Baked is the way to go. I line a baking sheet with foil, lay out bacon and pop it into a cold oven. Set oven to 400 - by the time it hits temp, it is done (if not, turn heat off and check in a few minutes). Flat and crispy. (My oven is old and has uneven heat, so I do 0-200, rotate pan and do 200-400).
For perfect bacon grease, cook bacon ‘sous vide’ in plastic packaging. I do 2 lbs of thick Fletchers from Costco. 150F for twelve hours. Snip corner and drain fat into a clean jar.
To prepare ‘sous vide’ bacon for eating, crisp it, either do the oven trick above or in a pan - a minute or two then flip for 30 seconds.
Everyone always talks about saving leftover bacon grease, but I never have leftover bacon grease. Anything I’m using the bacon in, I’m using the grease in, too.
This. I am too lazy to save for future use. If I am going to do something with something like leftover bacon grease, I’m going to do it right there and then. Fry something else in it, but I am not a saver.
They all have their advantages as noted above. But I preferentially go middle of the road for crumbles and BLTs, fatty for eating by the strip at breakfast. I will eat more or less carbonized bacon( my step-mother is notorious for that stuff ), but it is never a preference.
Bacon MUST be crispy, slightly soft and bendy at most. Limp chewy bacon has a raw mouthfeel to me and is yucky.
Bacon is NOT a condiment.
Bacon Grease otoh…I will stand there at the stove top dipping bits of bread into the Bacon Grease as it cools and eat and eat and eat until I can’t eat no more.
Yes, I will most likely drop dead of a heart attack any minute no
), but it is never a preference.
