How To Cook Bacon

[chipbennett]

I'm good with the microwave. 4.5 minutes, and I can easily retain the grease.

Excited molecules are excited molecules. It all tastes the same.

 

[chezuki]

I'm good with the microwave. 4.5 minutes, and I can easily retain the grease.

Excited molecules are excited molecules. It all tastes the same.

You sir, have my pity.

 

[Woobie]

It's not bad that way, but by that reasoning, we should just cook our porterhouses in the microwave. Caramelization is a beautiful thing, but you need direct heat to get it.

 

[ghuns]

I know how NOT to cook bacon... Naked.

 

[Nodonutz]

I'm good with the microwave. 4.5 minutes, and I can easily retain the grease.

Excited molecules are excited molecules. It all tastes the same.

Yup - that's how I roll. Clean and easy. I also nuke my pepperoni before putting it on pizza. Gets some of the grease out, but better it makes 'chips' and they're spicier and crispy - YUMM!

If I'm grilling, I'll throw some on for taters or whatever else we're having.

 

[chipbennett]

It's not bad that way, but by that reasoning, we should just cook our porterhouses in the microwave. Caramelization is a beautiful thing, but you need direct heat to get it.

And with a steak, you need a hard sear/crust on the outside, while retaining a perfect rare/mid-rare internally. For that, you need high heat.

212F is more than enough to get nice, crispy bacon. You get no caramelization, because there's no sugar involved. (Well, except from the additives.)

 

[chezuki]

You get no caramelization, because there's no sugar involved. (Well, except from the additives.)

He said "caramelizarion", but what he means is "Maillard reaction". And it doesn't happen in the microwave.

 

[Woobie]

He said "caramelizarion", but what he means is "Maillard reaction". And it doesn't happen in the microwave.

I stand corrected. I think I picked up that misuse of the term on television somewhere. The Maillard reaction does strange and mystical things to protein. Many Bothans died to bring us this information. It's great for bacon, as long as you are careful about how you do it.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

You guys cook your bacon?

IKR? Mine just appears fully cooked on a plate.

 

[chipbennett]

He said "caramelizarion", but what he means is "Maillard reaction". And it doesn't happen in the microwave.

Actually, a high-fat, low-water food such as bacon will achieve temperatures well above the boiling point of water - and certainly high enough for Maillard reactions - from microwave radiation. Besides, Maillard reactions happen as low as room temperature (cheese).

As best as I can tell: with bacon, the fat begins to render quickly, and then the liquid fat heats above 212F. Thus, the water content is evaporated very quickly (boiled off both by the microwave excitement, and by the heat of the rendering fat). Animal fat has a boiling point of about 200C - or almost 400F. So, once all the water content is boiled off, bacon can get quite hot, quickly, in the microwave. At that point, you have high temperature and low water activity, which is the ideal environment for Maillard reactions.

 

[Libertarian01]

Ah, ye who fail to see the trees for the forest.

The question is not, "how do we cook bacon" but rather "how much, how often, and with whom?"

So endeth the lesson.

Doug

 

[Nodonutz]

Ah, ye who fail to see the trees for the forest.

The question is not, "how do we cook bacon" but rather "how much, how often, and with whom?"

So endeth the lesson.

Doug

Obi Bacon Kanobe has spoken.... Namaste

 

[chipbennett]

Ah, ye who fail to see the trees for the forest.

The question is not, "how do we cook bacon" but rather "how much, how often, and with whom?"

So endeth the lesson.

Doug

I go through about a pound a day when I'm cooking on the weekends.

 

[bradmedic04]

I was dubious about this method, but it's by far the best way to cook bacon. As the water cooks down, the juicy goodness soaks back into the bacon, and the end product is way more flavorful than normal.

In fact, I partially cooked my bacon this way today to create bacon-spinach-egg-mozzarella "muffins." They'll be out of the oven soon.

 

[phylodog]

This. A nice sheet tray of bacon laid out on parchment in the oven at 350 is about the easiest and most evenly cooked bacon you can make.

Thanks for the tip. We have tried lining the pans with aluminum foil for easy clean up and that works ok but my wife normally lays the bacon on cooling racks which are placed on baking sheets and while it works ok and keeps the bacon out of the grease, the bacon tends to stick to the racks and it is easy to burn. I tried the parchment yesterday and it worked better than the other two methods we'd tried. Appreciate it.

 

[baddyna96]

First, you have to smoke your own bacon....

 

[MCgrease08]

Thanks for the tip. We have tried lining the pans with aluminum foil for easy clean up and that works ok but my wife normally lays the bacon on cooling racks which are placed on baking sheets and while it works ok and keeps the bacon out of the grease, the bacon tends to stick to the racks and it is easy to burn. I tried the parchment yesterday and it worked better than the other two methods we'd tried. Appreciate it.

Glad I could help. That's how I cooked it when I worked in a restaurant with a pretty busy brunch crowd on the weekends. It always worked out well for big batches. Sadly I don't do it at home much anymore, since I rarely cook more than a pound at a time.

 

[pitbulld45]

I was curious so I tried it. Took way to long and gave up on it.

 

[GlockRock]

I baked some today. I see no benefit other than easy clean up over using an electric griddle.

 

[Cameramonkey]

So on a related note, where can you buy bacon grease? Or can you?

i have quite A few old school recipes from grandma that use bacon fat. Unfortunately I'm finding that doing things like baking bacon makes it so that I can't keep the fat. I just ran out of bacon fat so those recipies are dead in the water until I can find more. Yes I could buy more bacon and fry it but I'm thinking outside the box.