Its bacon week ya’ll!
As much as I’d love to fill everyone’s feed with a million bacon themed recipes (dw, I will eventually), I’m going to stick to the basics for today, “how to properly fry bacon”.
Over the years, we’ve all heard of various myths on how to perfectly fry bacon. And in all honestly, different methods work for different people. For example, hotels I’ve worked in have always cooked their bacon in a combi oven with steam, making the bacon soft and tender to eat rather than crispy. For years I replicated the technique at home by cooking it in a pan with a little bit of water. That way once the water evaporates, the bacon tenderizes and slowly gets crispy.
But… that’s not the correct method.
After doing a lot of reading online, and quite a few experiments in the kitchen, I think I’ve found the best way to fry up some bacon.
Most of us keep our bacon in the freezer since it prolongs the shelf life. However that means when the time comes to fry some up, you need to thaw a whole packet even though you may not want to consume the whole thing. Very often I’ll be too lazy to wait for it to thaw, so instead I’ll just cut off a chunk and stick it in a pan with some water on a low flame. While that might be efficient, its not going to give you crispy bacon, you need to have it fully thawed!
So once you have the thawed bacon, I generally cut the long strips in half with a chopper. That way when you separate the strips, you don’t stretch them out. Separate each strip gently, without pulling too much (this breaks up the sinew holding the meat together) and lay it out evenly spaced on a cold pan or griddle. You want to have enough space in the pan so the slices aren’t crowded.
Place the pan on a low flame, and leave it until the strips of bacon begin to to leave the pan. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT touch the bacon until it has completely left the pan. By tugging the piece to flip it over, you are essentially breaking the sinew (just like earlier) which will make the whole piece fall apart.
Once that first turn is done, you’re pretty safe. Just turn it over a couple of more times at regular intervals until its crispy and lay it out on some paper to soak up the extra fat.
Go at the pile of crispy goodness the way I did, and you’ll be very very happy.
nayantara pandit 