Cooking Bacon

World’s Only Perfect Woman is generally a much better cook than I am.

But for some reason, I usually end up cooking when we’re having bacon.

I have evidence that there are people who cook bacon better than I do. But here’s the easy stuff for people who’ve never had someone to get them started.

1) The prepackaged stuff is crap. The prepackaged may be cheaper to buy, but the deli bacon you get at the meat counter is generally worth the premium. I’m a cheapskate, so it took me until I was almost fifty to figure out, but I’ve known better for (mumble) years now. Don’t waste your bacon budget on pre-packaged.

2) The reason people ruin bacon is the heat is too high. I run a griddle pan over two burners on low heat (maybe a 2 or 3 on the ten scale). There is such a thing as not enough heat to cook, but better a tiny bit too low than a tiny bit too high. A little too low can be fixed with patience. A little too high will burn your bacon, and burned bacon sucks. The number one concern as you are cooking bacon should be ‘Is the heat too high?’ If your like your bacon chewy, the heat should be lower than if you like it crispy. We generally like ours crispy, so the 2-3 on the ten scale guideline is for crispy.

3) Lay the strips out out side by side with no overlap. You can see the edges cook. It will cook more on the second side after you flip it – most bacon is thin enough. Flip it when the edges are right, don’t worry about the middle. If it really doesn’t get done, you can flip it back.

4) When it’s cooked, put it on a plate with a paper towel or something similar to drain for a couple minutes. Otherwise, too much grease sticks.