I also drain my bacon when I pull it out of the fry pan but I do not put it on paper towels as there is a lot of flavors in the bacon juice. I don't like dry bacon. To me it does not have much flavor.There's still good control, someone just didn't pull the tray a little earlier
High end frying pan recommendation
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You have more or less the same amount of control in the oven as on the stovetop. So long as you want an evenly cooked, flat piece of bacon, there's no better way to do it than in the oven.
This might be the saddest thing I've ever read on a cooking forum. Your earlier comments about being too old to use a different grip on your knife might take second place. At any rate, it's not really different from taking your big pan and putting it in the oven instead of on the burner. If you want to baby-step the change, you might try doing it that way first instead of getting a sheet tray involved right off the bat. Ease into it, you know?
And you've been eating oven baked bacon all your life. 90% of the bacon we get in restaurants is coming off sheet trays. The remainder is short order cooks working a griddle. If you have problems with the bacon you eat other places, it's probably because you don't like the bacon they're buying, not because they're cooking it in the oven.
It's fat, not juice. And you can just give the bacon a shake as you take it off the pan to drain it. Or you can move it to a cooling rack. Or you can cook the bacon on a cooling rack so that it naturally drains as it cooks, yet still has a layer of fat coating it. Lots of ways to achieve similar results.
I guess I like the taste of bacon fat. That bacon in the picture looks great. It has good color and is a little bit moist with bacon fat just the way I like it. I don't eat bacon out much as I don't think it tastes good. Very few restaurants make bacon I like. If I can't see it, I don't order it. On the cruise ships I always try a little bit but most of the time is either too dry or too greasy with not good color. I eat sausage or ham instead.
I do save bacon fat like my grandfather did. It works great using it in a hot cast iron pan that you are going to bake jalapeño cornbread in instead of oil. It adds a nice flavor.
My bacon is not perfect either, but that picture is what I strive for.
I do like Virginia ham. If I am over around Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina or Tennessee I order ham with breakfast. In Texas not so much. I probably do Mexican breakfast in Texas.
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this am’s batch
So, I cooked bacon this morning for breakfast using my copper pan as I was only going to cook 2 slices. The bacon was uneven in thickness. I had to take the smaller piece off early which I don't know how I would have done that in an oven.
My wife likes crispier bacon, while I prefer it a bit chewier.
It’s no problem cooking both on the same sheet pan in the oven.
In an oven, you wouldn't need to! They cook up more evenly, and thickness doesn't matter as much. But for 2 pieces, the pan makes more sense.
The best hack I've seen for pan fry bacon is to scissor it into smaller pieces approximately 16:9 in aspect ratio (if you’re a Millennial) or even 4:3 (if you’re a Boomer). Gen X get to choose either
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They describe the $400 stockpot as a splurge. I’d argue it’s symptomatic of obsessive narcissism disorder. The rest seems germane to this discussion
https://www.seriouseats.com/best-all-clad-kitchen-gear-7724592
https://www.seriouseats.com/best-all-clad-kitchen-gear-7724592
I don't think I would use that as a reference. That little burner they used looks nothing like the burners on my Viking range. I don't think I would trust it. There are more tests out there on YouTube where they use better stoves or ranges.
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Did you ever try one of those iwatani butane burners? They’re pretty good. But anyway, sometimes their tests are pretty good. This one may be just product placement. The $400 stockpot is just a stupid use of $340
Looks good to me. Enjoy those BLTs. I like salt and black pepper on the tomatoes with mayonnaise on the bread.
BillHanna
Gotta get ready for ARM
Good choice of chip; Middleswarth would be better though.
sumis
Senior Member
bacon is not good for you anyway.
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Michi
I dislike attempts to rewrite history
Says who?
boomchakabowwow
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Americas Test Kitchen says to add a bit of Creme of Tartar to the salt you sprinkle on the tomatoes. i tried it and it was awesome. not sure what it does, (something about the pH, i think).
and my mayo is Kewpie for sure.
user 16756
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Is there really anything inherently unhealthy about bacon?
Sure it's calorically dense, and some folks who have salt/cholesterol issues may want to avoid it, but is there any research that says that it's unhealthy in reasonable quantities?
Sure it's calorically dense, and some folks who have salt/cholesterol issues may want to avoid it, but is there any research that says that it's unhealthy in reasonable quantities?
boomchakabowwow
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maybe the nitrates? but i agree it isnt the bacon taking us out, it is the sedentary lifestyle. there are some lifestyles that required fats to survive. my deskjob aint it. if i was mushing across the frozen tundra pulling seals out of ice holes, maybe.
control Alt Delete type work isnt gonna cut it.
sumis
Senior Member
avoiding bacon is sure as hell much healthier for the pigs.
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Jovidah
I'll make you a sponsor offer you can't refuse...
It's in the processed meat category due to addition of nitrates. And unfortunately for the processed meat category you do tend to find fairly consistent results in the data that they're bad for your health. Which is actually far harder to make a case for when you're just talking meat in general (even fatty meats / diets).
I have been eating bacon all my life. My doc says I have really good blood for somebody not taking prescribed drugs and as old as I am.
Jovidah
I'll make you a sponsor offer you can't refuse...
Yes and I know people who reached 90 while smoking a pack of cigarettes a day without getting lung cancer, or without ever eating any vegetables. 83% of people will also survive the first round of Russian roulette but that doesn't mean it's a healthy hobby.
Anecdotal evidence is meaningless. You have to look at the larger datasets - which is where the real truth is. Although admittedly nutritional and dietary research is incredibly difficult to do well... which is one of the reasons we still have a lot of unknowns.
Anecdotal evidence is meaningless. You have to look at the larger datasets - which is where the real truth is. Although admittedly nutritional and dietary research is incredibly difficult to do well... which is one of the reasons we still have a lot of unknowns.
I will try it next year during tomato season. I like heavy black pepper with salt.
I don't think I will give up bacon but there is a lot of not cooked well (right) bacon that I don't eat so maybe it does limit me some. My grandfather ate bacon until he was around 90. He used saved bacon grease in vegetables he cooked from the garden. I do some but not as much as he did. I have a lot more spices than he did, and I have lived in other countries to learn other foods spices.
Jovidah
I'll make you a sponsor offer you can't refuse...
Don't get me wrong, I'm not telling you to give up bacon.
It's fairly hard to deny that bacon is probably bad for your health, and the less of it you consume of it the better... but that also applies to alcohol and plenty of other things that are quite enjoyable.
The best compromise is probably moderation of some sort. Or just accepting the risk in exchange for the enjoyment it gives.
I think 'only eating it when it's actually good and tasty' is a pretty good rule in general when it comes to unhealthy things.
deskjockey
Senior Member
Hand labor drives the cost a lot and, there is a mark up for people who want to brag about their premium cast iron.
In my case, STARGAZER is a great design, better than Lodge and similar brands. It is also smooth so, no labor at home is needed to smooth things out.
I understand why they cost more than the cheaper brands. There is the added labor, yes, and there is also the ********* tax. But in terms of materials and performance, you're not gaining anything. I think smoothness in cast iron is mostly woo woo nonsense (like so much stuff surrounding cast iron and its maintenance). I have smooth vintage pieces and "rough" Lodge stuff, and I have not noticed any difference in nonstick performance or in their ability to take/hold seasoning. Others may experience a difference with their particular pans. I don't. They're the same. And they all work just as well as my carbon steel pans, which are "smooth" and inexpensive by their nature. Frankly, I'd rather be cooking in those most of the time anyway.
The Stargazer looks really nice, don't get me wrong. But since I don't care about the added labor of smoothing the surface and I don't want to pay the ********* tax, I'll remain happy with my $25 Lodge.
The Stargazer looks really nice, don't get me wrong. But since I don't care about the added labor of smoothing the surface and I don't want to pay the ********* tax, I'll remain happy with my $25 Lodge.
