Monday, September 29, 2008

Experimenting with bacon

Bacon...mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

It's hard to find someone who hates bacon, unless of course that someone is vegan. I love it, and my wife enjoys it too, although she prefers to limit her intake of this fatty protein.

I saw a review of different bacon cooking techniques on Cooking For Engineers, so I decided to try a method I've never used before--baking at a low temperature for a long time. Babysitting the oven for 3 hours wasn't really my idea of fun, however. Cooking while I sleep seemed to be a better option. I arranged the bacon nicely on a rack that night, popped it in the oven, and set the oven timer to go on at 200°F, 3 hours before it was time to wake up.

I woke up to the delicious smell of bacon. When I tried it, I found it very crispy with a purity of flavor that comes from not having been charred. The pieces were perfectly straight, with minimal curling at the edges. This is the way my wife likes her bacon. I prefer mine slightly charred on the edges, with a bit of softness to balance the crunch, but this method is certainly a nice way to have your bacon, and eat it too.