Frying bacon?

I have not been using bacon for a while, but when I do I always fry it open and there is quite a mess to be honest. The idea of covering it has never occurred to me as I too believe in the crispiness of the bacon and feel that covering would rob me of that. Now that I am reading this I like the idea of the over straight off which I have never used unless the bacon is included in a dish.
 
lizzief79 said:
I would say that your partner is right about the crispiness of bacon. If you put the lid on the pan, you are basically steaming the bacon in its own juices. Leaving the lid off is the best way to get it crisp. If you are bothered about the mess, try grilling it instead and put some foil in the bottom of the grill tray that can easily be removed after cooking.
Click to expand...

Grilling is the best way to avoid greasiness and splatter and achieve a crisp bacon. In the US grilling is often known as broiling! I mean cooking under the heat source, which is what @lizzief79 is referring to. But I'm also aware that American bacon is different from UK bacon. Here we have loads and loads of different types, including 'dry cured' which doesn't produce that strange 'milky' liquid and which crisps up brilliantly.
 
It does not take me long to fry a bacon I even cook them with the eggs together. I did not have any issue about the splatters as I am using a heavy bottomed skillet, I think that is a better way to control the temperature. High temperature could be the cause of splattering don't you think?
 
One of our favorite breakfast is bacon and eggs. But I want my bacon to be fried to the crisp. I do not eat bacon other than that. When dining out, I never order bacon because restaurants don't fry to crisp the bacon. At home, we fry the bacon in slow fire. That would avoid the splattering of cooking oil. My husband said that it is okay to fry cold bacon or even frozen as long as the fire is low.
 
I fry my bacon as well. If you cook your bacon on lower heat it won't splash you or your stove and it really limits the mess. You have to be patient and you will still get crispy bacon but it just takes longer. I get virtually no mess when I cook bacon on medium low heat.
 
I fry my bacon in a pan, but I start off with a low heat and raise it as needed so it does not overcook or cook too fast. The grease also does not spatter when you start with a lower heat. I have never covered my pan before and never thought to do that. I does seem like it would take a bit longer to cook and probably would not be that crispy.

I only cook pre-cooked bacon in the microwave, such as Oscar Mayer microwave bacon. Regular bacon that is raw and still has the fat on it gets cooked in a pan on the stove.
 
I don't cook bacon often but when I do I cook it in the oven because of the mess it can make being cooked stove top. I have to watch the cooking process more closely if the bacon is cooked on the stove top than I do if it is cooked in the oven. I really hate having to watch food cook.
 
We often put a lid on the pan when we are frying bacon, just to avoid the splatter. We also have a cooking screen that just sits over the frying pan and surprisingly it works for splattering as well. Every once in awhile I'll throw the bacon in the oven, but everyone here tends to prefer the more crispy, pan-fried bacon. When we are camping, my husband cooks it outside over the fire or on the grill, in a cast iron skillet. It's really, really good that way, and smell tends to wake up our neighbors and we make new friends!
 
We tend to put our bacon in the oven now. There isn't that much of a difference besides no mess all over the kitchen. Plus, since we have a self cleaning oven we can just push a simply button to clean it.
 
Cooking bacon in an oven is the easiest, crispiest and cleanest choice possible but if you have to cook it in a pan then make sure the oil is hot and there are no excess water around because that usually contributes to the oil splattering in your kitchen. Microwave ovens are also a possibility if you want it fast and easy but ofcourse it's hard to make them crispy in there.
 
I do not like crispy bacon, I like a tasty meaty rasher grilled, put foil on the bottom of the pan so any fat that comes out is caught in the foil and easily disposed of. One idea for bacon fat is to save it in an empty yogurt pot, add small bits of rind and seed, keep topping it up until you get to the top and hey presto a fat feeder for the birds in winter :okay:
 
I've never cooked mine in the oven. I have cooked both in the microwave and on the stove top in a frying pan, which is my preferred method. I use a splatter guard (also known as a spatter guard) to prevent the oil/grease from splattering out of the pan.

Note: there are different kinds of splatter guards. I use the screen type, which is most similar to the pan being uncovered. There is another type that is metal, with small holes in it. Using that would, in my opinion, prevent the bacon from crisping as much as if the pan were uncovered or covered with the screen variety of splatter guard.
 

Attachments

  • splatter guard.jpg
    splatter guard.jpg
    13.4 KB · Views: 232
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom