The oven doesn’t get hot enough to make pops and spatters so no mess on the roof. The fat just melts off slowly (I think there is cooking word lingo for that process).

My favorite way to make bacon is in my cast iron pan. Not super popping hot but still makes a small mess. I usually can use the drippings and small bacon crumbles for my dinner sauté too If I leave them in there. And the cast iron gets some more grease on it. Win Win.

Just thought of the word for fat melting...renders???

You you truly don't need much bacon, save yourself the smell and bother and buy the boxed bacon that takes only seconds in the microwave on a paper towel.

Uhh. That was my answer. I get Wellshire Farms Black Forest. I think it's shelf stable before it's open (the butcher sets it out on top of the case), but I put it in the fridge. About 15 slices per package. Recently, they had a batch that was overdone, but not so much so that I couldn't use it--not worth taking it back. Most of the time it's perfect. And flat. And the Black Forest is very flavorful without being nearly as fatty as some bacon (if I want fatty, I use pancetta). And bacon isn't a big thing here, either.

" ----The fat just melts off slowly (I think there is cooking word lingo for that process).---"

Allow me to render a suggestion: "Render"

dcarch

I've never had the precooked stuff, so I can't comment on that.

I've made bacon in the oven and it doesn't provide the hot surface needed for the bacon to splatter fat all over the oven, it just drips down into the baking pan. It does take longer, though. I tend to save that method for the times I have the grandkids over, they love "pig candy", which is bacon sprinkled with brown sugar and baked.

I have an electric griddle and put the bacon strips on the griddle and cook them until they are done. We do buy local pork and it's not extremely fatty, or we buy a pork belly and cure and smoke our own, then slice it and freeze. I don't seem to have a problem with spatter with the griddle, but tossing a couple of slices in a hot cast iron pan can sure create a mess.

And, yes, I know it's sacrilege, but I don't really like bacon very much. I'll eat a BLT during the summer when the tomatoes are fresh, but usually pass up the bacon, the ham and the sausage, I've lost my taste for all of it. That's odd, because I used to love the stuff.

Annie

Trader Joe's has the best pre-cooked nitrate free bacon! It's all I ever use anymore. I put it on paper towels in the microwave and cook it (4 pieces) for 2 minutes at 40% power. No mess, no grease, not too salty or fatty. It's really good!

LOL! Annie, I get it about the tomato, but since you don't really like bacon or lettuce, maybe it's time for a different sandwich? :D

If you start the bacon in a cold frying pan, and cook with low heat, there's almost no splatter.

I think because it is surrounded by heat rather than on the bottom, it doesn't pop and sizzle the way stovetop does. Most mornings I make one or two pieces of bacon in my iron skillet in the oven for breakfast. Easy peasy. If I do it for a crowd, I use a sheet pan lined with foil.

I am a fan of the oven for cooking bacon....unless I am just using it (diced) to start another recipe. But I dislike precooked bacon products and like my bacon very crisp so the oven fits the bill perfectly. There is NO mess this way at all!! I use a small sheet pan lined with foil, a relatively high heat (415F) and cook 8 minutes on a side. I drain and save the rendered fat for other purposes, allow the pan to cool and then toss the foil......the pan doesn't even require washing (although I do).

We LOVE Costco's precooked bacon. It's not paper thin like the stuff in the grocery stores. One minute in the microwave and its perfect without all the mess and your house stinking for hours.

Plllog, I used to love bacon, and I can eat lettuce as long as it's not iceberg, that just has a horrible kind of watery texture that I dislike. Truthfully, though, I'd rather just have a tomato sandwich. Elery, however, disagrees, so I make BLTs with my garden tomatoes and freshly picked Bibb lettuce and some home smoked bacon and then I'm good for another year.

My grandkids, though, they LOVE bacon. Bud and Makayla can put away a pound, just the two of them. Neither of them will touch lettuce or tomato, though, so maybe if we're all together we could separate the ingredients and give everyone what they like, LOL.

Annie

Never heard of pre cooked bacon... I probably won't bother, as I prefer to buy bacon from local farmers.

Generally, I use the skillet with a splatter guard.

I hate using the microwave for bacon... the line between undercooked and overcooked is measured in mere seconds, which is influenced by bacon thickness (this seriously varies when one purchases local) and number of pieces. I've done the oven with better success.

PS, I love the aroma of cooking bacon!

Ditto to cloudy_christine start with a cold pan and low & slow, there's no splatter and the bacon comes out perfect

I wondered about cooking bacon in the oven, and may try it if ever for a crowd. Cast iron here too - and I save the drippings.

Give this a try:

1. Microwave bacon in a covered container using very low power. You will get a couple of spoons of bacon juice. The most amazing juice ever. It's a crime to waste this if you bake.

2. After you have collected the juice, still continue to microwave under low power covered to render most of the bacon fat without making the lean bacon too hard. Collect all the bacon fat.

3. After most of the fat has been rendered out, put some folded paper towel under the bacon and microwave at higher power to make the bacon crispy without being greasy.

dcarch

dcarch, I need clarification please! I've made bacon in the microwave (high heat on paper plate, paper towels) but prefer not to as I like to collect the fat. So, the juice is not like the fat? Does it solidify? How long for the juice only? How do I know the difference? And by covered, what for example? Sorry for all the questions, but I use a bit of bacon fat in some of my recipes, and nothing else will do, so I am excited to hear about bacon "juice"!

2MD, the bacon juice is from the lean part of the bacon. If you heat the bacon at high heat, this juice gets boiled away and wasted. By microwaving at low heat and covered, most of this juice will drip down. You will need to experiment on timing and microwave power. There are too many variables. You will know when you can't get anymore juice and fat is being rendered.

Scrambled eggs with bacon juice!!

dcarch

I use the oven, microwave, and a cast iron skillet depending on what it is for. All works well. Low heat is key. Place on a sheet pan in a COLD oven, middle or low middle rack. Then turn on the oven. 375-400.

For the microwave use lower power. Great for just a couple slices. I use double paper towel bottom and top on a salad plate. Another plate on top if you like it flat.

We like prosciutto bacon. 2-4 thin slices on parchment in the oven. Same method. Great soup/chowder or sandwich garnish. And not at all greasy.

BLT's I use the microwave to start and finish crisping in the oven on parchment. The weave. Great for a crowd. My family starts nibbling if single strips and I have to start all over again with another package.

We don't have bacon often so a package is too much. I freeze half strips rolled or folded and freeze on a small sheet pan then into a zip-lock or container so it is handy for saute greens, brussel sprouts, a pot of collards, etc. Also freeze prosciutto bundles. Great on pizza.

Bacon never freezes rock hard so a rolled bit can be cut easily into smaller cubes.

Don't think I would want anything pre-cooked. I don't really care for the rendered fat/juice or bother saving it. I do use what is rendered from the small frozen pieces for greens in the cooking pan/pot.

Thanks for all the tips! My daughter has raved about cooking bacon in the over for maybe 5 years. But she lives in an apartment and has moved every year, so I figured maybe a clean oven was not a priority ;) . (Bad Mom, I should not suggest that.) Plus I usually don’t want to turn the oven on to cook 4 strips.

I do like to save the fat for cooking, at least some of the time.

dcarch, for covered container: like a pyrex dish with lid? Mine are all pretty big. I could put 2 plates together (top one upside down) but then I’d have to keep lifting the top one to check it. Glass pie plate?