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.

9 comments:

SJ said...

Baking the bacon. That sounds quite intriguing. I can't decide though whether it really is worth three hours...

natalie said...

ooooh i gotta try this! next on your list of things to try for us to sample: chocolate-covered bacon! DOOOOOO it!

Eva said...

i drooled on my laptop. j/k.

jko said...

Deliciousness. I want to see this even thinner like Thomas Keller's! B+

Lulu Barbarian said...

I tried this after reading about it on Cooking for Engineers too, and I love it! I don't do it too often because of the planning ahead issue though. Your idea to set the oven timer and have it ready for breakfast is super! I think I'll do this soon.

Unknown said...

I've done this and it's nice not having to worry about splatter from frying. Your first pic? Wow!!

Mitzi said...

I tried this and used thin bacon. To be honest, at first the bacon looked kind of weird so thin and stick straight. But after the first bite, it was like..whoa! Anyway, I had to hold myself back. My husband said it tasted like Serrano Jamon (Ham). My next attempt will be thicker pieces of bacon. Thanks for the post!

JudyEll said...

i can't believe you spent three hours making bacon. -_-

Shannon said...

my dad went on some culinary trip a couple weeks ago and brought my brother back some bacon jelly beans.

worst. things. ever.