Easiest (Best?) Way to Cook Bacon

[SmokingInTheWind]

The wife and I eat about 3 pounds of bacon a week between us, for breakfast and snacking. We want easy cooking and clean up. We cut the slab into quarters and basically stir fry it. In nice weather it is outside on the gas grill side burner in a 12 inch cast iron skillet. In colder weather we are inside and use an enameled cast iron Dutch oven on the gas cooktop. The deep Dutch oven prevents messy splatter. We usually cook 1.5 pounds at a time. We strain the grease into glass containers to use for cooking.

@brian64 Your bacon looks much nicer than ours though.

 

[Snook]

Nice rack. I find that cooking bacon in a cast iron pan while shirtless yields the best results and flavor.

 

[FLDRD]

Nice rack. I find that cooking bacon in a cast iron pan while shirtless yields the best results and flavor.

One piece of fatherly advice I've always passed onward:
No matter how fun it sounds, never cook bacon naked.

 

[Snook]

One piece of fatherly advice I've always passed onward:
No matter how fun it sounds, never cook bacon naked.

I didn't say no pants!

 

[Olkofri]

Heck, I almost put on a welding suit when frying.

 

[shanez]

Oven works great. We have an air fryer which works great as well.

The best method, however, is in the smoker.

 

[Briarcutter]

The bacon in the picture is burnt.

I didn't notice at first.

IMO, bacon must have the consistency of linguine

 

[Briarcutter]

The wife and I eat about 3 pounds of bacon a week between us, for breakfast and snacking. We want easy cooking and clean up. We cut the slab into quarters and basically stir fry it. In nice weather it is outside on the gas grill side burner in a 12 inch cast iron skillet. In colder weather we are inside and use an enameled cast iron Dutch oven on the gas cooktop. The deep Dutch oven prevents messy splatter. We usually cook 1.5 pounds at a time. We strain the grease into glass containers to use for cooking.

@brian64 Your bacon looks much nicer than ours though.

I just ordered a whole hog today with twenty extra pounds of bacon MMMMMmmmmm
It's only smoked, not cured!

 

[RPK]

How To Boil Bacon - https://recipes.net/articles/how-to-boil-bacon/.

 

[georged]

Sounds weird, but works well:

 

[SmokingInTheWind]

I just ordered a whole hog today with twenty extra pounds of bacon MMMMMmmmmm
It's only smoked, not cured!

Nice! We sold our chest freezer when the kid’s left home. Now we eat low carb, lots of beef and pork. I wish we still had the freezer so we could buy in bulk. I would have to clean up the garage to make room for one, haha.

 

[The Amish Tyrant]

Nice! We sold our chest freezer when the kid’s left home. Now we eat low carb, lots of beef and pork. I wish we still had the freezer so we could buy in bulk. I would have to clean up the garage to make room for one, haha.

I have a standing freezer in my garage for bulk meats and deals. Saves space and convenient (although someone else keeps way too much ice cream in there ... give me the meats).

As for cooking bacon, in the oven on a rimmed and lined sheet tray. It's done the same way in restaurants, unless on a griddle. While I like the rack idea, I don't have space for more kitchen gadgets.

 

[Carol]

My favorite way is in a cast iron skillet over a wood fire. Sooo good. When cooking it indoors, I humbly suggest using a spatter screen. With or without clothing. Just sayin'.

 

[HeavyLeadBelly]

I’m on team bacon in a cast iron skillet on a gas stove then cook eggs in the bacon fat.

Between this thread and the fast food one I’m hungry.

 

[Sobrbiker]

I’m in the cookie sheet with parchment corner myself.

Jars of grease in fridge for everything from eggs to wilting spinach to dipping biscuits in.

Camping: chop the bacon into quarters and dump in a cast pan, stir into separate bite size chunks.

Edit-who am I kidding? I love bacon any way it’s cooked!

I find it nice that the grocery stores ask carry great single serving packs.

…and I just had a coronary CT a couple months ago and have ZERO plaque in any coronary vessels (gotta love good genes!).

 

[trouttimes]

I’m always in a hurry so 1 min in the microwave between two paper towels does the trick. One egg takes 45 seconds. Then I’m out to door feeding stock.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

Susan makes bacon on a shallow tray using the oven; I was fascinated by how flat the bacon turned out the first time she made it for me.

I personally prefer cooking bacon on a 1930s Griswold cast iron pan on a gas stove. Depending on the mood I’m in, I like it crispy, but sometimes enjoy having it kind of soft with some white still present (and it being a bit rubbery). Like @HeavyLeadBelly I like to cook my eggs in the bacon grease.

One of the criteria when we bought our house was it had to have a gas stove—it’s what I require for wok cooking. Susan wants to switch to induction for health reasons, so I may eventually be relegated to using propane for any Chinese cooking I do (she does 95% of the cooking, so gas will probably lose at some point).

 

[karam]

In the oven, on a rack and crispy is what I prefer, however in Switzerland the local variety is German-style speck, which is paper thin and often eaten uncooked like prosciutto.

I preferred thick cut English bacon, including back bacon as it's a lot meatier.

 

[Briarcutter]

You bacon lovers ever tried pork belly? When I purchased my first hog the butcher didn't smoke so my only choice was pork belly or grind it into sausage. I had him slice it 1/4 inch thick. Man was is good fried up like bacon! Different as it was not smoked but it was sure tasty.

 

[SmokeyJock]

I always cook it rare in the microwave.

I know you're not supposed to undercook pork, and I'm not a bacon eater often, but when I do, the fatty bits better still be almost white and the strip better still be floppy, otherwise it's overcooked for me. 99.9% of all bacon I've seen everywhere is overcooked for my taste.

You're an abomination