Page 37 of Sex On A Plate

SECTION FOUR

MOSTLY MEAT

Bacon

Baked Bone-In Chicken Breasts

Prime Rib Roast

Italian Meatballs

Insta-Pot Roast Beef and Veggies

Chicken Parmesan

Easy Stuffed Chicken Breasts

BACON

DIFFICULTY: C’mon, it’s bacon.

TIME: 25 minutes.

What you’ll need from the cupboard: A cookie sheet. A cooling rack that is capable of fitting on the cookie sheet. A spatula.

* * *

What you’ll need from the pantry: Bacon.

This recipe is for breakfast bacon. Other bacon can be cooked differently.

No matter how you like it when it’s done, you want to be able to cook bacon the way you want it and have all of it the same. Cooking it in a skillet (for a family) requires more than one skillet. Then, you end up with a bunch of bacon cooked differently.

It seems I always end up taking this slice out and that slice out. Then I’m leaving the rest for another minute or two (during which time people steal my cooked bacon, leaving me with nothing).

For a family, cooking it in the oven is the way to go. It also allows the preparation of eggs without a hassle or overlapping cooking times.

Once you’ve cooked it in the oven, you’ll find it tough to go back to skillet cooking it if you need a large batch.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Take a cooling rack (a wire rack for cooling bread, cookies, etc., and place it on the cookie sheet, tabs down (this will leave a flat wire surface facing up).

Lay bacon in a single layer, side by side, on the rack.

Cook for 18 minutes.

Yes, 18.

Remove from the oven and lay on a paper towel lined plate.

THAT is perfect bacon.

If you like it less done, cook it for 16.

Want it “snap-it-in-two” crispy? Cook it for 20.

Depending on your oven, the cooking time might vary by a minute or two, but not much.

If I need bacon for sandwiches (you’ll see that recipe later) or for pasta (that recipe is later, too), I take it a pound at a time and cut it into 1” pieces with the kitchen scissors (I’ll cut 5-6 slices at once).

In a skillet, I’ll cook it over medium heat for 25-30 minutes or so, stirring the chunks to separate them. This makes a lot of grease, but that grease helps cook it on both sides without flipping it as often. Stir it every 3 minutes or so, and you’ll have uniform chunks of bacon that aren’t all curled up.

For breakfast, no one wants bacon chunks. They want full slices.

Bacon is similar to steak. The better the cut, the better the bacon. Thick cut high-quality bacon trumps anything that’s thin and wispy.

Just remember, bacon makes everything better.

Enjoy.