How To Cook Bacon

Show me a person that doesn't like bacon, and I'll show them a firing squad. The problem with bacon is a matter of family. We usually cook bacon the way our mothers taught us, and sometimes that can lead people astray. Some folks would have you believe that the best way to do bacon is in the oven. They say that it's better for you, and you don't get the bacon all curled up with burnt middles and raw, fatty ends.

While that may be true, it certainly doesn't fill the house with that wonderful smell that could wake the worst of hangovers. Let's face it: this is bacon, not salad. Whether you cook it in a skillet, George Foreman grill, or bake it in the oven, it is a mostly fatty piece of meat from the belly of the pig. You're not doing yourself that many favors by baking bacon.

My bacon is almost always done in a cast-iron skillet. This is a phenomenon that I cannot explain, other than that's how it's done in the family. The cast-iron skillet is a southern tradition that just lends itself to good quality bacon cooking. From a technical standpoint, the use of cast iron just make sense when cooking bacon. The iron holds onto heat really well, and tends to cook evenly when you get it going. The advantage of cooking bacon in your cast-iron skillet is that the skillet gets "seasoned" every time you do it. And let's not forget that cooking in an iron skillet leeches iron out of the skillet. Believe it or not, this is good for your body, especially for those of you who are pregnant.

Avoiding the curl
The best way to avoid bacon curling is to buy thick sliced bacon with a higher percentage of meat, and cook it slightly slower and lower than medium heat. Problem with thin bacon is that if you blast it with heat, the fat and meat do not absorb the heat at the same rate. While the fat renders off, the meat curls to compensate for the loss. Use this technique to achieve minimal curling, and to maintain that chewy/crunchy texture:

1. Put your cast-iron skillet over medium heat and let it warm up all the way. Really let it get hot, because we are going to crank the heat down the second that first piece of bacon hits the metal.

2. Add a little bit of oil to the skillet to make sure the first slices don't stick. Place about 5 slices to the skillet and crank the heat down to medium-low. The cast-iron's ability to retain heat means that you don't have to keep the stove's temperature up so high. And while the bacon fat renders off, the rendered fat will help cook bacon in the skillet.

3. Flip every couple of minutes. I'm a big flipper fan. I prefer to flip often so the bacon doesn't burn. If the heat is too high turn down slightly. Keep flipping until the bacon is done all the way through, and dark brown on both sides. This kind of quality comes with years of perfecting the bacon-cooking procedure. But my general goal for the bacon is to get it slightly chewy and almost crisp with no raw ends.