Bacon?

The Halk

The Halk

The Halk

Soldato
Joined
13 May 2003
Posts
11,865
Location
Hamilton
Bacon is great. Everyone loves it...

However I can't seem to cook it to taste great, nor do I really know what I'm buying.

The last bacon I bought said on the packet it was 97% meat, yet there was a massive amount of water in it.

When I cook bacon it ends up burnt and too crispy on the outside by the time it's cooked.

The most reliable way I have of cooking bacon is actually in the microwave, I just stick it on some paper towels and it comes out good - not great, and not as good as I'd like.

I thought before I did my shopping this week I'd say what I can do to make better bacon.

I do have a george foreman, frying pan, microwave, decent oven with grill...

So... what do I buy and how should I cook it? I shop at Tesco so here's their bacons..


UPDATE

Since people have been very forthcoming and helpful, and I've just taken my painkillers and I feel all warm and fuzzy and happy... Here's an update on how THE BACONATION will proceed.

I've ordered a variety of bacon from Tesco.

Two types of Tesco back bacon, a pack of streaky, a pack of dry cure and a pack of wiltshire cure. I understand that normal bacon is Danish cure, which makes it have more water. (I may be wrong on that).

bacon.PNG


The streaky bacon will be cooked on the grill at ------- setting.

The back bacon will be cooked in the frying pan, at about 6/10 on a 2.2kW ceramic hob in a non-stick frying pan, I'll spray it with vegetable oil.

I'll also try some sandwiched between two oven trays, and baked.

And I'll report back here!
 
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If your burning the outer edge but it's soggy in the middle your heat is too high. Take longer to cook it and lower the heat. I drain the water too in the frying pan when I'm cooking, means its spits less and tastes better.
 
In the microwave? I've got to say that this is the first time I have heard of someone cooking it in the microwave!

What sort of bacon do you normally buy? I normally have streaky. I just grill it until the point where it is semi crispy. Nom!
 
Go to your local independent butcher and get some proper bacon - that'll be a good start, then fry it in a pan with a small amount of oil (I use rape seed oil for frying most stuff) :)
 
I have no preference over it, but I don't like bacon crispy.

There are a couple of butchers near me, they just sell supermarket bacon, there's nothing special about it... I don't have the type of butchers I'd like.

Heat is too high... ok, I'll try a lower heat... I assume you mean to fry it.

As for the microwave, it works, it's better than any other method I have, but it's not great.
 
Quink said:
Go to your local independent butcher and get some proper bacon - that'll be a good start, then fry it in a pan with a small amount of oil (I use rape seed oil for frying most stuff) :)
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This myth is really beginning to annoy me. Just because it's a butchers, and not a supermarket, doesn't mean the meat will be any better. I've tried for ages to find a decent butcher in my area, and it's just not possible. They don't know what they are doing, or they are so used to selling to people who aren't me (I went in looking for 2 12oz, thick sliced, sirloins a few weeks ago. They tried to give me some totally flat popesye). The best place for me to get meat is the Morrison's meat counter. It's far better than any of the local butchers that I've tried. Sure, some places will have a really good butcher who does some interesting cures and things like that but I believe for the majority of people a butcher is the same, if not worse, than a supermarket.

But yea, your heat is far too high. Lower that, throw out the microwave, and cook for longer.

I put my electric hob on 4 (out of 6). Slap the pan on, throw some oil in there (just a tiny bit), leave it for a minute or two. Slap the bacon in (3 rashes for a sarnie), let it sizzle for about 90 seconds. Flip it, let it sizzle for 90 minutes. Then take it out and put it on my bread.
 
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Maybe it's just where we are Alex, the butchers in Hamilton that I've been to have been a big disappointment, there is one in the PR Coatbridge which does good stuff, but even their bacon was just out of a packet.

Everybody is saying frying pan so far though? In that case that's what I'll use tomorrow when my shopping arrives.

Anyone want to suggest what bacon I get from Tesco's though? Is it worth buying the expensive exotically cured stuff? What do the different cures do? Can I get bacon that won't fill the pan with water?
 
Possibly Halk. There are a few well known butchers dotted around the countryside near Glasgow, and I've been to a few. The steak is OK but I question if it's worth the price difference over what you can get at Morrison's (I only shop at Morrison's for the meat and veg - it's really a class above ASDA/Tesco).

Anyway, I just buy this -
xQZ7H.jpg
. Frying pan is so much better than the grill/microwave. The heat is direct, so if there is any water in there then it should evaporate straight off. If you have lots of water in the pan, you aren't frying the bacon, you are stewing it which will render it horrible. Hence why people are thinking your method isn't hot enough.

Sure, the expensive stuff may taste slightly different thanks to the cure. However, I'm perfectly happy with just a 'true' bacon flavour. And, bacon can get very expensive if you go down the fancy route - especially if you have 3 or 4 rashers a sarnie. I can't afford £11 per kilo. Smoked/unsmoked is up to you. I prefer unsmoked.
 
I prefer the grill to the hob for some reason. I'd have thought the tesco own brand stuff would be fine. The standard Morrisons bacon we get never fills the pan with water as you've experienced.
 
I'd find it hard to give you advice on cooking bacon if you don't like it crispy to be honest - it seems quite an alien desire to me :p

I presume you trim the fat off then as there's nothing more vile than soggy, stringy bacon fat?
 
I do prefer back to streaky.

However I noticed people were saying streaky were also saying grill.

So I'll grab some streaky too and try it in the grill - what kind of temperature do I want my grill at? It does low, med, high only...

Alex, I'll just try the standard smoked Tesco bacon.
 
FrenchTart said:
I'd find it hard to give you advice on cooking bacon if you don't like it crispy to be honest - it seems quite an alien desire to me :p

I presume you trim the fat off then as there's nothing more vile than soggy, stringy bacon fat?
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I don't.. I do agree that I don't like stringy fat. I try to buy bacon without much fat on it.

I will try cutting some of the fat off the bacon that comes tomorrow. I don't like greasy food so I won't miss it.
 
Drycure bacon all the way, I don't buy the normal stuff at all any more, so no more water and white gunk that the cheap stuff exudes.

Sains currently do 3 for £6 on their Taste the Difference drycure range, lush stuff, I bought 6 packets :D
 
I hate crispy bacon, and my method gets perfectly cooked, non crispy, bacon everytime. I don't need to trim fat, or buy fancy bacon. I just make sure my pan is hot enough, has a little bit of oil in it (sunflower or veg) and then cook for 90 seconds each side.

And to you freaks who like streaky and crispy bacon, next you'll be saying you put syrup all over it as well!! *Shudders*.
 
The Halk said:
I don't.. I do agree that I don't like stringy fat. I try to buy bacon without much fat on it.

I will try cutting some of the fat off the bacon that comes tomorrow. I don't like greasy food so I won't miss it.
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On that note, have you considered making your own bacon? I can't find the thread on here where Johnny and several others of us have cured our own. It works out very cheap compared to store-bought bacon and only takes a few days. The end results are far far nicer and you also are guaranteed not to have any of the water/white cack that you get with store-bought bacon.
 
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