No, seriously.
I’ve got a bunch of friends showing up on short notice for brunch, and I know one thing about these folks, having eaten out with them a number of times. They like their bacon.
So, I know, this sounds silly… but what’s the best way to cook a lot of bacon? Skillet, oven, microwave, or other? I usually go with the skillet method, but I invariably get impatient and turn the heat up too high, thus ruining the otherwise wonderful bacon.
Any suggestions?
So what’s the great debate? Crispy vs. soggy? 
Seriously, I do believe you’ve put this in the wrong forum. A mod will be along shortly to move it to MPSIMS or maybe Cafe Society, I’m sure.
But, I say a couple sheets in the oven is the best way to do a lot of bacon. I used to be a line cook for a restaurant years and years ago, and that’s how we did it in volume. Tasted great, didn’t take long. Lots of grease, though.
Uhhh… This is a Great Debate? I suggest you ask it in a rather less… grand… forum. No, seriously.
Bacon cooks tasty and crispy in a microwave, and no greasy pans to clean up afterwards.
mmmm-bacon
If this isn’t about Francis Bacon or Kevin Bacon, you probably thought you were in General Questions.
I suppose I could add that I do volume bacon by stacking in the frying pan and letting it soak up it’s own grease.
I second what Animorphic said. Cookie sheets in the oven. (I’ve been a line cook too) It gets done evenly and crispy, and you can do a lot at once. You’ll need something to drain the grease into, though.
Ah, thanks folks. Cookie sheets it is.
and begbert, obviously you don’t take bacon as seriously as I do.
heh, seriosuly though, yeah, meant to post this in ‘General Questions’ and misclicked. woops…
Ok, Diogenes, now it’s a Great Debate!
If you cook them in teh pan all together, you have to seperate them a lot with the spatula, but the grease gets cooked in better and give it more flavor.
Hrmmm… although I’ve been involved in restaurant cooking, I’ve never cooked bacon in the oven. At the last restaurant style place I worked at I cooked bacon on a flat top (3’ by 3’ slab of really hot steel).
Best way I’ve found to cook bacon is simply at a low heat. I let it cook nice and slowly until most of the fat has melted out, then raise the heat a bit until I get it crispy. Place the bacon on some paper towels and blot a bit (don’t want the customers getting slippery bacon!) then serve while hot.
Yes but it takes longer, it doesn’t get as crispy and you can’t do as much at once. I hate to flaunt my credentials but I have* been a line cook at Perkins and a place called Grandma Butterwicks. The professional way to do bacon is cookie sheets in the oven. I suspect that you, Copa have never even worn a hairnet…I don’t even know why I’m deigning to argue this with an…an…amateur breakfast cook. [sniff]
Does that qualify this theread for GD now? I hope we don’t have to take this to the pit.
According to “The Best Recipe” (by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated magazine), oven-frying is the best. 400F over, bacon in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan or similar shallow baking dish, cook until the fat starts to render (5-6 min), rotate the pan back to front, then cook until crispy, 5-6 min for thin sliced, 8-10 min for thick.
I assume that the oven should be set to ‘bake’? Or would ‘broil’ do the deed?
This topic bodes well for me. I am on a quest to make a good English breakfast, and good bacon has stood in my way.
Actually, Diogenes, I almost agree with you. For mass breakfast fry-ups for guests, my mother uses the slotted top of the broiler pan to make bacon. I haven’t tried it with cookie sheets, so I’d assume that a bit more of the grease drains off that way. On the other hand, I buy Cooks Illustrated regularly, so if they say “cookie sheet”, I’ll probably believe them.
Just to add an appropriate religious tone, is there bacon in heaven, and does it vary by faith?
CJ
Another former line cook checking in to agree with pan in the oven. Also, for best results take tongs and flip the bacon half way through cooking. I wouldn’t worry about the grease too much as long as you take the bacon off the pan as soon as its done. Put bacon on some paper towel or egg cartons to drain/soak up excess fat.
[Moderator Hat ON]
Moving to Cafe Society.
[Moderator Hat OFF]
I’ve never worn a hairnet, Diogenes, but I come from a Catholic family! Irish Catholic! That’s more food service than a line cook any day.
You’re assuming that the best bacon is crispy, pal. I like mine soggy and greasy. I like to fry the eggs on the grease in the pan after the bacon is done. Notice I said on the grease, because it’s so thick that the eggs float. That’s the ticket for good bacon.
Actually, I did work at Guthries, but that’s batter dipped deep fried chicken. Same way I like my bacon.
Thanks folks, the oven method worked like a charm dipped in… uh… bacon.
Five pounds of bacon, none of it left by the time the participants (or should I say, future transplant patients) stood up.