection and saved the bacon just on the border of being burnt. We like bacon crisp yet still chewy, it shouldn't shatter at a touch. Please help.

[fifi]

Thick sliced bacon on a rack in a sheet pan. 325F with no convection. (I don't have convection... yet. )

[tanabutler]

I'm doing what Rachel's doing: makin' bacon.

Only the recipe in the SF Chronicle said 300 degrees/25 minutes/turn halfway through. I don't use a rack—just a big sheet pan with heavy-duty foil. (Next time I'll try a rack but the bacon had already gone into the oven before I got to the end of the thread.)

And for my money, Niman Ranch dry-cured bacon ("heirloom pork") is the best on earth. Praise be to Trader Joe's for carrying it!

[=Mark]

I still have to go with the Schaller & Weber Double smoked slab bacon. I pan fry it till "Smushy Crisp" (You bacon addicts know what I mean).

As the first wave of Jersey tomatoes have hit the farm stands I declare BLT season officially open!

I also like a BLT with a slice of raw onion (BLOT), and then even an added slice of cheese (BLOTCH).

I think I'll have to do this for dinner with a couple ears of fresh corn. (Wrapped in Bacon?)

[fifi]

OK.. Can't wait to see how corn wrapped with bacon works. I have wrapped asparagus with bacon, but never corn. I am fascinated. Details please.

[Rachel Perlow]

The bacon turned out nice and crisp without being completely dessicated. I've done it on a rack before, but find you need to clean the pan just as much and also a PITA to clean rack. Pretty much the same with foil lined -- once the grease is on the pan you have to clean it anyway, so what's the point? I soak the pans for a while and then clean, not too bad a job but needs to be done by hand, not dishwasher.

Apple Thorn Valley Deli Thick Sliced Bacon:

Ready for the oven:

After 10 minutes cooking:

20 minutes cooking:

They were flipped at this point and cooked about 15 more minutes at 350.

35 minutes:

Drain the grease at this point (before flipping, so the bacon sticks to the pan slightly and won't fall off):

40 minutes, flip then another 5 minutes in a turned off oven:

On paper towels:

Yum, Bacon & Eggs (the hash browns weren't as burnt as they look):

Total cooking time about 45 minutes (may have been a little longer do to photographing delays ). You may have noticed I made a lot of bacon. It was a 3 pound package and I cooked about 2/3 of it. The remains go in a paper towel lined ziploc bag for BLTs, salad topping, etc. over the course of the next week or two. As long as you're cooking messy bacon, you may as well cook a mess of it!

Edited August 11, 2003 by Rachel Perlow (log)

[elyse]

WAITING FOR PHOTOGRAPHS! Jeez!

I'm hungry.

[Rachel Perlow]

Sorry for the delay. Pics added, above.

[elyse]

Yum.

[Suzy]

The best way to cook bacon is in cast iron over a campfire. Even cheap bacon tastes heavenly cooked out doors.

[scott123]

I have been combing through this forum's handful of long bacon threads looking for any leads on producing really crisp oven bacon. Besides baking on a rack (which I despise washing), has anyone found a way to do this? My goal is bacon that shatters to the firm touch but is still relatively uncolored (tan/red not brown). I've gotten it a few times in the past but haven't been able to reproduce it lately. When I have been successful, it's been with low temperatures (<250 f.) for a long time (2+ hours) but these days that formula is giving me bacon that's dark brown and chewy (can't even cut it with fork!).

Any ideas?