I’m not sure if we’ve mentioned this on the blog in the past, but bacon is our eldest son’s favourite food. He once made a flag and wrote an anthem in honour of bacon. He’s a funny guy…who loves his bacon. For his birthday, we added bacon to the menu for our weekend breakfast. He had already been downstairs playing his guitar, but the scent drew him to the kitchen before breakfast was ready. Funny…I usually have to call him to the table, a few times before he “hears” me and shows up. But the scent of bacon was all it took this time. I think I’ve just invented something. Eau de bacon. Just a little spritz in the air when dinner’s ready, and the kid will come running.
This blog post (besides being about our son’t love of bacon) is not about how to make bacon, cure bacon, or about the many types of bacon available. This post is simply to describe one of the ways we cook bacon, that, as we’ve discovered, many people don’t know about. The best way on earth that we know how to cook bacon is in a cast iron pan fried in grease. However, when we’re looking for a slightly healthier alternative, this is the method. Well, as healthy as we can make real bacon–because let’s be serious here…it’s bacon…if you’re eating this…you’re not looking for healthy ;-). But all things in moderation, as they say.
This method of cooking the bacon on a raised cooling rack helps reduce some of the grease because the fat drips away from the bacon. You can still achieve a crispy bacon…just with a little less grease. We used a thick-slice bacon today, and chose not to crisp it too much, but you can make it as crispy or chewy as you like.
Bon appetite. Eat bacon well, friends!
- 1⅕ lbs of (for this amount of servings). Adjust as needed.
- Heat oven to 400 ºF.
- Line two large baking sheets with aluminum foil.
- Place a large cooling rack inside each baking pan on top of the foil.
- Spray the cooling rack with cooking spray to make clean-up easier.
- Place the slices of bacon on the cooling racks with only a tiny bit of space between each slice.
- Place the baking sheets in the oven on the second and fourth levels (middle if you're only doing one baking sheet).
- Cook for 18 minutes and check for doneness. Leave it in longer if you prefer crispier bacon or if the bacon is thick.
- Serve immediately while it's hot.
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