No self-respecting food blogger doesn't have a recipe for bacon. Ok, not every recipe has to be an extravagant meal.
Another post, another exploitation of thermodynamics. You should be noticing a theme.
Cooking really is just thermo-exploitation. We've all had our fair share of bacon, ranging from crisp, burned strips of salty sadness to flaccid, seemingly wet strips of salty sadness. The rise in popularity of thick-cut bacon in the past decade or so has shaken the tradition of cooking this breakfast meat to its core. And I literally mean that, the core of thick-cut bacon is sometimes not cooked at all. With this style of bacon, we are often left with a slice of bacon that is seemingly crispy along the lean portions, while still being flaccid and chewy in the fatty areas: Schrodinger's Strip if you will. This is mainly due to the bacon crisping up before all the fat has rendered out of it, which is hard to do, because bacon fat rendering and the Maillard reaction that gives us deeply browned and almost caramelized surfaces happen at different temperatures and conditions. We can fix this problem, in a seemingly strange set of solutions: boil your bacon in water. Shopping List:
Yeah, that's it. You're reading a bacon recipe, what else did you expect? Science time: saturated fats contained in animal protein such as bacon tend to melt at fairly low, yet above ambient temperatures (in the 140-160 deg F range generally), while the Maillard reaction happens well above 300 deg F. If we are to achieve perfectly crisp bacon, we need to float the intermediate temperatures in an environment that will slow the Maillard reaction up until we have finished rendering the fat. That solution is water. Boiling water cannot (at sea level) exceed 212 deg F or 100 C, so if bacon slices are submerged in water, they are well above the temperatures needed to render fat and below that of the ol' MR. Once the bacon fat has rendered, you're left with the cracklins and what is essentially the now technically fully cooked lean of the bacon, with a very convenient layer of fat on the bottom of your pan to fry said bacon in. You're using its own fat to fry the slices. Brilliant. I use this method almost exclusively on the weekends where I have a little more time to spare. There are also some distinct benefits beyond having ultra-crispy bacon. A) Normally you would expect a lot of sputtering of oil as you cook, as the water content that fills traditional wet-brined bacon seeps out into the small bits of fat that has started to render in the pan, causing violent explosions and vaporization, and thus grease spots all over your stove. This method eliminates that problem, as it's a much gentler cook and the violent water and hot oil reaction is much less dramatic at a lower temperature. B) This is mostly a brainless method that requires almost as little attention as baked bacon, with none of the hassle of waiting for your oven to preheat. Cover the bacon with water, set it over low heat, and turn around to start making those Saturday or Sunday morning pancakes, as one might do when preparing bacon. You only have to pay attention in the last 5-10 minutes of cooking whilst flipping it. |
Hardware:
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Prep:
There isn't really any prep. De-frost bacon if it's frozen. Make sure your stove works and can produce heat to heat up cooking vessels.
Sometimes (as shown in the pictures), I like to cut the bacon slices in half so they fit better in my pan (depending on which pan I'm using). Yeah, I know the recipe calls for a straight-wall and the pictures show a regular angled frying pan. Don't @ me.
Lay bacon in your straight-walled frying pan and cover with water so the pieces are just submerged. Don't add any excess oil to the pan or anything.
The Business:
Over a medium-low heat, cook the bacon and water until the water evaporates. You do not have to flip the bacon at this point, as you are rendering fat, and browning will not occur until you have a dry environment. This can easily take 20 minutes, but be patient if you want to be rewarded with crispy bacon. If you feel like your temperature was too high, or if your bacon is particularly fatty, feel free to add some more water as to keep it mostly submerged.
Once the water has evaporated (you should also hear an audible change in the sounds coming from the pan, transferring from a bubble of water to the sizzle of oil), slowly turn the heat up to a medium-ish heat to begin browning and crisping the bacon. Again, this should be after at least 20-25 minutes of cooking. Take your time.
Feel free to turn the bacon as much as you like at this point, ignore the conventional wisdom of "only flip it twice". There is hardly any water or fat content left in the bacon slices at this point, and they will undergo the Maillard reaction quickly, so keep an eye on it. Again, you should be hearing a sizzle rather than a bubble, your ears are important here.
Once sufficiently browned on each side and crispy, evacuate from the pan and drain over a wire rack and/or paper towels.
This method can also be applied to chopped bacon chunks to make the crispiest lardon of your life, perfect for soups or salad topping. You're welcome.
There isn't really any prep. De-frost bacon if it's frozen. Make sure your stove works and can produce heat to heat up cooking vessels.
Sometimes (as shown in the pictures), I like to cut the bacon slices in half so they fit better in my pan (depending on which pan I'm using). Yeah, I know the recipe calls for a straight-wall and the pictures show a regular angled frying pan. Don't @ me.
Lay bacon in your straight-walled frying pan and cover with water so the pieces are just submerged. Don't add any excess oil to the pan or anything.
The Business:
Over a medium-low heat, cook the bacon and water until the water evaporates. You do not have to flip the bacon at this point, as you are rendering fat, and browning will not occur until you have a dry environment. This can easily take 20 minutes, but be patient if you want to be rewarded with crispy bacon. If you feel like your temperature was too high, or if your bacon is particularly fatty, feel free to add some more water as to keep it mostly submerged.
Once the water has evaporated (you should also hear an audible change in the sounds coming from the pan, transferring from a bubble of water to the sizzle of oil), slowly turn the heat up to a medium-ish heat to begin browning and crisping the bacon. Again, this should be after at least 20-25 minutes of cooking. Take your time.
Feel free to turn the bacon as much as you like at this point, ignore the conventional wisdom of "only flip it twice". There is hardly any water or fat content left in the bacon slices at this point, and they will undergo the Maillard reaction quickly, so keep an eye on it. Again, you should be hearing a sizzle rather than a bubble, your ears are important here.
Once sufficiently browned on each side and crispy, evacuate from the pan and drain over a wire rack and/or paper towels.
This method can also be applied to chopped bacon chunks to make the crispiest lardon of your life, perfect for soups or salad topping. You're welcome.