Of course I know how to cook my bacon in the oven. It has the advantage for me that I don’t have to try flipping it over with a fork with my trembling hands. But the cleanup of a cookie sheet (or jelly roll sheet) is a PITA. Can I just put the bacon on a cast-iron skillet and bake it in the oven using that?
Wifey puts aluminum foil on the baking sheet first. It’s not perfect, but generally quite a bit easier to clean.
That bacon fat would season the cast iron, that’s for sure. Give it a try.
I also use aluminum foil. That doesn’t seem to make it much neater. And then I get to deal with a big greasy sheet of aluminum foil. Ima try the skillet in the morning.
Do you crimp it first? After I saw this I tried it and was impressed with the results compared to my old bacon-soakin’-in-the-grease-as-it-cooks technique.
I haven’t tried cooking bacon in the oven.
How much does it splatter? I hate cleaning an oven. The toxic cleaner and fumes aren’t easy to tolerate.
I’d use a disposable aluminum tray. Wipe it off with a paper towel and reuse a few times.
I buy them in bulk. Great for baked chicken or pork chops. Less hassle than lining with aluminum foil and the baking sheet stays clean.
Best way to cook bacon IMO is sous vide. Put entire package of bacon in 145 F sous vide bath overnight (8-48 hours). Open package and pour off fat.
You can now give the bacon a minute per side in a hot pan to warm it up. Refrigerate unused bacon for use over the next few days.
Boiled bacon? No crispy bits?
Ew, no thank you.
purple has left the chat
Microwave actually works good for bacon. Just put the strips in between a lot of paper towels, like quadruple thick. Microwave on high for one minute per slice, then 30 seconds at a time until it’s done to your liking.
You can still get it crispy, heating it for 1 1/2 minutes in the pan instead of just warming it. You’re just doing away with 95% of the cooking time and controlling 95% of the mess.
I finally went to the baking method of cooking bacon. It was a bit of a hit at my family get together this year. My tips and comments, in no particular order:
–Most recipes say the oven should be set to 400F. I’d suggest some experimentation to determine the best temp and time. When I used 400F, the bacon did cook, but didn’t get crispy. I settled on 450F to get the crispiness that I like.
–There is really very little splattering in the oven, certainly much less than pan frying on top of the stove.
–I use foil to line the pan. When done, I transfer the cooked bacon to paper towels to soak up some of the fat. When the pan is cool, and bacon is eaten, I put the used paper towels on top of the foil. This soaks up a lot of the bacon fat, then I fold the foil and toss it away. Works pretty well.
UPDATE: I just took four rashers out of the cast iron skillet I’d oven-baked them in, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. There are eight more breakfasts to be made (and I had to reheat and pour off someone else’s bacon fat from yesterday before I began, so I don’t feel bad about this part), so I’m leaving the skillet as-is this morning.
THE TECHNIQUE:
(thick-cut bacon)
Preheat oven to 400F
Arrange bacon in skillet
Bake for 10 minutes
Remove from oven, flip bacon with tongs, return to oven
Bake for another 7-10 minutes
Remove from oven, place rashers on paper towel to soak up excess fat
Enjoy
The above is why I spring for pre-cooked bacon – let a factory somewhere deal with the mess! It also makes cooking bacon and eggs a snap – fry eggs, plate them, then just put pre-cooked bacon strips in the hot pan for a few seconds.
The stuff is way more expensive than regular bacon, but to me the convenience is worth it.
I’m with wifey.I even do salmon on the grill on aluminum foil. Cleanup’s much easier (sure there’s grease, but you can fold the foil into a pouch).
ps: My first reaction on seeing the thread title was “Oh, no, a woman has to break the news to her Orthodox Jewish husband that her baby-to-be was fathered by an Evangelical!”
Super-convenient, but the main problem with that stuff is it’s crazy thin; even the “thick cut” RTE bacon is pretty dang thin. That’s fine if you’re just making a quick breakfast or just want a couple of slices to slap on top of a sandwich, but if you’re making a proper BLT, you end up using the whole package or more. I don’t have that kind of money to blow on BLTs. 
I’ll be giving that a shot soon!
When I bake bacon I line the bottom of a broiler pan with parchment paper. I cook it at 400F for about 20 min. Give or take 5 min I don’t flip it. Bacon can go from crisp to burnt quickly once it’s close to your desired crispness so keep a watchful eye on it.
I transfer the bacon to paper towels and let the grease cool and solidify in the pan. Then later I drop the sodden grease sheet in the trash can. The pan does get a little greasy so I wipe our any extra and it’s an easy wash. I don’t save grease usually.
We had guests staying with us last week. Upon finding a package of bacon in the fridge they immediately put it in the oven and cooked it. Just a plain … Um, what do you call those cookie sheet type things that have lips? Anyway. Came out okay but I’m concerned about the grease spatters inside the oven.
The pieces were put in the fridge for later eating. Ugh. Hot, fresh bacon is so much better.
I like it best cooked on an offset-heat grill like a pellet smoker. The grease drips into the drain bucket so it’s not cooking in its own fat, it adds a little smokiness, and the kitchen doesn’t smell like bacon for the rest of the day (I find the bacon smell a perk for the first hour, but it gets old after that).
I get the best results cooking it low (like 225-250°). You can still get it nice and crispy if you like it that way.
I’ve never sous-vided anything (but had plenty of sous vide stuff), but cooking bacon in a bit of water first is actually a technique. It makes it crispier, as it renders out a good bit of fat in the boiling/poaching stage, and then when the water evaporates, the rendered fat crisps up the bacon. That’s similar to the process I’ve used to render my own pork and beef fat into lard and tallow. For the bacon, you don’t have to use a lot of water – just enough to cover it and a little bit in a pan.
