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| Bacon! The photo is a little too pink but you get the idea. |
And I have the blessing of Mark Bittman, so I'm justified.
In his Food Matters Cookbook, Bittman presents many of the recipes in their vegetarian form but also offers suggestions for protein add-ins if, like Mr. Ninj, dinner isn't dinner without some meat -- it's just lunch. And the recommended add-in, more often than not, is bacon. (I heart Bittman, don't you?)
So imagine my joy when I stumbled across a technique in a recent issue of Cooking Light for baked bacon. It ... is ... WICKED!
Here's how you do it:
Line a baking pan or rimmed cookie sheet with foil (to catch the grease) and put a cookie cooling rack in it. Lay your strips of porcine perfection on the rack and bake at 400 degrees for about 20-25 minutes, depending on how crispy you like your bacon.
And that's it! Perfect bacon every time, and it doesn't spend time sitting in all that grease. Nor does it make a nasty greasy mess all over your cooktop.
So, I've shared my little secret with you -- please share with me some of your favorite recipes to which I can add some baked bacon!
Oh, I love it! We've been baking bacon and it's so yummy; not to mention it's much easier to make huge quantities at one time without covering the kitchen with grease. We use our broiler pan, or we also have this foil pan with holes in it that's supposed to be for grilling veggies. Never thought of the cookie rack, that's genius!
ReplyDeleteSo, what's starting to emerge, via Facebook comments, is that I'm the only moron in the world who DID NOT ALREADY KNOW about this technique. Oh well!
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of baked bacon...sometimes I even brush some maple syrup on the top (and then again when i turn it half way through) If I'm feeling especially crazy!
ReplyDeleteBaking bacon is a great thing but I hope that you have a self cleaning oven. Couldn't figure out why the oven walls were so spackled with crud until I made the connection that hubbie had cranked out another batch. So worth it though.
ReplyDeleteLast spring I hosted a bacon taste-test brunch. I had eleven bacons - 9 from local butchers (who knew?), a guest bacon from Lancaster that came with my parents, and Oscar Myers bacon, the control. I made sweet and savory dishes so guests could taste each bacon with both. The goal was not to find a favorite everyone could agree upon, but instead, for each guest to pick his/her top bacon. It was, well, AWESOME. I highly recommend it. And I have pictures, if you want them. : )
ReplyDeleteShelby
p.s. My favorite? Rothermels. From the Wednesday market. Yum.
Dweller: I'm going to try your maple bacon idea -- there's certainly no shortage of maple syrup here in Vermont! Colette: maybe it was the not-so-high temperature (400) but I had no splatter issues at all, thank goodness. And Shelby: bacon tasting -- what an awesome idea! You are so clever.
ReplyDeleteOMG, a bacon tasting?!?!?! Genius!!
ReplyDeleteHey ninja- another good bacon-cooking tip to keep the mess at bay is to cook it in a skillet on the grill-outside. That tip is from my Yankee dad.
ReplyDeleteYour dad is wicked smaht!!!!!!
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