Crispy Bacon – the quest continues

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Bacon-Cooking-(1-of-6)

Like many blokes, I like eating bacon. Lots of it. Lots of different ways.

The challenge I have had, cooking the bacon in a pan, is that without fail1 you end up par boiling the stuff and get a kinda fried, boiled, not particularity crisp bacon.

So, I wanted to try out a couple of different ways of cooking bacon to see out how they would turn out.

Method One: In the Oven

It’s simple – place the bacon in a pan, put the pan into a cold oven, turn up to 204°C and leave for twenty minutes.

The two keys to this method are – using a cold oven to start with and, not putting the bacon on a rack – you want it to cook in it’s own fat. If you want, once cooked, put it on some paper towels to get rid of some of that fat – or better yet, strain and store it for seasoning your cast iron pan!

The bacon, is what I would basically describe as ‘American’ – really crispy, to the point of being burnt. That is simply remedied by reducing the time in the oven.

Method Two: In the Pan

With a twist – or more correctly – with a pile more water. In this case, you are essential boiling the bacon first – which to be honest, I was a little hesitant about initially.

Bacon-Cooking-(4-of-6)

The idea here, is to put the bacon in, cover with water (cover, not just a little bit) and turn the heat up high. As the water boils, it renders the fat as well as stopping the fat splattering all over the place. Once that water boils away, you turn down the heat and continue to now fry until till crisp.

The bacon was ok, but the issue was that I had to basically keep an eye on the pan for when the water boiled away. It also took about the same time as the oven, but basically required more attention.

Bacon-Cooking-(6-of-6)

Which method?

My vote in this case goes to the oven. It’s easy, little mess and results in bacon that got picked by myself and the misses. So, from now on, as part of the weekend morning breakfast routine – the bacon is going in the oven!


  1. especially for store bought, brine drenched, mostly water bacon 

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