Cool Tip: Everything's Better with Bacon...

As the saying goes, “everything is better with Bacon!” A chef friend calls it “Vitamin P” ...essential to a daily balanced diet! But how to cook it?

As a Southerner who has moved beyond the familiar glass jar of bacon fat near the stove, I no longer feel the need to conserve bacon fat, except on the rare occasion. So skillet frying has become a technique of the past: you still have to blot the fried strips before eating anyway! So we’ve accumulated multiple alternative techniques of how to most efficiently prepare bacon: in the microwave.

And leave the old “cancer-causing” arguments aside: microwaves use non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation and we understand that this is not the type of radiation that causes cancer.

We started with a basic approach: 1 minute per strip of bacon, depending upon the power (and age) of your microwave, layered between paper towels. Then there is the choice of vessel: these range from the basic paper plate, to specialized microwave dishes. But we’ve settled on the basic rectangular glass baking dish: everybody has at least one, and the smaller ones will fit easily in your microwave. Next, line thoroughly with paper towels: 2-3 in the bottom, and then 1-2 between each layer of bacon strips, and finally 1 on top. The advantage of this “baking dish & paper towels” approach is that the grease is absorbed at each layer, and stays inside the dish instead of dripping all over your microwave or counter.

Depending upon the age and power of your microwave, the moisture content of your bacon, and the number of strips you cook - we find that more than 12 at a time can be too many - you will quickly learn how much cooking time is required. And sometimes you will want to remove part of the batch, before finishing the rest.  

And then there is always the argument over the choices of “how do you like your bacon: cooked, crisp, or burned?”! (Thanks to Susan for reminding us to publish this tip--she gets 100 Cooks’ Club Points!)

Enjoy!