Althouse: 30 minutes into the ritual cooking of the bacon...

June 13, 2013

30 minutes into the ritual cooking of the bacon...

... it's a great method...

... but oh! the waiting...

40 comments:

gerry said...: I really, really, really really wish I could have some of that bacon.

Gout.

Old with gout.

Can't eat bacon. Wonderful bacon.

Pass the bourbon!; 6/13/13, 7:56 AM
edutcher said...: There's something wrong with the house smelling like bacon?

PS Nice to see Ann is one of the guys.; 6/13/13, 7:59 AM
Tim said...: Yeah, bacon rocks, but someone is seriously over-thinking this.

And, over-thinking simple things is how we ended up with Obama.

Think about it.; 6/13/13, 8:00 AM
rhhardin said...: Morningstar breakfast strips are done in 60 seconds in the microwave.

They have a sort of bacon taste and go well in a microwave-poached egg and cheese sandwich.

The egg poaching takes 6 minutes owing to a requirement to reduce power to 40%, lest the eggs explode.

It's a poached shape but actually hard boiled.

Don't overnuke the breakfast strips.; 6/13/13, 8:01 AM
Meade said...: The Maillard reaction. Ask chicklit. He can explain the chemistry. I can't.; 6/13/13, 8:02 AM
Tibore said...: (*Blinks*) Water-fried bacon?

Well... normally I'd say "HERESY!", but Cooks County Test Kitchen normally has their stuff together. I think I need to try that myself now.; 6/13/13, 8:03 AM
rhhardin said...: The dog can detect poached eggs being scooped out of the microwave egg poacher.

Experimentally the best explanation is that scent travels at the speed of sound, owing to the diffusion equation having an infinite propagation velocity for an infinitesmally small concentration, limited probably in reality by the speed of sound, and dogs having seriously good scent detectors.

Scooping the eggs is the last step before extracting the yolks for her dish.; 6/13/13, 8:04 AM
DanTheMan said...: Get a microwave bacon tray from Amazon (through the Althouse portal, of course). Two minutes on high = perfect bacon.; 6/13/13, 8:06 AM
DanTheMan said...: Jacques Pepin shows you how it's done...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNYL9mLAFyY; 6/13/13, 8:09 AM
Danno said...: Looks great. I would have to cook more at once to have some for BLTs afterwards.; 6/13/13, 8:12 AM
pm317 said...: Not a pretty sight.; 6/13/13, 8:17 AM
LeAnne said...: Bacon should be cooked in the oven. 10 min. at 400 and you have the best bacon and then you can save the fat for use with green beans, or spinach, or collards, or cornbread.; 6/13/13, 8:21 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Get a microwave bacon tray from Amazon (through the Althouse portal, of course). Two minutes on high = perfect bacon."

Do a taste test.

The water method is insanely great, but it takes a long time. Like pot roast.; 6/13/13, 8:22 AM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: Naw, that' s a pain in the ass. This works much better, and same results.

- oven at 400 degrees
- cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil
- lay bacon out flat, covering every inch of pan
- place in oven 15-17 minutes (to your desired end result - floppy or crisp
- done

no muss, no fuss, no spattering.; 6/13/13, 8:23 AM
Kelly said...: My new fire alarm is so sensitive that the dogs go running when I take out the frying pan. I'll have to give this a try although for a lot of bacon the oven will always be the best way.; 6/13/13, 8:34 AM
ndspinelli said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/13/13, 9:04 AM
ndspinelli said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/13/13, 9:06 AM
Anonymous said...: That's B.S. If you want to cook bacon best in a pan, start with some previous bacon fat, not water. Oil transfers heat much better than water and allows you to cook it at a higher temperature (which is only where you can cook it - above 212F). The water thing only allow the bacon to cook after the water boils over and fat is released from the bacon.

The best way to cook bacon is in the oven, IMHO.; 6/13/13, 9:20 AM
Tibore said...: "ndspinelli said...
Gerry, There are many myths about gout. Are you sure bacon is a trigger. For decades it was believed organ meat and shellfish were, but that's been proven false."

Unfortunately bacon is pretty high in nitrates and, worse yet, purines. So it, too, is a food-to-avoid.

That said, it depends on the susceptibility and severity of the sufferer. In my case, gout's controlled by the simple, cheap allopurinol. I don't tempt fate by eating gout-inducing foods all the time, but at the same time I don't have to avoid them completely. And it works, thank God. As long as I'm not continuously pigging out on bacon, I can haz. :); 6/13/13, 9:32 AM
Bart said...: the George Forman style cookers are best. With heat on both top/bottom it only takes a few min and you can get it to whatever level of crispiness you want. Also if you have the removalbe griddle plates clean up is easy as well.

MMMMM bacon!!; 6/13/13, 9:46 AM
dbp said...: Cooking bacon in water works, but there are better alternatives.

1. Use a pan sized according to how much bacon you intend to cook.

2. Set the heat high enough to cook the bacon but low enough so that you do not scorch it.

3. Due to uneven heat in some pans, it helps to cut the bacon in half length-wise. Then you can move pieces that are more done to cooler parts of the pan and un-done ones to the center.

4. If you are making a whole package of bacon, nothing beats the oven for ease and excellent results. It is just not worth running the oven if it is only a few pieces. OTOH, if it is Winter and your oven is gas, it will heat the house just as efficiently as your furnace; so run it to heat the house and the cooking is for free.; 6/13/13, 9:52 AM
Astro said...: I started baking bacon the Alton Brown way, and it's great. You can do a whole pound of bacon at once and it keeps in the fridge just fine, ready to be nuked for a few seconds to re-heat it.
By the way - use thick cut bacon; life is too short to waste time with skinny bacon.

Thick vs skinny reminds me of the old joke about the guy who ordered a pizza and when asked if he wanted it sliced into 6 pieces or 8, he said, 'Better make it 6, I can't eat 8.'; 6/13/13, 9:59 AM
Astro said...: An advantage of the baking method is you can buy meatier bacon and have less waste. Pan-fried bacon needs the fat to help it cook - but then the fat is lost as grease (unless you save it to use in other cooking, like corn muffins).

--Though, this water method might mean less fat is needed. I'll need to try it.; 6/13/13, 10:06 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Plus..buy GOOD bacon."

We buy our bacon at the butcher counter in Whole Foods. It's quite thick.; 6/13/13, 10:14 AM
Tibore said...: YES to good bacon. Some of the store-packaged stuff is junk and cooks down to nothing (although there are a couple of acceptable ones... they tend not to be the recognizable name brands, though).

Best stuff is almost always from the butcher counter. If not from a dedicated butcher shop, if you have one around.

----

And though bacon often needs no accoutrements, I've found that sometimes using a dry rub is an interesting change of pace. Especially if your dry rub's got brown sugar in it. At that point you're not pan frying, you're backing or broiling it, but still, it works out good. Also, with the right smoked bacon, I'm developing a taste for matching it up with a good barbecue sauce. It's obvious in hindsight given that it's pork, but for some odd reason it never occurred to me until recently.; 6/13/13, 10:24 AM
Anonymous said...: Gerry, tart cherry juice is great for old gouty people, don't say I never did anything for ya.; 6/13/13, 10:36 AM
Anonymous said...: Thick cut bacon is the only kind I buy. I've done the water method in the oven also.; 6/13/13, 10:40 AM
jacksonjay said...: Jacques Pepin..... what a class act! His shows with Julia Child.....! Indescribable!; 6/13/13, 11:16 AM
Michael Haz said...: The way I do it using Nueske's smoked bacon:

On a plate, place three or four layers of paper towels. Place sliiced bacon on paper towels, then cover with a second layer of two or three paper towels.

Microwave for approx three minutes. Remove crispy bacon, discard greasy paper towels.

Done.; 6/13/13, 11:24 AM
gerry said...: @ndspinelli: For decades it was believed organ meat and shellfish were, but that's been proven false.

Really? I'll have to look into that because I love shrimp. The doc says to avoid shellfish especially because of the purine load.

@Tibore: That said, it depends on the susceptibility and severity of the sufferer. In my case, gout's controlled by the simple, cheap allopurinol. I don't tempt fate by eating gout-inducing foods all the time, but at the same time I don't have to avoid them completely. And it works, thank God. As long as I'm not continuously pigging out on bacon, I can haz. :)

I take Allopurinol and it is very effective for me (and I'm glad it's cheap!). My blood Uric Acid is now 3.5 mg/dL so I can probably eat bacon, but I dread a reaction!

By the by, I was amazed to see uric acid measured by milligrams per decaLiter. Man, it's a potent crystal former!; 6/13/13, 11:27 AM
chickelit said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/13/13, 11:33 AM
ndspinelli said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/13/13, 11:38 AM
Astro said...: @ Michael Haz -- Yes to Neuske bacon. I heard Michael Symon mention it, and found a restaurant that serves it. Ordering it makes an unusual, but appreciated, gift for bacon lovers.; 6/13/13, 11:56 AM
Bob_R said...: I'm for baking bacon as well, but I use Reynolds Nonstick Aluminum Foil instead of a rack. You have to blot the bacon more than you would on the rack, but there is no rack to clean and you can use the pan and foil for roasting something - asparagus, zucchini, and cauliflower are popular around here - in some of the bacon fat. Cleanup is a breeze.; 6/13/13, 12:01 PM
Bob_R said...: And I've tried the water method. While there is a difference in texture, I don't really prefer on to the other. Baking is easier.; 6/13/13, 12:04 PM
Tibore said...: "gerry said...
I take Allopurinol and it is very effective for me (and I'm glad it's cheap!). My blood Uric Acid is now 3.5 mg/dL so I can probably eat bacon, but I dread a reaction!"

I don't doubt it! My last one was in my knee... my damn knee... and OMG, it was the worst pain ever. The doc actually withdrew 20ccs of fluid from my knee, and while to many folks that doesn't seem like a lot, it's HUGE when you consider what empty space you have inside a joint (hint to others: There *is* no empty space in there).

When you're not just okay with, but actually are to the point of begging a doctor to insert a needed into your knee to remove fluid and relieve pain, you're in hell. I'll bet you're well aware of just how bad it can be. For everyone else: Syringe aspiration of a joint may seem painful, but when it's that minor compared to the suffering, you know the pain is bad. Holy crap, it was actually a relief, a damn near joyous one too.

"By the by, I was amazed to see uric acid measured by milligrams per decaLiter. Man, it's a potent crystal former!"

No joke. And the resultant edema too. My God, that stuff's nasty. Like Instapundit, I'm a fan of "Faster, please" where uricase research is concerned.; 6/13/13, 12:40 PM
Rusty said...: Ann Althouse said...
"Get a microwave bacon tray from Amazon (through the Althouse portal, of course). Two minutes on high = perfect bacon."

Do a taste test.

The water method is insanely great, but it takes a long time. Like pot roast.

I do it in the oven.

Cook bacon that is.; 6/13/13, 1:00 PM
Darrell said...: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2guC4Badq2s; 6/13/13, 2:17 PM
Will Cate said...: In the course of a day, one thing I rarely have is 30 minutes to cook bacon. I use a non-stick electric skillet at 300 degrees (starting from cold). About 7 or 8 minutes. I prefer Wright's ("The Bigger, Better Bacon").; 6/13/13, 3:43 PM
ndspinelli said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/13/13, 7:20 PM