Bacon bits

[karadekoolaid]

plate.
cover plate with two paper towels.
plunk 2-4 slices of bacon on the towels.
cover with one paper towel (prevent splatter inside the microwave)
microwave one minute per slice.
you _must_ adjust the timing to the power/quirks of your microwave oven.

Quite agree. That's how I do it, and it never fails.

 

[JAS_OH1]

Quite agree. That's how I do it, and it never fails.

I don't mind doing a few strips in the microwave but I usually cook a pound or more at a time.

 

[grumpyoldman]

but she is ok if i want to fire this up

 

[blades]

on the care and feeding of "bacon bits" . . .

bacon bits can be used in many dishes - in salads is a prime example.
but also in omelets, in a compote topping (onion/mushroom/tomato/etc) for fish, steak, chicken.....
bacon bits in peanut butter on toast . . .

once upon a time I tried the jar variety of 'bacon bits' - forget it. it's "something" flavored from the chem lab. horrible stuff.

making bacon bits from scratch is somewhat time consuming. one cannot simply 'turn up the heat' and create bacon bits - they burn. it takes a low/medium temp in a fry pan - and frequent attention to turning/watching.

after any number of attempts and approaches,,, here's my method to pre-make/keep real bacon bits for quick use in a dish:
if it works for you, great. if you have a better method - even greater . . .

#1 - I prefer double thick cut bacon. we don't like double thick for out-of-hand eating, however double thick bacon bits are thicker/meatier and more satisfying to the crunch.

here's a stack of double thick sliced into ~1/4 inch (5-6 mm) length chunks.
View attachment 115680

into a fry pan.
View attachment 115681

now . . . almost to exclusion . . . any large scale "brand name" commercial bacon is "wet cured" - i.e. injected with a curing solution. when the bacon chunks hit the pan, first thing that happens is all the 'curing solution' aka water comes out of the bacon. with so much water solution in the pan, the pan cannot get hot enough to actually start 'frying' the bacon bits.
all the bubbles in this pix is water being 'boiled off'
View attachment 115682

here the water is gone, and the bacon bits are starting to "color up"
View attachment 115683

this batch was 1.5 pounds (680g) - done in two batches using a 10"/25cm fry pan.
then drained, cooled,
View attachment 115684

plunked on a sheet and put into the freezer for ~one hour, then into a freezer bag for longer term storage.
View attachment 115685

it's important to cool/freeze them before bagging - homespun version of 'individually quick frozen' - prevents have one solid bacon bit rock . . .

Good job.

 

[Pilgrim]

on the care and feeding of "bacon bits" . . .

bacon bits can be used in many dishes - in salads is a prime example.
but also in omelets, in a compote topping (onion/mushroom/tomato/etc) for fish, steak, chicken.....
bacon bits in peanut butter on toast . . .

once upon a time I tried the jar variety of 'bacon bits' - forget it. it's "something" flavored from the chem lab. horrible stuff.

making bacon bits from scratch is somewhat time consuming. one cannot simply 'turn up the heat' and create bacon bits - they burn. it takes a low/medium temp in a fry pan - and frequent attention to turning/watching.

after any number of attempts and approaches,,, here's my method to pre-make/keep real bacon bits for quick use in a dish:
if it works for you, great. if you have a better method - even greater . . .

#1 - I prefer double thick cut bacon. we don't like double thick for out-of-hand eating, however double thick bacon bits are thicker/meatier and more satisfying to the crunch.

here's a stack of double thick sliced into ~1/4 inch (5-6 mm) length chunks.
View attachment 115680

into a fry pan.
View attachment 115681

now . . . almost to exclusion . . . any large scale "brand name" commercial bacon is "wet cured" - i.e. injected with a curing solution. when the bacon chunks hit the pan, first thing that happens is all the 'curing solution' aka water comes out of the bacon. with so much water solution in the pan, the pan cannot get hot enough to actually start 'frying' the bacon bits.
all the bubbles in this pix is water being 'boiled off'
View attachment 115682

here the water is gone, and the bacon bits are starting to "color up"
View attachment 115683

this batch was 1.5 pounds (680g) - done in two batches using a 10"/25cm fry pan.
then drained, cooled,
View attachment 115684

plunked on a sheet and put into the freezer for ~one hour, then into a freezer bag for longer term storage.
View attachment 115685

it's important to cool/freeze them before bagging - homespun version of 'individually quick frozen' - prevents have one solid bacon bit rock . . .

I don't dig bacon, man. It's way too greasy for me and doesn't sit well in my stomach. Everyone keeps telling me I'm nuts, but I just can't get into it, you know?

 

[Timenspace]

Everyone keeps telling me I'm nuts, but I just can't get into it, you know?

Sorry to hear that. You know your body and what it can take or not, and take care of it. Nevermind what people say.

Everybody has something not up their digestion alley. Me? A hundred things...
My boyfriend? Another hundred...

normal.

 

[JAS_OH1]

I don't dig bacon, man. It's way too greasy for me and doesn't sit well in my stomach. Everyone keeps telling me I'm nuts, but I just can't get into it, you know?

Yeah, I feel the same way about liver, LOL. But it's not greasy and it's never made it all the way into my stomach so I can't tell you much about that.

Sorry to hear that. You know your body and what it can take or not, and take care of it. Nevermind what people say.

Everybody has something not up their digestion alley. Me? A hundred things...
My boyfriend? Another hundred...

normal.

Yeah I have a lot of foods I just don't like but most everything I will eat agrees with me just fine.

 

[JAS_OH1]

I don’t know if it’s these particular pans (Nordicware), but there’s really no scrubbing, just regular wiping with the soapy sponge.

I used to use foil, but I laid the bacon out on the pan without foil (was in a hurry) and surprise, surprise…no scrubbing.

Well I tried out one of my new Nordic half sheets for baking 2 pounds of bacon. I had to soak a little after but overall pleased with how was easy it was to clean.