How to Make Perfect Bacon

• Also try: Mahalo's Guide to Bacon

Before We Begin: Deep Fried Bacon

Introduction

Perfect bacon. (Photo by Mahalo)

• Great bacon is the superstar of a great breakfast (as long as you're not a vegetarian or keeping kosher). Making great bacon, however, is often a challenge. It seems like it should be easy, but you may find it comes out limp — or scorched. Whether you want to impress an overnight guest, make your wife a special treat on Mother's Day, or just get a jump-start on clogging your arteries, read on to learn how to make perfect bacon.

First: Buy Good Bacon

• You can't make great bacon if the bacon itself isn't any good.

1. Look for bacon with a bit more meat than fat. If you don't check your bacon before you buy it, you could wind up with something that is all fat and no meat.
2. Cook's Illustrated recommends Niman Ranch Dry Cured Center Cut Bacon on the high end, and Farmland for inexpensive bacon.
3. Real Simple Magazine prefers Boar's Head Sliced Bacon.
4. Nitrite-free bacon scored poorly on their tests; it seemed both pale and flavorless. Nitrites add specific flavor and color to bacon, so this is unsurprising.
5. If you want to take bacon to the next level, "The Champagne of Blogs" has a great guide to how to make your own bacon.

Second: Know When It's Done

Foamy bubbles mean the bacon is done. (Photo by Mahalo)

• The biggest bacon errors are undercooking, so it's like rubber, and overcooking, so it's like a piece of wood. Avoid these two traps!

1. If the fat on the bacon is at all translucent, it's not cooked enough. Give it more time.
2. If your bacon is very crispy in the pan, you've cooked it too long! Bacon gets crisper as it cools.
3. When the fat goes from generating big bubbles to producing small foamy bubbles, your bacon is just about done.
4. If your bacon is still a little bendy, and the fat is opaque, it's just right. Use tongs to remove it from the cooking surface, and place it on a paper towel.
5. When you've moved your bacon to a paper towel, use another to blot off the fat for perfectly crispy bacon.

Bacon in the Oven

Preparing bacon for the oven. (Photo by Mahalo)

• Yes, you can cook bacon in the oven! In fact, Cooking for Engineers says that baking produces the best texture and flavor of any method. This is an especially useful technique if you plan to make large amounts of bacon.

1. Put your oven rack in the middle position.
2. Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.
3. Line a flat baking pan with tin foil. You'll need a baking pan with a rim that is at least 3/4 of an inch high, to prevent fat from spattering around the stove.
4. Remove your bacon from the packaging.
5. Separate the slices of bacon.
6. Place your slices of bacon side by side on the cookie sheet.
   • If your cookie sheet is large enough, you can place some bacon going in the other direction on the top and bottom of your cookie sheet.
7. Check pan during the process and drain grease as necessary.
8. Remove pan when bacon is crisp (15-20 minutes).
9. Place bacon on top of paper towels to soak up fat.
10. Serve!

Baked Bacon Variants

Don't do this! (Photo by Mahalo)

1. If you want to add a maple touch, Cook's Illustrated recommends drizzling maple syrup over the slices about three minutes before you plan to remove them from the oven.
2. Want it sweet with a little kick? Mix three tablespoons of maple sugar with 1 teaspoon of chili powder. Sprinkle the mixture over one pound of bacon before putting it in the oven.
3. A Chowhound user suggests "praline bacon": sprinkle each slice with brown sugar and chopped pecans before putting it in the oven.

Bacon in a Frying Pan

Each slice of bacon must have full contact with the pan. (Photo by Mahalo)

• Bacon in a frying pan is the traditional and most popular method. It is, however, a little more difficult than cooking it in an oven, and requires a lot of patience.

1. Place separated slices of bacon side by side in a cold skillet. The bacon must be in full contact with the pan, so don't stack it!
2. Place the frying pan over low heat.
3. Pour off the fat frequently; too much fat may keep it from becoming crisp.
4. Turn the bacon frequently to cook it evenly.
5. When the fat is opaque and the bacon is still a little wiggly, transfer it to a paper towel with a pair of tongs.
6. Blot grease off the bacon with a second paper towel.
7. Serve!

Bacon in a Microwave

Put a paper towel over the bacon to prevent grease spatter. (Photo by Mahalo)

• The quickest way to cook bacon is in a microwave. However, if your microwave has cold spots, you may have underdone or rubbery bits.

1. Place two paper towels on a plate.
2. Place bacon strips on top of the paper towel. Make sure they don't overlap.
3. Put a paper towel over the bacon to prevent the fat from spattering.
4. Put the plate in the microwave.
5. Microwave for three minutes.
6. If it doesn't seem done, cook for an additional thirty seconds. Repeat until crispy.
7. Serve!

Bacon on the Grill

• Yes, you can grill bacon! The best part of grilling bacon is there's no cleanup - all of the fat drips onto the coals.

1. Heat your grill to a low-to-medium temperature. (The higher the temperature, the more likely dripping bacon grease will catch fire and cause flares.)
2. Place your bacon on the grill grates.
3. Leave the grill lid open.
4. Flip the bacon every five minutes.
5. Your bacon should be done in about twenty minutes. Serve!

Resources for How to Make Perfect Bacon

• Cooking for Engineers: Cooking Tests: Bacon (Part I)
• Cooking For Engineers: Cooking Tests: Bacon (Part II)
• Beer Advocate: Bacon on the grill
• Start Cooking: Microwaving Bacon
• Chowhound: I can't cook crispy bacon
• About.com: How to Fry Bacon
• Cook's Illustrated: Oven-Baked Maple-Flavored Bacon Recipe  
• Cook's Illustrated: Oven-Fried Bacon Recipe  
• Cook's Illustrated: Tips for Oven-Fried Bacon  
• The Champagne of Blogs: Makin' Bacon
• RealSimple.com: The Best Bacon and Alternatives
• Cook's Illustrated: Bringing Home the (Best) Bacon (2004)  
• Cook's Illustrated: Tasting Premium Bacons (2004)  
• Teh SiBlog: Best Bacon Ever!

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