Baked Bacon

Bacon. Mmmmm…. bacon!

BACONBACONBACONBACONBACON!!!!

Is there anything in the world more perfect than bacon? Well, except for the perfectly placed note in a slow blues tune. But! Other than that? Nothing… NOTHING, I tell you!

Many years ago, back in the Dark Ages of my youth, I was introduced to baked bacon. Evidently, to the Navy, that meant greasy, soggy strips of tasteless somethingorother. I hated it! How could anyone so completely ruin such a heavenly gift? It wasn’t until many years later that I learned you could bake bacon to crispy perfection. Still, however, the bacon was cooked in its own rendering fat. Then, a few years back, a friend showed me how to use cooling racks to lift the bacon out of the grease. And the perfect piece of bacon was born!

Sure, if you only need a few pieces, you can still pan fry bacon. But why would you do that when it only takes a little extra effort to whip up an entire package, saving the leftovers for… well, anything you want! A few days ago I did a 22 oz. package of thick sliced perfection – I mean, bacon. In less than 24 hours, it was gone! Half of it went into bacon sammiches that same night. The next day I used the rest to make my first ever Breakfast Turtles with Swamp Gravy.

Ingredients:

Bacon

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400°.

Line baking sheet(s) with aluminum foil. Place cooling rack over foil.

Lay out bacon on cooling racks, making sure that they don’t overlap. (If they overlap, they’ll stick together.)

Place baking sheets on center rack of oven. Bake for 12-20 minutes, until done.

Remove from oven. Use tongs to place bacon on plate or platter lined with paper towels to absorb grease.

Serve immediately.

Notes:

Baking time will depend on desired level of crispiness and thickness of bacon. Begin checking at about 12 minutes and remove from oven when it’s a nice golden brown.

Remember that the bacon will continue to cook for a few minutes when removed from the oven. Don’t over-brown it or you’ll end up with little black strips of shoe leather.

You can refrigerate any leftovers for up to a week, and freeze it for up to three months. To reheat, bombard it with radar waves (microwave) for a few seconds.

If you plan on sharing your bacon, plan on baking an extra pound.

The next time you’re in the mood for bacon, save yourself time and trouble by baking it. You’ll be glad you did! And, as always,

Play with your food!

Lane

I have more Breakfast Recipes here.

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