I always bake but keep in mind that oven does get dirty too if cooking bacon too often so it becomes a matter of which you want to clean--stove or oven. HST, for a one time thing, I recommend oven

I cook bacon on low and while it takes longer it rarely splatters. I also use a splatter screen. No mess.

when cooking a pound of bacon I use a aluminum foil lined half sheet pan at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the bacon. I then dry the bacon on paper towel, when the grease has cooled a little I remove the foil, wadding it up and throw it away. No fuss or muss and a good result

Agree with ann ~ I always use a cast iron skillet; start in a cold pan cook low and slow, turn often, and end up with no or very little splatter.

I do like deeebert, and have never noticed much of a mess in the oven. It's hands-off and you can do a much larger quantity at a time. I also get better results because I like my bacon well done and I never seem to get all the fat curls done to my liking stovetop. Probably because I don't have a bacon press.

I know some folks use a rack, but I don't find it necessary. I'd wad off the fat either way, and a rack is just one more thing to clean. One more than zero things, if using a foil liner.

I microwave it sometimes. Works fine.

Microwave works.

First you get some very flavorful liquid (juice),

Then bacon fat,

Then crispy bacon.

No mess and quick.

dcarch

Awesome! I will give this a try today: cold oven, 350 degrees (I've read that a lower temp results in less spatter), and no rack.

I've fried at low temps on the stove top and even though there is less spatter, I just "feel" like there is grease everywhere and I end up cleaning the kitchen. Maybe it's just me. :-)

I have never baked bacon. I fry mine. There is little gadget that you can put over the skillet to keep the grease from splattering. I rarely use mine. I just wipe up the grease with a rag. Just takes seconds to do. Now my husband when he fries bacon or uses the microwave to make it doesn't do either. Big mess. Yuck. I also fry at medium, never high. Burns to quickly. I love the smell of bacon and the taste too I'm addicted.

Baking is great if you're cooking a lot. There really shouldn't be splatter when frying unless you're trying to cook too much at a time.

Not a smell or taste I care for early in the morning.

America's Test Kitchen has an interesting method for cooking bacon in the oven. The video is located here: http://food-hacks.wonderhowto.com/how-to/form-makeshift-roasting-rack-out-foil-for-crispier-healthier-oven-cooked-bacon-0148403/

sometimes I do-- the rashers can cook more evenly, but they can be tough and chewy that way

I bake on a foil lined pan with a rack. It makes great crispy bacon. My husband likes his fried and not crispy so we do it his way sometimes.

Not for your soup recipe but baked bacon with red wine, mustard and brown sugar mixed together and poured over before you put it in the oven is delish! You can use the same sauce on bacon wrapped dates.

I bake bacon if I have the oven going for something else, I won't warm up the oven for just bacon. If baking it, I will line the cookie sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle with a bit of brown sugar. When cooked on the stove top, I use a splatter screen which I also rest the bacon on after cooking, saves paper towels that way.

I have a Nordicware grill pan (not expensive) specifically made for cooking bacon in the microwave. You can do 6 slices at a time. Cook for 1 minute - pour off grease. Cook another minute = Done. Crispy & lean. I use my WW splatter guard over the pan so I just wash that & the grill pan & I'm done.

The downside to this method is cooking large amounts for a crowd. Then it requires more time & tending than some other methods.

I like baking the best. It's just so easy. If it was just me, I would microwave it, but my husband doesn't like it cooked that way. Skillet is a pita because I like to cook the entire lb of bacon at once so the skillet takes so long and isn't cooked evenly. I don't mean I put a lb of bacon into one skillet, I just mean that I cook a whole lb of bacon so that means about three batches.

Arkansas, you probably can cook almost the whole pound at once. It's soooo thin now, it's hard to peel off. I hate they way they cheapened it.

A pound of bacon is still a pound no matter how thin it's sliced.
If I am cooking a lot, I do it in the oven. When I am cooking just 4 or 5 strips, I use the microwave. I know some who say they don't like microwave bacon...my son among them....but I humbly suggest that served 2 pieces side by side, they couldn't tell the difference.
When I do it in the oven...I know sounds risky!!...I put about 8 thicknesses of newspaper in a half sheet pan and then a layer of food safe paper towel, then a rack and lay the bacon on top. 325 oven for about 35 minutes...remove the hot bacon from the rack and blot on more paper towel and roll the grease soaked newspaper up and throw it away. No, it doesn't catch fire, at least I have never had it happen, I suppose it would if you let it get over done....but it works for me when cooking lots of bacon.

I prefer the texture, color and taste of bacon fried on the stove top to microwaved or oven cooked.

It is more work, I use two skillets and more or less hover over them until done.

That means flipping often and moving pieces around to the hot spots.

However, if the bacon were to be crumbled into something, it doesn't matter that much but I still wouldn't do it.

Perfectly cooked bacon, rippled, deep even brown, and fat rendered evenly, to me, only comes from stove top, slow cooked bacon.

The taste is different because the fat cooks and renders differently, it's more unctuous while having a crisp exterior.

Since I discovered "baked" bacon, I never make it any other way!

Much the same as others above, I use a foil lined jelly roll pan, no rack, 400F for about 30 minutes. Bacon comes out crispy, not curled up (like fried bacon tends to do). Roll up the foil and toss in the trash.

Super easy!

I always do an entire package even if it's just the two of us. Leftover strips get tossed in the freezer and I can pull out one, two or more and use them for whatever I need them for!

Linda

Leftover bacon? What's that? (grin)

I usually do mine on the stove for Elery and Molly. I know it's heresy, but I seem to have lost my taste for bacon. I don't hate it, I just don't care about it so I seldom eat it. I also start out in a cold skillet and cook over medium heat, so there doesn't seem to be very much spatter.

When the kids are here they can eat a LOT of bacon, so I bake it. Usually on a rack and sprinkled with brown sugar, they call it "pig candy". The only problem is that it takes longer than everything else for breakfast, I can make pancakes and eggs and cut up fruit and the bacon STILL won't be done in the oven!

I used to have a microwave rack, but I don't have any idea where it is now. I tried microwaving a couple of pieces on a paper towel and that was a fiasco, I couldn't peel the paper off the bacon and eventually threw the whole mess away. I've never microwaved bacon since, but my girls still do. They keep bugging me to find that rack.

Annie

Annie??
http://www.amazon.com/Nordic-Ware-Microwave-Bacon-Defroster/dp/B00080QJXE
Your girls will have to love me!!!

Well, I just wanted to report back that baked bacon is wonderful! I cooked a whole pound yesterday in about 15-20 minutes, very little mess, my kitchen is clean, and my house doesn't smell like bacon for days. Love it! I just rolled up the tin foil afterwards and tossed in the trash.

I do agree though, fried bacon does render differently and is ultimately the tastiest. I'll still send hubby out to fry on the grill on occasion, but in a pinch, baked is the way to go. :-)

LindaC, that is EXACTLY what it looked like. My girls can buy their own, or maybe they'll each get one for Christmas. (grin)

Annie

Tip - when trying to get a few pieces of bacon off the pound, just roll the whole thing from the short end onto itself. When you unroll it you can peel off what you need more easily.

Buy them before you forget....I have several Christmas gifts stashed (if only I don't forget where I stashed them!!)

When you all use those microwave pans for bacon, do you put paper towels over the top to prevent spatter?

If I remember!!

This is what I use for m/w splatter control, a silicone lid found at BBB. Lives in the m/w on top of bacon rack. Cleanup went to almost zero once I got this thing. Cost about $10

For quick 4 slices the microwave works great. Two p-towels on a plate and one over the slices. Need to check it a couple times. For a crowd the oven.

For a few thick slices cut in half for other dishes and a BLT, i use a cast iron skillet when i want the fat for something else like potatoes or a frittata. And it keeps that pan seasoned.

OH OK, I have one of those spatter covers but I never thought to use it for bacon...HA! The next bacon I cook, I'm going to try it in the microwave. For some reason, I always thought you needed paper towels. No wonder it wasn't any good, it was too dried out.