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

Wilfrid

By Wilfrid
in Cooking

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Nick

Nick

Posted
Posted

Ah, bacon. It does seem to gather a crowd. Just today, thinking about Jim Dixon's Smithfield ham post, I began to think of cob-smoked bacon and hams.

I haven't had any in nearly thirty years - since I lived in way north VT near Canada and there were three general stores in different towns that would go in together on a carload (rail) of corncobs, split up the cobs, and each smoked bacon and hams in their own way. Though I prefered the bacon smoked by the store in Jeffersonville, all were way beyond hickory.

So, today I was thinking of doing the same as I did on the Gulf shrimp thread. I will go on a search for the best mail-order cob-smoked bacon - and maybe a ham. Not sure yet.

For now, I've been getting "Oscar's" (hickory smoked) from upstate(?) NY at a local coop. It's the kind of bacon that I use an All-Clad for rather than cast iron. It's (to my mind) better on the underdone side with little browning.

The only difference between slab and sliced is in the fact that after slicing, the slices are exposed to air and will lose some flavor. Other than that it's all in how the hog was raised, the butchering, the curing and smoking, and how well it was kept after that. IMHO

awbrig

awbrig

Posted
Posted (edited)
Rule #1:

Eye protection while frying bacon.

That is all...

No eye protection.

Its the risk you gotta take...and its worth it...

Edited by awbrig (log)
jhlurie

jhlurie

Posted
Posted
Rule #1:

Eye protection while frying bacon.

That is all...

No eye protection.

Its the risk you gotta take...and its worth it...

You see, its that lack of oil which gives you that 'tude.

The oil comes in handy with a cast iron pan though.

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

tommy

tommy

Posted
Posted (edited)

dude, i can't imagine using oil with bacon, even in a cast iron pan! a lb of bacon will produce what i estimate to be close to 1/2 cup of oil. probably more. you're adding oil? you be a weird dude, dude.

Edited by tommy (log)
tommy:eats.com
awbrig

awbrig

Posted
Posted (edited)
You see, its that lack of oil which gives you that 'tude.

The oil comes in handy with a cast iron pan though.

maybe its the oil you are using that is causing the splattering?

go back to your britney

Edited by awbrig (log)
ivan

ivan

Posted
Posted

What ever happened to rumaki,

That ersatz Chinese cocktail treat?

Good with claret or with saki,

Not your ordinary meat.

Some would think it rather shocking,

Some would rather naught else eat.

I'd like to get some members' take on

Liver wrapped in strips of bacon.

Pff. Like rolling off a log.

--

ID

--

jhlurie

jhlurie

Posted
Posted
dude, i can't imagine using oil with bacon, even in a cast iron pan!  a lb of bacon will produce what i estimate to be close to 1/2 cup of oil.  probably more.  you're adding oil?  you be a weird dude, dude.

Truth is I don't really. Its just on my mind because I was at someone's house recently who did and got some oil in my eyes. :biggrin:

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

tommy

tommy

Posted
Posted
Frying bacon is so risky for me!  I usually want it in the morning when I am without shirt...which leads to me hopping around in the kitchen yelping as my chest hair sizzles.

that's some crazy crap.

tommy:eats.com
Blondie

Blondie

Posted
Posted

I am I the only one flashing back to that Beggin' Strips ad with the dog running around: "Bacon. Bacon. Bacon. What's that say? I CAN'T READ!"

That's one of those stupid things that cracks me up every time :biggrin:

I miss Irish bacon.

Sometimes When You Are Right, You Can Still Be Wrong. ~De La Vega

jhlurie

jhlurie

Posted
Posted (edited)

Yeah, tommy, much closer.

My chest hair is less spotty than that other dude anyway (EDIT: ... and you did not need to know that).

Anyway. Mmmm. Bacon.

Edited by jhlurie (log)

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

awbrig

awbrig

Posted
Posted

and I bet that person - JH- or otherwise- thought it was worth it for the 6 strips of bacon...I heard the guests also had some fresh JH bacon too!

awbrig

awbrig

Posted
Posted

the first is, to the culturally sophisticated, Francis Bacon - artist, and the second, is my uncle, Jack, from the lake Wacanoodle Police Force...

mamster

mamster

Posted
Posted

Not to be on-topic or anything, but hey, I just finished frying some of that Whole Foods bacon too. Jinmyo, if the stuff awbrig gets at his Whole Foods is the same stuff we get, it's thick-sliced pretty regularly off the slab. I bought some Nueske's in Portland last weekend and it was sliced to order. I prefer to leave the deli-slicing to the pros.

Matthew Amster-Burton, aka "mamster"

Author, Hungry Monkey, coming in May

awbrig

awbrig

Posted
Posted

mamster,

sounds like the same stuff-it is thick and it does seem sliced from a slab- so to speak

how did you like it? we LOVE it - so different and worlds better than the stuff you see elsewhere!

jhlurie

jhlurie

Posted
Posted
the first is, to the culturally sophisticated, Francis Bacon - artist

Didn't recognize him without the ruffy Elizabethan neck thing.

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

jhlurie

jhlurie

Posted
Posted
where does one get slabs of bacon?  i don't think i've ever seen it, although now i'm intrigued.

Butcher shop, I'd imagine.

Maybe some of the places on Arthur Avenue? Or maybe Stew Leonards in Westchester?

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

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