What's the best way to prepare bacon?

Question

I'd like to put it on a cheeseburger or BLT sandwich. Thanks!

Also, is supermarket bacon typically sold cooked or uncooked?

Answer 1

Don't even bother buying "pre-cooked bacon" - it works out to just less than "a buck a strip", and you still have to warm it!

Seriously, though, I am from Canada and we like our bacon two ways - "side" or "strip" bacon(standard "supermarket" bacon) and "back" bacon (Canadian, or pea meal bacon). I like to think we know something about how to cook it, too.

At home (not at the restaurant) I have a 9" cast-iron frying pan - it is the most perfect thing in the world for cooking "side" , "back", or "strip" bacon - you can pour off some fat (or not! - save it for the home fries!!)), heat it just right - I really think that this is the "sublime" way of cooking bacon for anything - especially BLT's! Hopefully, you don't have any cardiologists sharing your home or campsite - they can be such a "bacon" drag"!

If you are a Gas Barbeque lover, take heart - the cast iron frying pan fits on your grill, and over a lower heat there is not too much sputter and plenty of crispy sandwich fillings!

Cast Iron bacon cooking can be done slowly, at about "7" on your electric range,in a cast iron pan, and still taste like "campin"' bacon - just remember to buy a "splatter screen" to cover the pan, unless you like deep cleaning!

I have also used the microwave, underlying and covering the bacon with multi-thick paper towels ( You really have to hate the spatter and humidity). There just isn't the same "deep fried, hydrogenated, smoked" real flavour - microwaves , by their nature, are really a moist heat. Bacon doesn't need moist - it needs crisp!

(Thanks for the opportunity to answer - I am now in the kitchen, in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, frying Bacon in a cast iron Pan! That's hungry!)

Answer 2

1 pund thick cut bacon
1/4 cup light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Line a baking pan with parchment paper and lay the bacon out side by side, overlapping just a bit, if necessary to fit the whole package on the pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar and placed the pan on the top rack of the oven. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until the bacon is nicely browned and slightly crisp. Remove from the oven and serve immediately. (Do not drain on paper towels, serve directly on a plate, as the bacon is sticky.)

Some bacon will be darker than others due to ovens tendency to cook unevenly.

I have used regular cut bacon and cooked for about 18 to 20 minutes or until crisp.

Answer 3

Put it in a pan laying flat with no overlap

Turn the heat on medium. Lay a bacon press on top (you can get these at a cooking store for under $10 and they work wonders). Flip several times.

I like my bacon so crisp that it shatters like glass when you touch it.

Answer 4

Th fastest way to cook Bacon evenly and with the least amount of clean up is..... 350F convection oven on a parchment paper lined sheet tray. I use 7 minutes as a general guide, and as all ovens vary, the actual time will also. I find that this is also easier to collect the bacon grease to cook other food with...... If you want to cook only a couple of slices, I would cook it in the same pan as your burger if you are pan searing it. This would allow some of the bacon flavor to impart itself on the burger while cooking.... But if you are cooking a bulk amount of bacon, use the oven, which reminds me, its time to cook some of my own!!

Answer 5

The best way to prepare bacon is to purchase Tom and Ted's Thick Sliced Sugar Cured Bacon from Wal-Mart and cook on a George Forman grill. This preparation works well whether you like your bacon chewy (like me!!!) or crunchy (aka overcooked). Bacon cooked in this manner works well for breakfast as well as for sandwiches and salads.

Answer 6

Use 2 white paper towels lay bacon on it, then 2 white paper towels on top and cook in the microwave about 1 minute per slice.
Comes out nice and crisp and the towels make a no mess clean up!

Answer 7

Hormel and Farmer John both make cooked bacon which is found in your grocery store.

If your bacon is raw, you can fry it, bake it or nuke it.

If you fry it, cook it over medium flame until it is almost done the way you like it. Remove it from the grease and onto a paper towel. It will finish cooking itself.

Save the grease for when you make your vegetables and add it for flavor.

Answer 8

Fried in a pan is the only way for me, but my wife stoops to the microwave for jobs like yours.. Three or four slices on a paperplate lined with four or five paper towels.. 2-3 minuets and you have a nuclear bacon burger

Answer 9

use several layers of paper towel folded under/over the bacon and cook in the microwave until crisp it takes all the grease from the bacon and absorbs into the towel.

Answer 10

My fav way is to put it on a baking sheet; stick it in the oven at about 400-450 until it's crispy. Next fav way is to nuke it, if it's cheap bacon. I don't like to fry it because it cooks unevenly.