How do you do it in the oven? What kind of pan? Rack? Temperature? Time? I'm really clueless here. Thanks!

We don't eat a lot of bacon, but my preference is apple smoked. I usually buy it at Trader Joe's.

https://eatingatjoes.com/2014/01/21/trader-joes-uncured-apple-smoked-bacon/

The type of bacon does matter however I think slow cooking makes great bacon. Also turning it often and watching it constantly. A flat pan and not crowding the pan. I will hold a flabby uncooked part in the hot fat so it will render consistently and just watching it and paying attention to all parts of each piece make a difference

pillog - nothing scientific about it....just a routine I developed that produces very crispy bacon the way I like it. 420F oven, smallish cookie sheet (half pan?) lined with foil. No rack. I think it renders better without. It holds only 6 slices at a time but rarely would I need even that many. 7 minutes, then flip and another 7 minutes until done to perfection :-) Remove and drain immediately on paper towels. Time and temp could vary by oven. And thickness of the bacon slices....I don't care for very thick. Just standard "classic" cut.

I reuse the bacon fat so I drain that off and then discard the foil. Pretty fast and easy clean up!

There's bacon and then there's whole hog bacon. The stuff in the packages is pretty much the same if you avoid the extra-flavored varieties - i.e. applewood smoked. Having eaten fresh smoked bacon from a whole hog makes me wonder why I even bother with the overly-processed junk from the supermarket, other than convenience.

I've bought the whole bacon slab from butchers several times and smoked it, but it's not the same as having it come from the whole hog, right out of the smoker.

As far as cooking the store-bought stuff...I just fry it in a pan until it's crispy then let it drip dry on paper towel. Avoid the thick cut stuff, unless you have strong jaws or want to crumble it into a salad. And the plainer the flavor the better.

I do what gardengal does but don’t bother to flip it. Some people use a rack - we’ve debated that here before - but to me that’s just one more thing to wash. And it makes sense to me to render it in its own fat.

This thread reminded me to go out and buy a bunch of North Country bacon while it’s on sale. I’ll give a plug while I’m here. Even when it’s not on sale it’s comparably priced to the standard supermarket brands, but worlds better IMO. I buy the no sugar fruitwood smoked.

ETA - cross posted with Ricky, who I suspect might disagree with me! :)

I agree it is how you like it. I don't like it so crisp it is dry and brittle and breaks into bacon bits. Some methods create some parts burnt and some chewy. Stovetop cast iron can do that if the heat is too high.

if you like it perfectly flat for some reason, you can oven bake, with or without a rack over a sheet pan...then another sheet pan on top to weigh it down flat while cooking.

All the cuts have their uses. A thick cut can be nice on the grill but I like that one medium crisp with some chew. (not flabby)...A thick slice will often burst fat bombs all over the oven interior.

The butcher usually has 2 or 3 chunks with the slice fat ratio exposed. I don't bother if it is 70% fat. 30% I might get one thick slice to cube for a soup garnish. or for greens. The only time I use the stove/cast iron. Pan sear a 1/2 slice thick cut.

We have bacon so rarely. Summer BLT treat. I use the microwave with lots of paper towel to render the fat. Then into the oven to crisp medium heat slow. Most of the rendered fat is gone. Those p-towels are heavy! And just 6 slices.

(I don't use bacon fat. Just have never liked the flavor at all) It just tastes greasy.

A real treat is prosciutto bacon. I use it as a garnish and DH lately prefers it. Two to three thin slices on a parchment sheet pan. Middle rack of your oven. Broiler on low. (my broiler is monster). if preheated I put it in for one minute, then turn the oven off. Can burn so fast. Great just crisp with bit of chew. Does not shrink like bacon. or just a bit.

We like the prosciutto bacon so much it has become our BLT bacon. Less fat and just the right flavor for a BLT/avocado as a garnish slice. It is really all about the garden tomato anyway and not the bacon.

Costco prosciutto is a reasonable price but the package is huge. Once opened I put three-4 slices with the paper, fold, 3-4 fold, re-peat and into a quart zip-lock then into the freezer. I can pull out a tiny few slices at a time.

Bang for the buck? Prosciutto has less fat so the final protein is not rendered 50% fat.

Family and friends gatherings...when I make BLTA(avocado)

I weave. Nothing worst for a kitchen cook when guests steal bacon while prepping. A total pain to keep bacon cooking no mater the method.

I've never had a guest, or dad, steal an entire weave.

LOL, it is crispy and chewy and can be more crispy or not what anyone wants.

Like I said. 'How do you like your bacon'.

Or fug-it and enjoy delightful prosciutto bacon.

I think it was author Joe Haldeman who said you should always cook bacon in the nude. That way there is incentive to keep the heat low so you don't get hot bacon fat sputtering onto your delicate parts. :-)

We get our bacon from the same butcher I got the ham from. It's not full of water like most commercial bacon, so it crisps rather than stays flabby.

I just bake it on my broiler pan so the grease drips through but it's better supported than cooking on a rack. Turn once, maybe twice, but sometimes never. Maybe 375-400 and watch closely after it starts to brown.

Colleen, I'd heard that one, but I didn't know if non-giggly part were true. :)

Thanks everyone for all your insights, advice and comments. A picture is beginning to form.

Gardengal, your specifics make for a good starting place. I think the oven maybe the secret! Now that you mention it, I think Mr. Bacon does use center cut.

I do like the almost crumbly kind. Love Sleevendog's musings and FOAS's & Chipotle's recommendations, Bumblebeez's advice, and Olychick's method, and have learned a lot about the differences, especially that the standard slice is vastly preferred. I also learned something from Ricky's story. Amusing as it was, I have no use for a whole smoked hog, but an entertaining read for sure. In my mind it reads like an Ogden Nash poem. :)

I'm going to get some bacon and give it a try. Maybe I should make the BLT bites for NYD. :)

Now if they could only make turkey bacon taste like bacon. DH can't have any red meat at all and we've tried just about all the store brands. No real butcher would even attempt to make bacon from turkey anyway. I sometimes sneak out alone and go to Denny's to have a double bacon cheeseburger because I sympathize with him at home but I do really love bacon.

I've heard good things about goose bacon. Really hard to find though, and I don't know if those good things just mean better than turkey bacon rather than comparable to real bacon. OTOH, maybe that's close enough to red meat, anyway...

Pillog - No, DH's allergy is red meat from mammals, any animal that does not suckle their young is OK so we eat a lot of fish, seafood, poultry, eggs and cheese since we just can't be vegetarian. It does get boring. I have never heard of goose bacon and I found a recipe on the web that I MUST try, thank you! I love goose having shot a few in my lifetime; still have the feathers in pillows.

Duck bacon, sausage, prosciutto, ...i've not had it but looks good.

When married, my DH would not eat any red meat (mammalian) so was forced to resort to turkey bacon, sausage, ham, etc. Sorry, but there is no way these taste anything like real pork bacon or sausage!! We went out for breakfast a lot :-) I can't imagine duck or any other poultry could offer a similar flavor or consistency.

I love bacon (although I can pass on it being added to a burger) but I prefer it it melt in your mouth crispy and I can get that perfectly with the oven roasting method. And if one likes bacon, I cannot imagine not putting the reserved bacon fat to good use! IMO, there is nothing better to use when frying potatoes or sauteing green beans or Brussel sprouts that you then top with crumbled bacon to serve.........and you can't really make proper German potato salad without it.

I'd happily be a vegetarian if it weren't for bacon. It adds such flavor to recipes. I rarely eat it on its own, but add it to salads, soups, etc.

I cook it straight on a sheet pan in the oven, and just watch it closely toward the end to get the doneness needed. Right now, I'm baking granola at 350, and put in a pan of bacon to cook for a 7-layer salad. I'll let it cook well so it's crispy when cooled.

I prefer Costco's Kirkland brand bacon because it's uncured and nitrate free.

I made 2 packages of Oscar Meyer thick-cut Bacon for the Clan on Christmas morn. I lined the 2 pans with parchment and folded the edges to make a rim and put the bacon down on the parchment ( ala Matha Stewart) and baked at 400. It worked so well that I will not hesitate to do it again. (And, the grease was beautiful and not burnt, so saving that was easy... and, no dirty pans to wash!)

The best bacon we've tried is Black Pig, but that's a limited availability, artisanal brand (a restaurant chef is also a farmer, and raises the pigs). One brand that recently impressed us is True Story organic meats, which do seem to be available nationwide. Their uncured bacon was excellent and not at all salty (we are on low-salt diets voluntarily).

Their Organic Apple & Wildflower Honey Chicken sausage is also far better than any other brand we've tried, including Bruce Aidell who was the first to market this type of sausage.

We bake our bacon at low heat for the least amount of shrinkage and flat surface. No rack, just foil. Timing varies depending on ovens, thickness of slices, and # being cooked. A half-sheet pan (two pkgs of the True Story) took about an hour at 275 degrees. No turning needed, just draining afterwards.

My oven cooks unevenly so I rotated the pan about 2/3 of the way through. I always make bacon ahead of time since it reheats in the MW so quickly.

https://www.truestoryfoods.com/all-products/

We have a favorite market north 20 miles. Not so convenient. Has all meats from the HudsonValley.NY, small farms. So special and we try many.

But we are not big meat eaters. Special treats and testings. We keep it to 10-15% of our diet.

Uncured and nitrate-free is a marketing game and not true. It is cured and uses a different nitrate like celery seed, etc. But that is also a nitrate. Also may be just as processed. Some more pure processing uses the so called 'cleaner' methods but the FDA can't keep up so the good guys get lost in the shuffle and the marketing bozos use key words to sell more.

if you lower the meat in your diet/the proteins, (a good thing), get better quality.

But swing that. I like the Kirkland/Costco .I just used that for my holiday 'bacon jam'.

Gifted most 1/4 pints, So good. But get that lovely out of my house!

Elery and I disagree on bacon, but since I'm not crazy about it, I defer. He likes it cooked in the oven, and uses a rack. I even bought him a special rack that fits into a half sheet pan, has a small grid and handles for lifting it up out of the sheet pan.

The grandkids, they like "pig candy", which is just bacon coated with brown sugar and then baked. We've used maple syrup for that and they like that too, go figure, LOL.

I like mine cooked in a pan or on a griddle. Not too hot, you have to take your time. I don't want it to shatter in my mouth, I want it crisp but still with a bit of "chew".

I think most commercially available grocery store bacon is so similar that I can't see a definable difference. If I don't have any of our own I'll go to the guy who cuts and packages my beef, son of Carl The Sausage King, also named Carl, LOL. He usually has bacon for sale. If he doesn't I'll drive a bit further to a small slaughterhouse/meat market and get some there.

Truthfully, I can pretty much do without bacon and it wouldn't bother me a bit to never have any again. The grandkids love it, though, and always want it for breakfast when they visit, so I keep it on hand.

Annie

well, I am one of those that like the turkey bacon. and I do it in the microwave. I lay the pieces flat, not overlapping (unless I want a weave) and the cover with a paper towel. six slices is 3-4 minutes, and yields a nice crispy piece/s. allow to 'rest' a few minutes before use. good for BLTs or to just put in a zip bag for later. Some brans are saltier, so watch out for that. Regular bacon goes in a frypan, or the oven.

I suspect your friend cooks the bacon in the oven. I do that when I need to cook the whole pound, and then I save it wrapped in the refrigerator. I warm it for breakfast bacon in the microwave on paper towels or just chop it for quiches.

I do mine in the oven, 425°F . Time depends on how cold the stone is, and how you like it. I use a Pampered Chef bar pan, think clay jelly roll pan. No rack. We prefer the thicker slices. I have a couple of local markets that I get it from, or the GFS thick sliced when it's on sale. We just got 3# from GFS for $9.99. I usually buy 3# at a time, and cook it all at once, bag and freeze, or bag and keep in fridge until we eat it all. I tend to under cook it just a bit, so it's not over done when reheated.

I was just reading my America's Test Kitchen cookbook and guess how they like to cook bacon? On a sheet pan, in the oven, no rack. So, there's that, if you ever agree with ATK, which I seldom do, LOL.

Annie

LOL! Me too, Annie. I don't seem to agree with them much either, but bacon is pretty basic, and with so much consensus here, they should be able to figure it out too. I think the problem with testing is the same as in other research. You have to have a valid paradigm. If not, you're just churning out noise. :)

The best bacon was from a little packing plant butcher in a small town just west of this small town....and made from our own pig....but that is no more. Next best is from the Amanas just east of here and available by mail order.
For a couple of slices just for me, I do it in the microwave....if I am cooking as much as half a pound, I do it in the oven at 375. I lay out about 5 sheets of newspaper in a half sheet pan, cover with a layer of paper towel and lay out the bacon and then cover again with paper towel to protect the oven. Takes about 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how thick the bacon is. Then you roll up the grease soaked papers and toss.

Hmmph. So much for Mr. Bacon. It must have been a special brand he was buying that had such a perfect texture and color. He just made bacon (in a frying pan--I peeked). It was just like the bacon I made following the directions you all gave me. It was fine. But nowhere near magically perfectly perfect bacon. Never mind. I'm going back to the precooked stuff. :) No point in making that big a mess if it's not going to be perfect.

linda's rx are spot on. my DW likes to cook it in a frypan. I like the oven. I reserve the fat for cabbage or gators or onions. be sure to look thru the window on the back of the bacon package. I like to choose the leaner looking stuff, but since I prefer crispy bacon, it is not a big deal. Well, it is, cuz it gives more leavings for my cabbage ....

You cook gators?

tators

lol

I don't think there is ONE method....so much depends on whether you've got excellent, dry bacon or if you've got industrial, wet bacon and then, what you're going to do with it. Bacon and eggs needs different cooking compared to a bacon sandwich .......

Years ago, I read somewhere that if you can buy bacon that was processed in Canada, you would find it was superior to the other choices at the grocery store. I found that to be true, but nowadays, I can no longer find bacon from Canada.

Cooking bacon-n-eggs in my household makes me feel like a short-order cook. I like my bacon very crispy. DH likes his what I consider 'half-cooked.' I like my eggs with runny yolks (but the whites must be done) while DH likes his yolks soft but not runny. My favorite toast is barely light golden while his is almost tree-brown. Wish I were an octopus!

Plllog, I don't blame you for getting the precooked. Frying bacon does make a mess which is bad enough when you enjoy the results and when you don't becomes a real chore to clean up.

I have found that bacon just isn't as good as it used to be. I bought some Hillandale Farms bacon that was just downright awful! It tasted like chemicals. Seems like if I go to a restaurant for breakfast, the bacon is so good! What the heck is their secret?

The last time I cooked bacon, I used Sugardale brand and used my electric large rectangular griddle and it was really good and cooked right. The electric griddle really did a good job with cooking it evenly and quickly. It is a pain to clean up though, so much to wash!

I have bought the precooked stuff from Sam's Club and it is OK but still not like yummy restaurant bacon.

We don't actually eat bacon much. One of the great things about the precooked is that it's hermetically sealed and lasts a long time. The Wellshire Farms Black Forest is really good. Most are meh. But if i can't make the really good kind of bacon Mr. Bacon has been known to do, it's not worth my while for the occasional recipe or sandwich.