Baking bacon rules!

[GB]

When I need to cook a lot of bacon I will do it in the oven, but if I am just cooking a few pieces or I feel like giving some strength to the seasoning on my cast iron pan then I will do it on the stove top.

[BigDog]

Thanks for the reminder, y'all! I've cooked both ways, oven in food service and stove top at home. This weekend I need to cook a lot of bacon for potato skins, and now I think I'll do it in the oven!

Here's a question . . . . . what temp? I want crispy to be crumbled over the skins. When I worked food service, we used a convection oven, which also would make a difference. I was thinking 300 to 350 or so. Sound right?

Parchment paper, wise for cooking bacon in the oven! I hope to save the drippings though, for other recipes!

[phinz]

In the restaurant I worked in during college we used to bake 50lbs of bacon at a time. The bacon came in boxes, already on parchment paper. We just transferred them over to cookie sheets and baked it until it looked good. I prefer pan frying, though. It seems to have more flavor, but that's, I'm sure, all in my head.

[BigDog]

Quote:

Originally Posted by phinz In the restaurant I worked in during college we used to bake 50lbs of bacon at a time. The bacon came in boxes, already on parchment paper. We just transferred them over to cookie sheets and baked it until it looked good. I prefer pan frying, though. It seems to have more flavor, but that's, I'm sure, all in my head.

Bingo. Huge box, already on parchment!

I use a non-stick for stove top, mainly because I have nothing else. Planning on geting a SS set, a wok, a cast iron or two, and a no stick or two (they work great for eggs).

As for preferring one over the other, I never really bothered to think about it or compare. Also, all fo the food service bacon was standard, not in the varying flavors available at grocers.

[phinz]

I've baked, pan fried, baked on a rack and microwaved and my brain and tongue tell me pan frying is tastiest no matter which brand of bacon. I tend to get the least fatty bacon I can find without regard to brand, though. I need to find one with reduced sodium so I can eat it more often. I'm in the process of seasoning a CI pan, so I need to run some bacon through it to help it along.

[Constance]

My aunt often fixed Sunday brunch for the family...her husband and 4 girls, in-laws, and anyone else who happened to be in town for the weekend.
She cooked her bacon in the oven, using the broiler pan. It was always crisp. Perhaps she finished it off with the broiler.

[Erik]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigDog Bingo. Huge box, already on parchment! I use a non-stick for stove top, mainly because I have nothing else. Planning on geting a SS set, a wok, a cast iron or two, and a no stick or two (they work great for eggs). As for preferring one over the other, I never really bothered to think about it or compare. Also, all fo the food service bacon was standard, not in the varying flavors available at grocers.

350 is a giood temp for bacon.

[Chef_Jimmy]

In my restaurant, I lay bacon on a cooling rack on a sheetpan and bake it full blast for 5-10 minutes. It is crisp, and the grease drops to the pan and it doesn't shrink as much as in a pan; that's just my experience. Try bacon wrapped scallops the same way, when the bacon is crisp, the scallops are done.

[GB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chef_Jimmy I bake it full blast for 5-10 minutes.

What is full blast in your oven? Is it hotter than the residential ovens?

[Chef_Jimmy]

It's a convection oven with fans that blow air around which makes things cook more evenly. Full blast is about 500 or 550 (your oven may say 500 but it probably only gets to about 475 or so.) which is a great point to bring up, I have My ovens calibrated professionally, I keep an oven thermometer in my oven to assure me that the temp is what it is supposed to be. It is very easy for an oven to be off. I promise you that if you put an oven thermometer in your oven, it will read differently than what is on the dial, only if a few degrees or so. (thats alot if your doing delicate baking at a fine fine restaurant.