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

[Jason Perlow]

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.

Dude, we didnt use oil. We rendered bacon slices in their own fat and pan fried pork chops in them.

[jhlurie]

The pans were pre-greased. It settled in the middle when heated and thus... burnt eyeballs!

Nothing wrong with keeping pans greased though.

Edited January 3, 2003 by jhlurie (log)

[Jason Perlow]

Well, we do that to keep oxidation from accumulating on the surface of the cast iron pans. But we're not talking about a lot of grease here, just a film of oil.

[tommy]

while grease does tend to splatter when makin bacon, i can't see why one would put their face close enough to the pan for it to be effected. jon please explain.

has anyone used the splatter covers? it would seem that along with protecting your shirt, your stovetop, and in jon lurie's case, your eyes, it would force the grease back onto the bacon, which, to me, seems like a fine idea!

[southern girl]

Those covers are great, until you have to remove them to turn the bacon...IT KNOWS...AND SAVES ITS SPLATTERS...it is the bacon god as Jin would say!!!

Edit to add credit to Jin

Edited January 3, 2003 by southern girl (log)

[awbrig]

I thought this was a pasta sauce anti splattering mechanism! Uhhggg... Now Im really confused!

[Nick]

You guys have got the pan too hot. Think about coming down to the kitchen, no clothes on, after getting a healthy helping of morning dew and while your old lady's taking a shower you get the bacon going. Caution is in order.

Oil and bacon? Never.

Edited January 3, 2003 by Nickn (log)

[Jinmyo]

In Ottawa here, there is always the choice of several dozens of different slab bacons available from various butcher shops. Does anyone really buy meat anywhere else? I mean, it's meat.

Sliced bacon is like minced beef or pork; best used that day because it is more exposed. Sliced bacon is also like plastic wrapped cheese: waxy and nasty. Of course pre-sliced bacon is great compared to anything that is not bacon. But compared to slab bacon, it shows what it is not.

tommy, sliced bacon in the microwave makesas much sense as any other way of doing it. Or more. Fast, convenient, easy clean-up.

But slab bacon sliced into quater inch thick, three inch long slices done in a cast iron pan are fast, easy, and clean-up is pouring off rendering bacon sacrament to bless other foods.

Amen.

Ta, now. Sleepies.

[tommy]

In Ottawa here, there is always the choice of several dozens of different slab bacons available from various butcher shops. Does anyone really buy meat anywhere else? I mean, it's meat.

i also buy veggies from places other than farms. my bad.

i'll check out the butcher for a slab of bacon. i've actually never considered that.

[porkpa]

Other than warming up or defrosting an item, the only thing I cook in the microwave is bacon. It comes out crisp and fairly dry(about 40 seconds per strip) and I avoid the mess and splater generally associated with frying it.

Porkpa

[awbrig]

a beautiful thing like bacon doesnt deserve microwave

it deserves careful handling in a frying pan, admired and sensed by all in the household...just my opinion

[ollie]

Sub-topic:

What is your favorite food to put bacon on top of, wrap it around, or stuff with bacon?

I'm fond of bacon-wrapped turkey.

I like bacon and tuna salad on toasted whole wheat.

No, I love bacon and tuna salad on toasted whole wheat.

[awbrig]

does anyone like bacon on pizza?

Edited January 3, 2003 by awbrig (log)

[maggiethecat]

Bacon! Now We're talking! One of God's most perfect foods!

And like Fred and Ginger, Antony and Cleopatra or Laurel and Hardy...its soul mate, the egg.

Sunday breakfast/lunch is one of the most reliable and pleasureable things in my existence. (Yeah, well, I don't get out much!) The fresh squeezed OJ, the Sunday Times, the three strips of bacon, one egg sunny side up and two pieces of toast. In season, a grilled tomato from the garden.

His Handsomeness abhores eggs. But if he's up first, he will oven-cook the bacon and pour off a bit of fat into a little frying pan so I can cook my egg. That's true love!

I had forgotten about micro cooked bacon until two weeks ago when I was making a lunchtime BT(death to lettuce on sandwiches!) Works great for a couple of slices.

And although Jin is undoubtedly right about seeking out the best butchershop bacon (as my mother in Ottawa does) I love bacon so much that whatever is on sale at the supermarket makes me so very happy on Sunday. Bacon slut, I guess!

[awbrig]

Bacon slut, I guess!

never heard that one before, but that is cool!

[Varmint]

Perhaps the best sandwich I ever had in my life was in Acadia National Park this past summer. I was hiking with the two elder L'il Varmints, Mrs. Varmint, and two friends up Cadillac and Door Mountains. On the top of Door Mt., our friends pulled out of their backpack a loaf of crusty bread, two tomatoes, lettuce in a ziploc, and bacon they had made in a cast iron skillet over a campfire that morning. OHMYGOD!!! There's something about the outdoors making everything taste better, but that crispy, smoky bacon on that sammich was the best sandwich I ever ate. Why is it that 6 months later, I can still clearly recall the tastes of that lunch?

We need a bacon anthem.

[Jinmyo]

We need a bacon anthem.

Yes.

[vengroff]

We need a bacon anthem.

Yes.

How about The Bacon Song?

[Jinmyo]

No, it's not really about bacon.

Bacon! It's meat from a pig.

Bacon! We're lovin' it like this.

It was the best time of our lives,

why did it have to end?

North American beauty in our eyes.

Can we do it again?

Hiking with the weakest link, goodbye.

Made the greatest friends.

Thirty four States of fun then home to cry.

We'll remember...

Many got injured, things swelled and they cut.

One in a cactus with needles in butt.

A KFC chicken-less so shut

but that's all a blur 'cause we'd prefer

with our dinner a little...

Bacon! It's meat from a pig.

Bacon! We're lovin' it like this.

[Kim WB]

Regarding frying bacon, I think the secret is keeping the heat low, very low, for the first 20 minutes or so, flipping and moving the bacon around. Then, once most of the fat is rendered, I turn up the flame a bit and get it to crisp a bit..but bacon takes patience, care and loving attention. Plus, the entire time the bacon is cooking, I can be digging into the depths of the vegetable crisper and cheese drawers in the fridge, looking for omlette inspiration.

Regarding bacon with game or other meats: While I agree that bacon with beef is most often a trick used to cover the flavor of inferior beef, there is a purpose for using it with poultry or game. For most wild fowl or organic farm raised birds, the legs are much thinner than the breasts, and its hard to get the leg and thigh meat done without dryng out the breast. ( I'm not talking Perdues, which are plumped up by ways of which I have no desire to learn about!).

For Christmas, I had a D'artagnan pheasant. I wrapped the breast with a few good thick slices of Vermont Bacon ( not heavily or maple smoked) and roasted the bird to perfection: clear juices on the thighs with a moist breast. Apricot and golden raisin sauce, with the bacon/bird drippings.

[Marlene]

We get slabs of bacon from our butcher. He slices it for us extra thick. Pan fry until crispy. Or pan fry, until almost done. Layer slices of bread with cheddar cheese, lay bacon on top, put under broiler under cheese is melted and bacon is crispy.

[Emma]

bacon? did someone say bacon? i cooked a pound of it over christmas. got this tip from some heartland website: rinse each strip under water. dry. bake in 350 oven for 15 minutes, flip, continue baking until it reaches desired crispy-ness. apparently, rinsing prevents the bacon from curling. it works. i had perfectly flat, crispy bacon. so, if you're not into the curliness, try rinsing.

[=Mark]

Perhaps the best sandwich I ever had in my life was in Acadia National Park this past summer.  I was hiking with the two elder L'il Varmints, Mrs. Varmint, and two friends up Cadillac and Door Mountains.  On the top of Door Mt., our friends pulled out of their backpack a loaf of crusty bread, two tomatoes, lettuce in a ziploc, and bacon they had made in a cast iron skillet over a campfire that morning. We need a bacon anthem.

Wow1 that sounds really good! Tomato, lettuce and bacon... That could really catch on, we could shorten it to a TLB! Too bad it isn't August when the tomatoes don't suck...

[bushey]

Tried all variations for cooking bacon and have settled on the oven method. Foil covered cookie sheet, 350 or 375 (if I'm impatient) for about 15 -20 minutes. Preferences in our household vary, so I start checking at around 12 minutes, then leave a couple of slices in to get very crispy the way I like it. Nodine's Applewood Smoked Bacon is far and away the favorite, though our local meat wholesaler carries some decent think cut and slab smoked bacon.

[Jinmyo]

Emma, that's interesting.

In general I am rabidly malevolent to the idea of getting meat wet with water. But a bit of water in the pan helps in rendering bacon. Bacon is so flavourful that a bit of a rinse would not harm it and in its cooking off would help the bacon to stay uncurled.

I might try this. Thanks.