Agreed. The oven would be a much better cooker for that much bacon and that much grease.

The oven or large (18 qt) Nesco roaster oven would be my choice.

Actually I would try the microwave oven at low power.

Put bacon on a microwavable metal rack to drain away fat.

dcarch

When ever I need to cook beaucoup bacon, I use the oven...

I'd cook it outside on pans on the gas grill just to do a whole bunch at one time and to keep the grease outside.

My daughter taught me how to cook a large amount of bacon in the oven. It is so easy and the bacon is so nice. There is no reason that ends and pieces cannot be cooked this way, too.

Connie’s Baked Bacon

Bacon
baked in the oven gets really crisp the way my daughter does it, crisper than I
can slow fry it even. Since we love
crisp bacon, this is the way we cook it now – following Connie’s directions. It is easier and produces flatter, more
uniformly cooked bacon. DO NOT use a rack, bake it directly on aluminum foil on
a sheet pan, the rendered fat will help the bacon crisp, cook more evenly, and
generally have a better texture. If
cooking thick sliced bacon, the cooking time will be longer – just watch it.

Pre-heat
oven to 325 degrees. Cover a
short-lipped (low rimmed) large sheet pan with aluminum foil. Lay out strips of bacon on the foil-covered
pan and put into the oven. Check
occasionally for doneness. We like our
bacon crisp so cook it for about 30 minutes - just keep checking it through the
glass on the door. When done, carefully
remove from oven and put on stovetop to cool off. When somewhat cooled, remove bacon with tongs
and hold over the pan so excess fat drips into the pan, then put on a paper
towel. When bacon has completely cooled
and drained, lay out on a cookie sheet and put into the freezer. When bacon has frozen, put into Ziploc bag
and put in freezer, if desired. (Once its
oven-baked there's no uncooked fat, it keeps in the fridge for at least 6
weeks. No need to freeze it, unless you
will keep it for longer than 6 weeks.)

The
rendered fat is very clear and you can pour it into a container to keep for
when you need bacon fat.

To
reheat, you can wrap in a paper towel and put in microwave or just put it on a
plate without paper towel and microwave for just a few seconds, no more than

If cooking fried eggs, just put the
bacon into the pan with the eggs when the eggs are almost done. Since it is thoroughly cooked, you don't want
to subject it to prolonged higher heat.
Tastes like freshly cooked bacon.

I cure and smoke 60 lbs. of pork belly into bacon every year. I turn the final product trimmings into bacon bits. I usually have about 8 lbs. or so. I diced it up and toss it in a large roaster pan. Preheat the oven to 250 and roast stirring about every half hour or so after the first hour. Usually takes 2-4 hours depending on the starting size of the bits. I tried doing it in the crockpot but it had the wrong texture. I tried the microwave and because each piece has a different fat to meat ratio, some came out flabby and some came out coal chunks. LOL

I remember the crockpot lard rendering thread too. I think Annie1992 posted it if I remember correctly. But I couldn't find it either.

I found it. Here are instructions from Annie1992:

annie1992

I have rendered lard in the past, mostly in smaller amounts, 20 lbs or less. My grandmother taught me how when I was a child.

I just put mine into the crockpot or into a low oven, chopped up very finely, keep the heat low as if the cracklins brown, they give that "browned pork" flavor to your lard. Grandma used to put water in hers and let the water slowly cook away, but it seems counter intuitive to me to add water just to cook it off.

I see no reason why lard couldn't be remelted and rendered asecond time, and strained to make a purer form of lard, if you don't scorch or brown itk it at least can't hurt it, I'd go for it.

I've never done 3 pigs worth at once, though.

Annie

I have used Annie's crockpot method for rendering lard. It works great!

I appreciate all the responses! I can't imagine doing this amount of bacon, with all the different thicknesses and lean to fat ratios, in the microwave. I do use the microwave when cooking just a few servings of a nice, evenly sliced bacon, it comes out great. No gas (or any other kind) outdoor grill, so that's out. I think Moosemac's method will be the best for this situation. I hate using the oven during the hot summer months, but 250 degrees should be tolerable. If it turns out to be a very hot day, I might set up the electric roaster in the garage, that should work.

Thanks again1

Rusty