I've started buying bacon for myself again when I am alone in Cathedral City for four weeks at a time. Here's how I've been cooking it. First of all, I only want two or three strips at a time, but I've been mostly cooking three. I use a medium sized T-Fal non-stick skillet, and I spray the pan with a small amount of water. I then cut the bacon strips with scissors into varying lengths so that I can fit them into the pan easily, and I put the bacon in the slightly wet cold pan. I then put the pan on high heat until the water has evaporated and I hear a bit of sizzle, and then I turn the heat down to medium low. I turn the bacon several times and cook it until it is slightly crisp. As I take it out of the pan, I press it with the back of a spoon so that the grease goes back into the pan, and I let it drain on a paper towel. For the small amount of bacon I cook at a time, half a paper towel is enough. This method gives me bacon the way I like it, and I also have leftover bacon fat that I can save for later use. I think that preserving the fat is very important, and I have many uses for it. I would not want to use any method that would not yield leftover bacon fat. Since I cook bacon only once or twice a week, I do not end up with much bacon fat. I have not taken any of my cast iron pans to Cathedral City because I do not have space to store them. The house came with a lot of T-Fal non-stick pans, and I've decided that I like them.

Reporting back on two turkey bacon projects. One was "Irish Bean Soup with Smokey Bacon." It was good, but gave the soup a peculiar chemical aftertaste. Not overpowering, but definitely there and not a plus. The soup is simple so the bacon flavoring is key to its success. I liked that it was lower fat than regular bacon, that was a plus, but I wouldn't use it again due to the aftertaste. Also made it more salty than usual, since I use either uncured or lower sodium bacon usually. The second dish I made was German potato salad with the vinegar, sugar, bacon and onion dressing. It was good in that. No bacon fat for the dressing, but this was a lower fat recipe anyway, called for olive oil as the fat. So not strictly traditional but I don't much care for the traditional anyway. It was favorite of my late mother. Takeawy is that I think this would be better in salads and sandwiches than the long simmered soups.

The last time I made bacon, I accidentally left it in too long and it was very crispy without being burned. I loved it but my husband likes his still soft. So, in the oven just like Lizbeth said above, 400 on the sheet pan and cooked it for 15 minutes on the middle rack. Checked it and it was too raw still, thought "oh 10 more minutes" so I set the time and didn't check it again. It was almost burned but not quite. To me it was SOOO good! I can't remember if I turned it after 15 minutes but I think that I did.

Great video! A good friend of mine in graduate school had previously lived in the same Santa Monica apartment building as Kevin Bacon (this would have been the late 80s, maybe 1990). So I'm two degrees of Kevin Bacon.