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

[Wilfrid]

One taste which does vary hugely between cultures is what kind of bacon to eat, how to cook it and how to eat it.  I was raised in England on medium thick rashers of bacon, fried only until just cooked through and still tender, with just a slight crunch to the outer strip of fat, or rind.  I am vague on the correct terminology (and I am sure others here can fill me in), but we rarely ate what we called  "streaky bacon" - the thin rashers with several strips of fat.  In the States, of course, this is the most popular kind - as far as I can see - cooked absolutely crisp.  I have been instructed that the correct way to eat this is to drop your utensils and use your fingers.

Thick cut, meaty bacon can be found in New York.  The excellent butchers on the Ninth Avenue food strip always have it, as does the considerably pricier French Butcher on Third.  In a desperate pinch, I have sometimes bought a chunk of pancetta and cut makeshift rashers myself.  

So, lots of options:  meaty, fatty, soft or crisp, smoked or unsmoked.  I am scratching the surface here.  Do people have strong views - I am particularly interested to know if crisp-bacon-eaters find the tender stuff aversive?  I prefer tender, but will eat both.

[Liza]

I think it depends on the venue. For a BLT, I prefer slightly in between soft and crunchy. As a side with eggs, definitely limp and foldable into the mouth. Crunchy is good for a thicker cut in a salad.

Wilfrid, do stop round Union Square some Saturday and check out Ted Blew's High Hope Hogs stand, across from Barnes and Noble. (Disclosure again: until recently, my husband worked for Ted). Organically raised Berkshire hogs (see the Wine Spectator this month for it's pork article) and really un-processed pork products.

If you're ever making your own pate, Ted has all the 'incidental' cuts you'll need, as well.

[Jinmyo]

Americans do seem to prefer their bacon vulcanized.

Myself, I prefer all forms of bacon (Wiltshire, Canadian back or "pea-meal" bacon, "streaky" bacon, panchetta) tender and crisp as Wilfrid does. And I prefer to buy my own slabs and carve it as I see fit.

Similiarly, I prefer the rind on a picnic shoulder roast to be crispy yet pliable.

Any other way of eating bacon means that the terrorists have already won.

(cough, cough. I hope that wasn't too far over the top.)

[Wilfrid]

Liza, I am a regular at High Hope Hogs, but I guess I just always, automatically buy the scrapple.  I should try some of their other products.

[Liza]

You know, Wilfrid, I might have sold you some of that scrapple, as I help out quite a lot in the warmer months. Try the smoked sausage - really nice smoky flavor with no incidental sweetness, and incredibly juicy. If you've ever noticed a good-looking young Irishman helping you with your purchases, that's my husband, Davy. (dangerously off-topic, but he's now a manager at the market).

[Wilfrid]

It's quite clear that what's going to happen on Friday evening is people pointing and squealing "Oh, it's you, I know you..."  And I believe I do remember hearing an Irish accent at the Hog stall.

[Steve Klc]

Liza--do expand on "incidental cuts" for pate?

[col klink]

I prefer my bacon smoked, fatty and sliced thick.  I fry it slowy and serve it just past limp so it's nice and crispy along the perimeter.  I find that bacon served this way works great for blts, clubs and breakfast.  Now if the bacon is going into a soup or a salad, I cook it more but that's just for texture's sake.

I've tried the bacon that is more meat than fat once.  I suppose that technically it's bacon, but since I prepared it like my normal bacon with the fat cooked the way I like it, the meat was tough and stringy and more like ham.  I didn't much care for it so I used the rest in my "five pork salad" which was actually a navy bean soup with various cuts of pork.

[Fat Guy]

I'll eat bacon most any way, but my preference is to have it the way we Americans like it: "Streaky bacon," heavily smoked, salted, and sugar cured, sliced thick, and cooked at a low temperature until crispy. I hasten to add not burnt. Bacon, when properly monitored, will become crispy yet preserve all its flavor without burning at all.

P.S. I am a bacon-of-the-month-club member.

[Simon Majumdar]

For those Londoner's readng this interesting thread, I can heartily recommend the bacon at James Elliot, the master butcher on the Essex Rd ( just next to Steve Hatt )

He smokes his own thick cut backon and it has won innumerable awards.

I can say without hesitation that it is the best bacon I have EVER tasted and I am a serious eater of pork products.

S

[Jinmyo]

Simon, I don't believe that there is a tradition of curing meats in Indian cuisine (due to the prohibitions of climate). However, is for example bacon used much in contemporary Indian cuisines?

[Simon Majumdar]

There is, as far as I am aware almost no history of meat curing in Hindu cuisine. And meat consumption is much lower than in the west with vegetables and fish consumption being much higher ( if they were not all deep fried this would be such a healthy way to live )

There is however a long tradition of meat curing and eating in non Hindu areas.  The Kerulan christians eat pork as do the Goans.  I think this is because of the portugese influence.  I have ( in Goa ) had a dish that was, to all intents and purposes, gammon in lentil broth i.e Pea & ham soup.

It was spectacularly good

S

[Jinmyo]

Sounds great. A Google search (they preferred the spelling "Kerala") produced a few recipes. This is for roast pork (clickety). This one is for "pork piralan".

And here's

pork vindaloo.

edit full disclosure: Forgot to close a bracket. :confused:

[Liza]

Steve,

I used "cuts" incorrectly, I think. Ted sells kidneys, and probably any other piece you can use. I remember making Julia Child's country pate recipe and finding everything I needed from the pig in Ted's freezer.

[awbrig]

I LOVE BACON

Im cooking bacon right now actually...how do you all cook it - do you flip it, cook until crispy or not...etc...

I cook my bacon in a non stick fry pan ( all-clad) and flip often on medium heat until almost crispy - I make sure that the fat, however, has gotten brown...

[jhlurie]

Another good question is... how much oil do you use? Or is the purpose of the non stick fry pan to avoid oil all-together?

[awbrig]

i use no oil - do you really use oil?

there is plenty of enough fat that comes off the bacon...

[Belmont3]

I do mine on a sheet pan in a convection oven at 350 until it is nice and brown.

[vengroff]

Bacon is the raison d'etre for cast iron, in my book. OK, maybe fried chicken should come before bacon, but I don't fry much chicken.

[awbrig]

I tend to burn the bacon more when I bake in the oven and it also doesnt come out as good as pan frying, IMO

[Gavin Jones]

I understand American bacon has to go crispy.

However back bacon wants a slightly lighter hand on the pan.

You want to use the flavoured fat for something else - often something potatoey (like bubble & squeek), or for fried bread.

I fry it and let it sit in a hot oven for a bit while I use the fat to add flavour to something bland that will probably need quite a bit of black pepper.

[Jinmyo]

The best way to cook strip bacon is on a baking sheet in an oven on medium high heat with a weight to press it down to prevent curling. Pour off the fat and reserve. But pre-sliced bacon is an abomination before the eyes of the Bacon God.

The best bacon is slab bacon, cut a quarter inch thick or more, in pieces about three inches long, done in by bringing up to medium heat in a cast iron skillet. This brings joy to the countenance of the Bacon God and all are blessed and ever so. Ta.

[Belmont3]

When I do it in the oven, I usually use the thick sliced variety, it comes out quite nice, the thin sliced does tend to brown and burn quickly

[awbrig]

Ive never had slab bacon..I get the smoked bacon from whole food which is awesome - and it may indeed be slab...Ive never seen slabs of bacon in my grocery stores or do yuou have to goto a butcher? Excuse my lack of knowledge on this

[Schielke]

Alton Brown also recommends the oven for all of your bacon cooking needs. I have yet to try this though so I cannot attest to its benefits or drawbacks.

Also Heyjude's bacon candy recipe calls for the oven. And that is bacon like the bacon god meant for it to be.

Ben