I do what jas does and line the pan with foil so you don't have to clean it.

I can't imagine it makes a bit of difference. I typically preheat the oven as I'm laying out the bacon. However hot it is when I'm done, that's how much I've preheated.

I line the baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup. Some people use a rack but having done it both ways I don't see the point. Let it fry in its fat just like it would stovetop. Either way you're going to drain it on paper towels after cooking so what's the benefit? And you don't end up with a rack to clean.

No need to flip the bacon, but do turn the sheet half-way through baking (about 8-10 minutes) if it looks like it's cooking unevenly.

I don't drain on a paper towel after baking on a rack, all the grease is usually gone by then. That's the whole idea and works for me.

I use a jelly roll pan, many layers of newspaper folded to fit and 3 layers of paper towel over that. I lay the bacon on the paper towels and bake in a 375 oven. When the bacon is done, I roll up the whole mess and throw into the garbage.
As for preheating, I don't think it makes a whit of difference. I turn on the oven as I am laying the bacon in the pan like Stumpy does.

Thanks so much for all your tips. I have my pans lined with foil and will just start them in a cold oven. Can't wait for that wonderful bacon smell! I'm going to make Belgian waffles too. My Dad's celebrating his 92nd Birthday today!
Joann

2 Lbs is not a lot of bacon.

You may consider doing it in a microwave oven. In a microwave, you need to do it at low power and stir regularly. Microwave cooks bacon fairly quickly.

The problem of making bacon is that the lean meat cooks entirely different than the fat, depends on the characteristics of your oven, you need to find the perfect temperature to bake the bacon so that you don't end up with rock hard or burnt lean part of the bacon.

In a regular oven, I generally start with low heat. The lean meat starts to give up liquid while the fat begins to render. Collect this small amount of liquid. It's very delicious pure bacon flavored liquid. When you are done baking the bacon and shut off the oven, leave the bacon in the hot oven on top of paper towels to soak up the fat. Fat flows and drains much better in a hot oven. You will end up with less greasy bacon.

I also like to fry bacon in vegetable oil. Vegetable oil dissolves bacon fat and drains better from the bacon; you can end up with less greasy bacon, if less animal fat is desirable for you.

dcarch

Believe me, cooking bacon in the oven isn't brain surgery. It doesn't have to be difficult. Just put it in the oven and bake it.

Follow the good advice of lining the baking sheet with foil and use a rack or not, up to you, set the temperature anywhere from 350ðF to 400ðF and bake the bacon. It is done when it is done.

Enjoy!

Ann

As Ann_t said, making bacon is no brain surgery. Just put it in an oven, bake and serve.

However, if you are as nutty as I am, who like to do some bacon gymnastics, it helps to get into a little more details on how to handle the two entirely difference textural properties on the same rasher.

The things to realize are the following:

1. In a microwave oven, the fat cooks hotter than the meat.

2. In a regular or convection oven, both the meat and the fat cooks at the same temperature.

3. In a toaster oven, the meat can be at a higher temperature than the fat.

Cooking is all about temperature and texture. If you recognize the abilities of the tools you use, you will have more flexibilities and options.

dcarch

I bake mine on a rack too, mostly because if I'm baking the bacon I sprinkle it with brown sugar or drizzle it with maple syrup, the kids (who love bacon anyway) especially like bacon made sweet, LOL.

I just turn on the oven, put the bacon on the rack, sprinkle with sugar and put it in the oven, I never preheat.

Annie

In the oven is about the only way I cook bacon anymore. Like many posters above, I line a jelly roll pan with foil, lay the bacon on the foiil and pop into the oven. I usually preheat, but that's just out of habit.

I used to use a rack, but got tired of scrubbing the darn thing so I don't use a rack anymore and have found really no difference in the end result. I do drain on paper towels when done, but I had to do that with the rack, too.

Best wishes to your dad on his 92nd birthday!

Linda

Cooking for a crowd I bake it too. If it's just me I pan fry it. I prefer it pan fried, not too cripy.

I'm going to have to try making the sweet bacon Annie. A place up at the lake served it like that with the addition of chopped pecans. Loved that stuff.

David

If you use a jelly roll pan, with open sides instead of a cookie sheet, doesn't the grease drip out and into the oven?

And the thought of putting paper into a hot oven frightens me. Paper, grease and fire??? It does not sound too safe to me.

Jelly roll pans have sides. Cookie sheets are often without sides.

Ann

I went to an all girls Catholic high school - St. Margaret's Academy in Minneapolis. I scored a student service job which contributed $2.25 an hour towards my tuition. That was a huge amount of money because the minimum wage at the time was less than a dollar. I lucked out with a job in the convent kitchen working with Sister Saint Joseph -- aka St. Joe. Catholic nuns may be limited in many aspecs of their lives but not when it comes to eating.

My dad drove my sister and I to school and dropped us off at 5:30am. My sister went off to study and I went to the convent kitchen to help prepare breakfast for 96 nuns. My first task of the morning was to lay out countless strips of bacon on huge sheet pans and put them into the Hobart pizza style ovens. In addition to the bacon there was sausage, all kinds of hot and cold cereal, freshly baked sweet rolls, eggs cooked to order and so much food I want to puke thinking about it.

Sister St. Joe just had me lay out the bacon on the sheet pans and slide it in the oven. When it was done I used stainless steel tongs to scoop it up and I would place it in perforated half pans on the buffet table. Any extra grease drained away.

Newspapers were not used for cooking but were placed under the cat's litter pan. Or trimmed to fit the bottom of the parakeet's cage. Sr. St. Joe named the cat T-Cat. Haha - this was 1969 and way before rapper names. St. Joe hated cats until I invited a cute little stray into our lives. I named the parakeet Joe after Sr. St. Joe and the stray dog that became the school mascot was named Maggie after St. Margaret's.

I am no longer a Catholic and I rarely eat bacon except when I have a BLT. But I have very fond memories of bacon and St. Margaret's Academy.

That was fund to read, teresa.

seagrass

I've been bakin' bacon on a pile of newspaper covered with paper towels for a lot of years.....no worse than baking butter cookies on parchment, or oiling parchment and closing up a piece of chicken and placing into a 425 oven.
If I left it too long it might catch fire...but I've sure had burgers and chops catch fire in the broiler.

A friend does 3 or 4 pounds of bacon like that at a time (that's where i learned that method) and keeps it in the freezer and nukes a few slices when she needs it to put on a sandwich or salad or alongside some eggs. I don't think it's as good as freshly cooked, but it sure is easy to decide a salad needs some bacon crumbled on top and ZAP there it is!
I think it's a good use of old newspaper since I have neither a cat nor a parakeet.
Linda c

I also bake bacon, at 400 degrees starting from a cold oven, on a rack but don't line the tray 'cause I like to keep a bit of the bacon fat sometimes.

I make "lasagna" with newspapers! (grin)

/tricia

What tricia? Are you talking about lasagna gardening?

NY Times used to give out gloves, because the ink used could easily be rubbed on your hands and clothes.

There are many types of ink used for newspaper, some are toxic.

" Newspaper ink contains toluene, a toxic chemical commonly abused by huffing glue. Toluene is a nervous system depressant that causes fatigue, headaches and sleepiness amongst other symptoms. "

The other question is the paper itself. The fume generated by the paper may not be food grade.

dcarch

Teresa, yep! (smile)

/t

"Newspaper ink contains toluene, a toxic chemical commonly abused by huffing glue."

If that's the case no one should have to worry whether your newspaper delivery person washes his/her hands between peeing and delivering your newspaper.

Even so, I'll stick with food grade parchment for baking and use my newspaper for lasagna gardening, Mom's bird cage or under the Spikesters's litter box.

Oops. I have always called an open sided baking pan a jelly roll, so I guess I have them confused.

And newspaper is in no way food grade, nor is the ink. The chemicals used to make groundwood paper are highlly toxic. Just drive by a paper mill and take a deep breath.

Newspapers have long come into consideration and question when composting. At one time, the compost from newspapers shouldn't be used around vegetable plants, but is okay for ornamental plants and trees.

With worm composting, it's an even more serious consideration.....we don't want to be poisoning our little "pets".

The majority of inks now are soy-based, (but not all), and it's still advised to stay away from coloured ink.

Having said all that, I don't think I'd want to cook with it.

I have to laugh. We're talking about cooking two lbs of bacon and newsprint is the health concern? My understanding is that most newspapers switched from petroleum based inks to soy based inksa long time ago. Interestingly, Iowa was the first market. Perhaps lindac was ahead of the curve?

If you have a newer oven with a hidden element, it preheats from the top as well as the bottom so unless you want to broil your bacon I would suggest preheating the oven first. That being said, all of the above suggestions will work just fine including the newspaper. Linda C said she covers the newspaper with paper towels. I don't see where the ink would come into play.

Jo, I think we are not talking about 2 lbs of bacon, we are talking about eating for the entire life time bacon baked at high heat in an enclosed oven for your family and friends.

Also, we are talking about more than the ink, we are also talking about the unknowns with other chemicals in non-food-grade paper.

We all know in smoking meat how deeply the smoke flavor can penetrate the meat, and penetration is a function of temperature and surface area of the meat. Baking bacon is much higher in temperature and the surface area of bacon is significantly higher than all types of smoking.

I have personal experience of visiting many times to the huge paper mill in Perdue Hill Alabama, the Alabama River Newsprint Co. I have gone thru their entire manufacturing facility, from their own forest where they grow their own trees, to their non-stop logging, to their huge corrosive pools of fiber extraction, to the final paper pulp shipping depot. I love their sign in the front of their facility "The water that comes out from our factory is cleaner than the water we take in".

Paper making uses more nature's water than any other manufacturing because the chemicals they must use. In short, as far as I am concerned, not one thing in their entire process can possibly be considered safe to be anywhere near my food supply.

Smoked bacon with news paper? To each his/her own, unless you have other family members also eat with you.

dcarch

dcarch, I agree that's a very valid concern. But there are a lot of questionable things we've grown accustomed to exposing our food to - nonstick surfaces, plastics, grilling, smoking, etc. - so I see Jo's point as well. I don't know how much bacon the average household goes through in a year; we probably do 3-4 pounds absolute max, so I'm not concerned about the health effects nearly as much as if someone told me the way I cook chicken is dangerous.

David, definitely try the sweet bacon, it's kind of addictive. Good thing I have the grandkids to help me eat it! I learned it from Grandma, but I don't know very many other people who do that. It's easy and good, although definitely not healthy!

As for newsprint, I also understand that today's ink is soy based and therefore less toxic. Although I don't use newspapers to make bacon, I do use them when I make Chex mix, spread it out and cool it on newspapers. I've been to a couple of fish places which served their fish and chips in a rolled up newspaper "cone" and I've been known to read the paper while eating chips or nuts. (shrug)

With all the poisons we already ingest in our food supply, from salmonella and e coli to the fungicides, insecticides, pesticides, hormones and antibiotics, I'm not so worried about some newsprint which has 3 layers of paper towel between it and my bacon. That's even before we get into the debate about GMO produce and other "frankenfoods".

Of course, as I've pointed out before, I've been known to kiss a horse on the lips, so I guess I have a relatively strong immune system that can withstand a bit of newsprint.

I still do bacon on a rack, though, when I don't "sugar" it, I like to keep the fat. Yeah, I still have a "grease jar" on the counter and I know how to use it!

Annie

The paper mill I visited is in their own forest, sometimes they find dead animals in the tanks. I don't consider those health hazards, they would be well cooked together with their poop; but news print paper contains a lot of recycled industrial cartons with possible unknown toxic printing on them. Can you be sure what were stored in those cartons before they become newspaper?

Are we talking about no other options?

dcarch

I'd a lot rather take my chances on newspaper under paper towel in my oven that eating meat in a zip lock bag, submerged in a water bath of 125 degrees for 10 hours.

Ever shake your chicken in a brown paper bag with flour?
Ever drive down a highway where the DOT is spraying for weeds? Ever been in a community where a fogger truck sprays for mosquitoes? Do you hire an exterminator to rid your house of mice? Do you know if the place where you buy your produce sprays for bugs? What do they spray? Ever see how they process the paper for kleenex? Diapers? Sanitary products?....how about adhesive bandages? What do they wash your linens with in a hotel? Is that glass really clean? What's in the paper cups? Is styrofoam really safe for those who drink from a styrofoam cup every day?

Lots more worrisome things than what possibly might be in some newspaper....that is used under a layer of paper towel perhaps once a year to cook a large amount of bacon!
Reminding all....never EVER touch a newspaper without gloves and wash your hands promptly!

Bags used for sous vide use approved food-grade boilable material which is no different than all food grade containers. That has absolutely nothing to be compared with 100% non-food grade newsprint and the use of news print to smoke your bacon in a 400 degree oven.

I agree with you we should not be too compulsive about all the possible dangers that are around us.

There are two philosophies:

There are so many dangers around us, why bother to be careful.

or

There are so many dangers around us, let's be more careful.

Your choice.

dcarch

Not worried about toxins in the bag....but rather the bacteria growth during the time when the meat is warmer than 40 degrees.

Sous vide cooking has been in common use since the 60s. The sous-vide method is used in many high end gourmet restaurants by chefs such as Heston Blumenthal, Paul Bocuse, Michael Carlson, Thomas Keller, Grant Achatz, Ferran Adri�, Jo�l Robuchon, Alessandro Stratta, Charlie Trotter, Michael Mina, Jason Gibbins and others. Sous-vide has become a common feature on television cooking shows. With the recent available low cost equipment, this method of cooking is now within reach to most home cooks.

The problem of bacteria growth has never been an issue, if normal food sanitary care is followed.

dcarch

To get back to bacon :)
If I need to cook a lot, I roll up the rashers and do bacon rolls. You can get a lot on one pan that way.

Well who would have thought the topic of baking bacon would merit such a lot of interesting responses!!! Thank you all so much. I did bake the bacon but I ended up making 3 pounds! I used foil lined pans and saved the bacon fat to use in my home made bird suet next time I make it.
Annie that bacon with the brown sugar sounds wonderful and I will have to try that!
dcarch- that picture is amazing!
We all enjoyed our waffles too and my Dad enjoyed his Birthday and seeing his Great Grandchildren!
Joann

Thanks Joann. Yes, I like playing with my food. :-)

Not meaning to drag this out any longer, but it really is important.

In another very popular food forum a question was asked if paper towels can be used as coffee filters. The conclosion at the end of a long discussion was "Don't". Someone did contact the paper towel maker, and they refused to answer the question directly.

Take a look at this video and you can see the garbage, poison, heavy metals, etc that go into your nice white paper, and in the video, they didn't even talk about all the chemicals they have to and can use to turn landfill into paper.

dcarch.

Here is a link that might be useful: Paper Making

I live in New England where paper pulp making has a storied past as part of our economy. I used to be a commercial loan officer for the largest bank in the state. I had a couple loans in Berlin, NH. Without getting into any controversy because the paper industry is a very sensitive issue to northern New England and it's economic viability, let me just say the stench coming from Berlin was noticeable 10 miles out. I'd never experienced anything quite like Berlin. To properly service those two loans, I made semi/monthly trips. Locals told me I'd get used to it. I never did. I also stopped using paper plates for our backyard summer BBQs & the brown paper towels like you see in gas station restrooms. Life is all about personal choices. I'm sure there are lots of things I either don't know about or have never considered but paper pulp is not one of them.

/tricia

Here is a link that might be useful: Berlin Paper Pulp Mills

dcarch...you should start a new thread relating to the paper towel being used as a coffee filter because people who are interested and might respond won't see the message hidden here under a bacon question. Especially since a lot of vegans etc won't bother reading about bacon but they might like to weigh in on the paper towel issue!
Joann

Muskegon also had a paper mill, the stench was amazing, but no worse than that from a dozen local CAFO pig farms, egg facilities or beef feed lots. In the alternative, I will admit to a penchant for standing outside the Keebler bakery on bread baking day just to smell the lovely aroma, although their product appears devoid of either taste or nutrition. So, I don't think the smell alone has any bearing on the safety or not of the product.

Ever since I learned from friends who worked at Gerber Products what percentage of rodent droppings, fingernail clippings, used band aids, insects and general filth is allowed in commercially canned foods and baby food, I've had a much more relaxed view of what should be used in food preparation because I know that whatever I'm doing in my kitchen is still a lot healthier than any of the local restaurants or food processing/packaging facility procedures.

Oh, and I also know that Ice Mountain water is pumped right out of our ground and bottled, less than 10 miles from my house. It's not sanitized or whatever before it's poured into those non-biodegradable bottles and shipped by truck all over so people can pay $1 a bottle for what comes out of my tap and their plant stinks too, but it's not the water.

So, do as you please but I refuse to run about crying that the sky is falling because something isn't considered food grade. Everyone else may do as they wish, including using paper towels as coffee filters, although that doesn't really work very well. In a pinch it's better than no coffee at all, I suppose, but minimally.

As for sous vide, it's been used for a long time. Although the only time I've had anything prepared sous vide was a restaurant pork chop, which I found unsettlingly soft and mushy, I think it's pretty clear that it's a safe food preparation. I wouldn't hesitate to try again on something besides pork when/if it became available.

OK, so LindaC can cook her bacon on paper towels (which is how my mother alwasy does it in the microwave, but the bacon always stick sto the paper towel when I try it), dcarch can sous vide anything he likes and enjoy it and I'll keep filtering my coffee with a paper towel when I run out of coffee filters. Probably none of us are going to die and the sky won't fall and I'll just keep b*tching about bottled water and feedlot beef, LOL.

Annie

Question: Can you freeze bacon, or does it suffer great taste/texture losses?

Beautiful pic, dcarch. Is that your own creation? If so, what kind of drizzle do you have on there?

Rob - Uncooked? Freezes fine. I remember not caring for frozen cooked bacon, but it's been quite a while since I tried it. I might have let it get too old or not packaged it well. Regardless, around here it wouldn't be wise to have bacon too convenient to snack on!

Uncooked. Good (because I put some in there over the weekend)! We do like it, but can resist, so it gets moldy sometimes. I just figured I'd avoid getting to that point. I can't see us gnawing on frozen, so I can't see that as a good snack! deterrent enough.
:)

ynnej, I'd bet you a bazillion dollars it's black garlic sauce, but we'll let dcarch answer.

Yes, Robin has ESP! it is black garlic sauce!

Regarding freezing bacon. I don't know, because I always make my bacon fresh.

I see no reason why you cannot freeze pre-cooked bacon and zap it again for a quick snack.

However, I would think it is a very good idea to pack the bacon in a Ziplock type of bag in the freezer.

Many flavorings can evaporate even when they are frozen, known as sublimation.

dcarch

I buy several pounds of Oscar Mayer when it's on sale and freeze two strips at a time on a cookie sheet and then put in a zip lock bag. I can take out just what I need when needed. Works great for me.

Bacon freezes but will get rancid if frozen for more than say 3 months. Both uncooked and cooked bacon freeze well, but uncooked lasts longer without getting rancid.
Sublimation is the change of s substance from a solid to a gaseous state without passing through the liquid phase. I'm not sure how it applies to frozen bacon.

Posted by LindaC" ---Sublimation is the change of s substance from a solid to a gaseous state without passing through the liquid phase. I'm not sure how it applies to frozen bacon. "

The taste of bacon, or, the overall Gestalt of bacon flavor perception is the end result of hundreds of flavorants (chemicals) in the bacon on your senses. Many of the flavorants can evaporate or be distilled. Many of which can evaporate in their frozen state by the action of sublimation. By encasing the bacon, sublimation is minized.

BTW, sublimation is similar to freezer burn.

dcarch

"The taste of bacon, or, the overall Gestalt of bacon flavor perception ...." !!!
Yep the whole Gestalt thing is lost when the bacon gets rancid....or freezer burned or the flavor gets sublimated out.
And IMHO a great deal of cooking and presentation is all about Gestalt....from the sound of the sizzle of the steak to the smell of the chicken on the grill.

My stove is already on I put it on cookie sheet,put in oven for about 15 minutes Its flat.mmm

I freeze bacon regularly, because we smoke our own and there's no way we can eat an entire pork belly, or even an entire belly half.

So we cure it, smoke it, slice it and freeze it. It will keep well up to a year frozen, but it never lasts that long unless I bury a package accidentally under something like beef tongue or soup bones.

I've never tried to freeze it after cooking, Cooper would never forgive me if I took his lovely freshly cooked bacon and froze it, LOL. I do cook extra sometimes and reheat it later, keeping it refrigerated until tomorrow's BLT or whatever.

Annie