# What's a 'normal' amount of bacon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 27, 2016, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788 "2016-05-27T03:40:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788/62 "2016-05-28T15:10:29Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > I oppose the use of the word “rasher” Then don’t use it. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2016, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788/63 "2016-05-28T16:08:24Z")
I’ve just learned today that bacon has its own unit of measurement. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2016, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788/64 "2016-05-28T17:37:57Z")
Well, this morning’s breakfast had 5 strips of bacon on it, and I want some more, so personally my “normal” serving is “more than 5.” ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2016, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788/65 "2016-05-28T20:03:10Z")
“Leftover Bacon” There’s a reason that phrase has probably never been used. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2016, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788/66 "2016-05-28T23:34:23Z")
If it came in two-foot-long strips, I’d be more interested. Just have one piece and triple it over, back and forth, onto the frying pan. Wherever it bends back over, it might not fry as well, so I’d weigh down each bend with a small rock or something. Also really good is cacon: bacon wrapped around a cake. The tempestuous marriage of sugar and salt …so, so…MUAH!!! ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788/67 "2016-05-30T00:26:22Z")
I don’t really like bacon as a “breakfast” thing; you know, with eggs and pancakes and such. (I’d rather have sausage or ham.) I’ll make myself a BLT instead, even if it’s 7 AM. 3 slices is about right. But then, I’m the cook, so there’s usually the piece I nibble while I’m making everyone’s omelet, and the half piece left on a kid’s plate while washing up, and… 😃 So, more like 5 strips. I like half-crisp bacon the most. Best of both worlds! (Oh, and as to leftover bacon fat…make a warm vinaigrette salad dressing with it. BLT in a bowl!) ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788/68 "2016-05-30T09:53:40Z")
My typical breakfast serving has always been six pieces, solely because my largest skillet can hold six slices on uncooked bacon. But I haven’t had bacon for breakfast in at least a couple of years, leaving my exposure to it as a hamburger topping. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788/69 "2016-05-30T11:16:26Z")
My wife and I still laugh over a Micky D’s breakfast somewhere, where there were two pieces of bacon served with the “Big Breakfast” - each about 2 inches long by 1/2 inch wide. We complained, and the manager said it was two pieces, therefore it was right. All other McD’s that we have been to give you two real slices of bacon. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788/70 "2016-05-30T11:33:45Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > …Sometimes there’s packages of bacon that look like almost all fat and you wonder - ok, who in their right mind would buy that? Those can be really good for wrapping things in; salmon steaks for example. If you wrap a salmon steak in a couple of slices of fatty bacon and bake it, the bacon fat infuses and bastes the salmon and prevents it drying out as well as adding to the flavour (for those who don’t find salmon flavourful enough on its own). ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788/71 "2016-05-30T23:46:39Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Jim Gaffigan on [bacon.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaK9bjLy3v4) I see your Jim Gaffigan and raise you [Rhett and Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSReSGe200A). The only time I had more bacon than I wanted to eat was at a breakfast buffet. The tongs closed on a fused wad of more than a half pound. I tried to tease the wad apart and without thinking, reached out to touch the mass. Giving up I took is back to the table. Luckily there were five us there and I was able to farm out what I couldn’t eat (throwing it away was not an option). ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788/72 "2016-06-06T22:16:19Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > Those can be really good for wrapping things in; salmon steaks for example. If you wrap a salmon steak in a couple of slices of fatty bacon and bake it, the bacon fat infuses and bastes the salmon and prevents it drying out as well as adding to the flavour (for those who don’t find salmon flavourful enough on its own). Apropos of this (Believe it or not) I recall the effort I had to make not to laugh when a friend introduced her son, who had been named “Bard.” She undoubtedly referred to the Medieval traveling entertainers, but the kid was somewhat overweight, and to someone who has visited some of the higher altitudes of cooking, “bard” has the meaning of “to wrap with fat.” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788/73 "2016-06-06T23:16:05Z")
Is your heart clogged yet? No? Then you haven’t reached the normal amount of bacon. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2017, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788/74 "2017-10-01T20:19:58Z")
Since June, I’ve cut back. Two rashers instead of four, half the normal serving of hashbrowns, and one egg. (The Wife still gets the massive amount of hashbrowns and two eggs, and has cut back from two rashers to one.) ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2017, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788/75 "2017-10-01T21:41:58Z")
mom through normal bacon was a waste of money so we ate sizzlelean (I miss the brown sugar and maple flavor) but every so often shed get a big butcher cut of “ends and pieces” for about 5 bucks that was like 10 pounds in a bag and just toss em in a deep fryer with just enough oil to cover half a basket and then use the grease in the pan to make gravy for biscuits … ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2017, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788/76 "2017-10-01T21:50:43Z")
I used to get the 5-pound boxes of bacon ends and pieces, and cook and eat them like bacon. The last time I did that, the pieces were a little _too_ irregular. Anyway, The Missus would probably think they were weird. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2017, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788/77 "2017-10-02T00:46:00Z")
The only problem with the 5lb packages of ends is that is a little much to fit in my large fry pan. Now the 1.5lb packages of thick cut fit nicely in my oven bacon cooking pan… ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2017, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788/78 "2017-10-02T01:12:05Z")
I had a Wimpy Burger from the Inverness Park Market for dinner. The Wimpy comes with five slices of smoked bacon. I don’t know if that’s “normal”, but it sure was delicious! ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2017, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788/79 "2017-10-02T01:16:49Z")
I get my bacon from a local Polish butcher shop that smokes and slices its own. There’s a wide variation between rasher size, thickness, and fattiness. What I usually do is, start enough bacon to cover the bread, then put two slices of bread in a 325 oven, with sliced white cheddar covering one. When the bacon is done I drain it and pour a little of the fat into the omelette pan, then pour in a beaten egg with S&P. Take the melted cheese slice out of the oven, spread the scrambled egg over it, top with the bacon, cover with the rest of the bread (mayo or butter optional), pour a glass of V8, cut the sandwich in two. If I’m feeling magnanimous, I will do an extra piece of bacon for the dogs. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2018, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788/80 "2018-03-31T23:05:14Z")
I previously mentioned broiling eight slices at a time; since starting my low-carb diet, I got a larger cookie sheet so I could cook more at a time. And I didn’t mention before that I always buy thick sliced so there’s more bacon per square inch. If there’s a “normal” amount of bacon, this is probably in excess of it. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2018, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788/81 "2018-03-31T23:35:58Z")
I’m going to lob this idea in here… I KNOW the OP specified an American norm, but as has doubtless been covered ad nauseum on these boards, we have different types of bacon here in the UK. Unsmoked “back” bacon (think pork chop shape, sliced bacon-thin) is your generic British bacon if no type is specified, and tends to give you a bigger slice than “streaky” bacon (what American-style bacon is known as here). Anyway, that means 3 slices is a pretty decent helping, especially if served alongside sausages, black pudding, eggs, fried bread, mushrooms and possibly baked beans. And why wouldn’t you? Well, perhaps because you’re after a bacon butty, in which case I’d reckon on three as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-normal-amount-of-bacon/755788.md?page=5)