# Baking bacon rules!



## sherifffruitfly

I'm sure I'm the last person in the world to hop on this particular boat, but wutever....

I'll never fry bacon again, god willing - baking it has every virtue and no vice. It's like magic - I sweartagod!


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## jkath

details....we need details....... (ps: now I am hungry!)


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## Jenny

My grandaddy always use to bake his bacon in the oven when I was a little girly!  I tried it once and had grease splatters all over my oven!  What's the trick?  I pretty much just microwave it now, but it isn't the same!


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## Alix

Just lay the bacon strips on a cookie sheet and toss it in the oven. If you have racks that are oven proof lay the strips on that and the grease drips off. I don't have much splatter when I do this.


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## Jenny

ooooohhhh, cookie sheet.  hmmm, not foil?  okay!  I will try it again once I am able to erase the memory of fighting my way through the smoke and getting that smell out of the house!


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## Alix

LOL! Make sure the hood fan is on high...just in case! I do mine at about 350. I have to admit though...I like my bacon kinda chewy, not crispy.


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## Michelemarie

thanks for the tip - how long do you cook it for? I recently cooked my bacon on the george foreman grill - if you have one you may want to try it this way too - thanks for the oven tip -


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## Erik

This is how I have done it for years (a restaurant thing, that transferred to home cooking.

Parchment paper works well on the baking sheet.


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## licia

I like mine done on the GF grill also.  DH and I don't agree on just how crisp - I like mine with all the grease out - he likes his still a bit soft. It is easy to judge exactly the right stage on the grill - also no smoke - no spatters - quite easy cleanup.


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## letscook

I also do mine in the oven. Since it is just the 2 of us home now, 
I started cooking a package of bacon at a time and storing it in the freezer. The precooked bacon in the grocery store is so expensive compare to doing it yourself. I do it on cooking sheets, I don't have a problem with smoke. I do it @ 300 degrees and about 10 to 15 min. Sometimes it is a little longer. Just watch it.  Also remember pulling it out of the oven the HOT GREASE.
Also I take one package of bacon and separte it, laying in layers of 6 across (depending on your storage container size) then a layer of Plastic wrap, another layer of bacon and so on. Then store it in the freezer - So that I can take out one or two peices as needed when cooking and recipe calls for bacon.


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## GB

When I need to cook a lot of bacon I will do it in the oven, but if I am just cooking a few pieces or I feel like giving some strength to the seasoning on my cast iron pan then I will do it on the stove top.


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## BigDog

Thanks for the reminder, y'all! I've cooked both ways, oven in food service and stove top at home. This weekend I need to cook a lot of bacon for potato skins, and now I think I'll do it in the oven!

Here's a question . . . . . what temp? I want crispy to be crumbled over the skins. When I worked food service, we used a convection oven, which also would make a difference. I was thinking 300 to 350 or so. Sound right?

Parchment paper, wise for cooking bacon in the oven! I hope to save the drippings though, for other recipes!


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## phinz

In the restaurant I worked in during college we used to bake 50lbs of bacon at a time. The bacon came in boxes, already on parchment paper. We just transferred them over to cookie sheets and baked it until it looked good. I prefer pan frying, though. It seems to have more flavor, but that's, I'm sure, all in my head.


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## BigDog

phinz said:
			
		

> In the restaurant I worked in during college we used to bake 50lbs of bacon at a time. The bacon came in boxes, already on parchment paper. We just transferred them over to cookie sheets and baked it until it looked good. I prefer pan frying, though. It seems to have more flavor, but that's, I'm sure, all in my head.


 
Bingo. Huge box, already on parchment!  

I use a non-stick for stove top, mainly because I have nothing else. Planning on geting a SS set, a wok, a cast iron or two, and a no stick or two (they work great for eggs).

As for preferring one over the other, I never really bothered to think about it or compare. Also, all fo the food service bacon was standard, not in the varying flavors available at grocers.


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## phinz

I've baked, pan fried, baked on a rack and microwaved and my brain and tongue tell me pan frying is tastiest no matter which brand of bacon. I tend to get the least fatty bacon I can find without regard to brand, though. I need to find one with reduced sodium so I can eat it more often. I'm in the process of seasoning a CI pan, so I need to run some bacon through it to help it along.


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## Constance

My aunt often fixed Sunday brunch for the family...her husband and 4 girls, in-laws, and anyone else who happened to be in town for the weekend.
She cooked her bacon in the oven, using the broiler pan. It was always crisp. Perhaps she finished it off with the broiler.


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## Erik

BigDog said:
			
		

> Bingo. Huge box, already on parchment!
> 
> I use a non-stick for stove top, mainly because I have nothing else. Planning on geting a SS set, a wok, a cast iron or two, and a no stick or two (they work great for eggs).
> 
> As for preferring one over the other, I never really bothered to think about it or compare. Also, all fo the food service bacon was standard, not in the varying flavors available at grocers.


350 is a giood temp for bacon.


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## Chef_Jimmy

In my restaurant, I lay bacon on a cooling rack on a sheetpan and bake it full blast for 5-10 minutes. It is crisp, and the grease drops to the pan and it doesn't shrink as much as in a pan; that's just my experience. Try bacon wrapped scallops the same way, when the bacon is crisp, the scallops are done.


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## GB

Chef_Jimmy said:
			
		

> I bake it full blast for 5-10 minutes.


What is full blast in your oven? Is it hotter than the residential ovens?


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## Chef_Jimmy

It's a convection oven with fans that blow air around which makes things cook more evenly. Full blast is about 500 or 550 (your oven may say 500 but it probably only gets to about 475 or so.) which is a great point to bring up, I have My ovens calibrated professionally, I keep an oven thermometer in my oven to assure me that the temp is what it is supposed to be. It is very easy for an oven to be off. I promise you that if you put an oven thermometer in your oven, it will read differently than what is on the dial, only if a few degrees or so. (thats alot if your doing delicate baking at a fine fine restaurant.


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## Constance

I used to frequent Sara Moulton's cooking board, until EZboard was hacked. There was one lady in Georgia that always had fantastic recipes. She said when she had a brunch, she cooked her bacon on the gas grill. I believe she said that she put them on a piece of foil with holes punched in the bottom. 
My husband says that would make a terrible mess on the grill, with all the dripping grease. Have any of you tried cooking bacon this way?


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## Michelemarie

Constance, I remember being at the Weber Grill store (standing in line to by my grill) and I saw them grilling bacon - However, they had a special tray I think, it was years ago so I don't remember it very well.  I have put mine on George Foreman grill and it works great. I don't know if you have one or not, but try it if you do.


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## phinz

Bacon grilling does *not* work unless you use a drip tray. I know this, because I had a *heck* of a fire going on my Ducane one time because I thought it would be a good idea to try it. You should have seen the flames licking up! 

It also makes the bacon black from all the smoke, which aesthetically is *not* pleasing.


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## sherifffruitfly

Wow. I never would've guessed that there were so many people interested in the subject of baking bacon!



I was just happy to do it...


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## BigDog

sherifffruitfly said:
			
		

> Wow. I never would've guessed that there were so many people interested in the subject of baking bacon!
> 
> 
> 
> I was just happy to do it...


 
Dude, bacon rocks! I echo Emeril's saying that "pork fat rules." For me, bacon is at the top of that list!


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## sherifffruitfly

BigDog said:
			
		

> Dude, bacon rocks! I echo Emeril's saying that "pork fat rules." For me, bacon is at the top of that list!



It's almost true: bacon makes everything better.

The one glaring counterexample: the bacon-tini.

Don't do it. It's bad. Real bad. I was really drunk. And it was still really bad.

But other than that, it's hard to miss with bacon - mmmm

Think I'll put some in the casserole I'm makin tonight! lol


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## BigDog

sherifffruitfly said:
			
		

> It's almost true: bacon makes everything better.
> 
> The one glaring counterexample: the bacon-tini.
> 
> Don't do it. It's bad. Real bad. I was really drunk. And it was still really bad.
> 
> But other than that, it's hard to miss with bacon - mmmm
> 
> Think I'll put some in the casserole I'm makin tonight! lol


 
Iron Chef Cat Cora even made Bacon Ice Cream, and the judges liked it!

Bacon-tini? I don't think I want to know . . . . .  

I can't think of anything that adding some bacon to wouldn't work . . . . . but I'm not trying all that hard either . . . . .


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## GB

As Homer Simpson says...

"MMMMMBacon"

"butter up that bacon boy"

and

"bacon up that sausage"


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## Piccolina

Crispy oven baked bacon is a favourite of my brothers, and he still does something that we started as kids, sprinkling a little icing sugar on top before you put it in the oven. It is excellent this way, and a must for all who love maple syrup over their bacon.


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## sherifffruitfly

Piccolina said:
			
		

> Crispy oven baked bacon is a favourite of my brothers, and he still does something that we started as kids, sprinkling a little icing sugar on top before you put it in the oven. It is excellent this way, and a must for all who love maple syrup over their bacon.



Some chef-dude was telling me basically the same thing at the bar last night. He drizzles maple syrup over the top, and it turns into some sorta glaze....


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## jpmcgrew

Im with you Phinz I also prefer pan frying bacon.I like to turn bacon often so it cooks evenly.
I dont mind doing it, I just kinda space out while Im cooking bacon


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## velochic

A very long time ago I discovered the most decadent thing in the world.  I cannot remember where I ate it.

American bacon, dredged in American brown sugar and baked in a hot oven on a broiling pan.

Oh... my... goodness.  Candied bacon... can it get any better??

ETA:  I have been trying to remember where I had this.  I know it was probably almost 10 years ago at a restaurant in New Jersey.  I wish I could give the credit where it's due.


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## Constance

I saw that somewhere too...I think it was on Paula Deen's show. I've also seen the bacon dredged in flour before frying in hot grease.


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## licia

Brown sugar coated bacon is delicious, but I only serve it for special breakfasts or brunches.


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