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

[Nick]

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]

Rule #1:

Eye protection while frying bacon.

That is all...

No eye protection.

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

Edited January 3, 2003 by awbrig (log)

[jhlurie]

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.

[tommy]

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 January 3, 2003 by tommy (log)

[awbrig]

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 January 3, 2003 by awbrig (log)

[ivan]

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.

[Schielke]

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.

Hope that wasn't too graphic!

Ben

[jhlurie]

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.

[tommy]

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.

[Blondie]

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

I miss Irish bacon.

[awbrig]

Jhlurie examing and attempting to fix his fried bacon burnt chest hairs...

[insert vomit here]

[jhlurie]

no brig I said EYES. I wear a shirt while cooking bacon.

[awbrig]

ooops I meant Schielke...my sincere apologies jh!

[tommy]

no brig I said EYES.  I wear a shirt while cooking bacon.

lurie after breakfast.

[jhlurie]

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 January 3, 2003 by jhlurie (log)

[awbrig]

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!

[jhlurie]

Edited January 3, 2003 by jhlurie (log)

[awbrig]

[jhlurie]

brig, are those people bacon? One looks like a er... "pig", to use the impolite term.

Bacon:

[awbrig]

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

[mamster]

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.

[tommy]

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

[awbrig]

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]

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

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

[jhlurie]

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?