Bacon cooked-ness?

VimFuego

not a fan of rind here. Prefer smoked but am easy either way.

Phil_aka_Pip

WezV said:

and no one has mentioend smoked or unsmoked yet???   smoked is obviously the correct anser.

What about rind on or off?   I hate it with the rind on

I'm with you and @Jalapeno, I much prefer smoked, but will eat unsmoked if there's no smoked.

I don't mind having the rind on, but (as with pork crackling) I have to be v careful not to break my teeth on it.

hobbio

I'll eat bacon however it comes. Grilled, fried, microwaved (with a slice of bread to mop up the fat from the plate!), crispy, floppy, smoked, unsmoked.

I just devour that shit.

Phil_aka_Pip

@hobbio two things would prevent me from becoming a vegetarian. One is roast chicken. The other is the bacon sandwich

edit

on brown bread, with butter and EITHER salt and black pepper and tomato sauce (with optional brown sauce) OR just marmite

stickyfiddle

Definitely smoked. Didn't know that was ever in question!

hobbio

Phil_aka_Pip said:

@hobbio two things would prevent me from becoming a vegetarian. One is roast chicken. The other is the bacon sandwich

True dat.

RobDavies

Smoked back bacon, baked in the oven to the point of being brittle.  That's how I roll.     I'd prefer streaky, but you're setting yourself up for clogged arteries with that stuff.

Sausage wise - the best ones I've had from the supermarket are Weight Watchers Cumberland - very low in fat, and the pork is really good quality.

TheMarlin

I've been a vegetarian for 30+ years.  I don't eat meat, but I do cook it for the kids.  I'm a pretty decent cook.

here is how I make crispy 100% flat bacon.  Start with REALLY good quality bacon, not that cheap crap which is pumped full of water.

Put the oven onto it's highest heat (not the grill), and let it heat up..

I take kitchen scissors, and cut through the fat/rind every 1.5cm (or so), with extra cuts around bends (don't cut into the meat, just through the rind).  This stops it curling up. When cooked, the fat shrinks, and thats why bacon curls up.

I then cover a baking tray with greaseproof paper/silicon parchment, and put the bacon on it, but don't overlap the bacon.

Cover with more parchment, and put another tray over the top, to form a 'tray, paper, bacon, paper, tray' sandwich.

Pop something heavy on top to weigh it down while waiting for the oven to get to temperature. i use my massive granite pestle and mortar.

When the oven is scorching hot, put the tray (minus heavy object) into the oven and leave for at least 10 mins.  The exact timing will depend on your oven.

When cooked to your taste (this will require a little experimentation), take it out of the oven and serve.  Bacon should be crispy, and completely flat (American style).

My daughter likes me to add a splash of maple syrup (or honey) before it's put into the oven.  This gives is a sweetness, and a sheen she likes.  Oddly enough, my sons don't care for bacon.

Marlin

imalone

The correct way to cook bacon is to cover chicken or sausages with it.

Actually I quite like variety, some days crispy (but not incinerated), sometimes thick and still juicy. But I haven't actually had bacon for quite a while. Something to do this weekend then.

FX_Munkee

Should we merge this thread with the Statins one, just for completeness?

hobbio

Phil_aka_Pip said:

@hobbio two things would prevent me from becoming a vegetarian. One is roast chicken. The other is the bacon sandwich

edit

on brown bread, with butter and EITHER salt and black pepper and tomato sauce (with optional brown sauce) OR just marmite

TheMarlin

I never liked bacon.

hungrymark

I like the meat fairly soft but the fat crispy. Easier and more effectively achieved by grilling it. I like crispy lardons though, and then use the fat to cook something else, like cabbage.

Phil_aka_Pip

vegetarian, n. ancient hindu word meaning "incompetent hunter"

holnrew

If you like it pink and floppy, I have something you'll love.

VimFuego

hobbio said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

@hobbio two things would prevent me from becoming a vegetarian. One is roast chicken. The other is the bacon sandwich

edit

on brown bread, with butter and EITHER salt and black pepper and tomato sauce (with optional brown sauce) OR just marmite

Danish bacon is great, if you like tasteless pap produced at the lowest cost possible in factory farms where quantity is preferred over quality. I'd rather eat vegetarian than that muck.

WezV

yeah,   The danish bacon is the only one that was really advertised on TV, and it really shows the power of advertising that many people think its great - because its nothing to do with the product

hobbio

@VimFuego @WezV I eat all bacon, Danish or otherwise. I didn't create the meme btw.

We all eat intensively farmed produce of one kind or another, lets not start some TGP style cork-sniffery over where my sliced dead pig comes from!

VimFuego

not cork sniffery at all, properly reared meat tastes better and has a much higher welfare standard. This is important to me, I'd rather eat less high quality meat than lots of mass produced garbage.

Handsome_Chris

stickyfiddle said:

While we're correcting all the ills in the world... how do you cook your bacon? Crispy or flacid?

Obviously the correct answer is crispy, but what annoys me more than crispy bacon is when someone's cooking you bacon and they like it floppy and they don't even offer to crisp yours up.

I'll crisp up your bacon for ya, love.