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Cooking Tests: Bacon (Part II)
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 12:22 am    Post subject: For the dense guest comment above Reply with quote

On October 20, 2006 at 06:31 AM, Guest (guest) said...
Gross. Why would I want bacon made on some hick's nasty ass farm? So I can catch some sort of disease? And why would I want to eat anything from a hogs' "jowl" or whatever?

I'll stick to buying packaged bacon from Safeway or Kroger's, thanks.

Seriously, are you all like 80 years old and grew up on farms milking your cows and eating unprocessed chicken eggs or what? Between this and homemade mayo with raw eggs, you all must have a death wish.


Where do you think the Safeway bacon comes from? Do you think that those hogs live in apartments? Or maybe food tastes better to you, after it has plenty of additives added, and is processed in high speed factories?
No, that "hick" who probably sold most of his hogs to Safeway, he doesn't know anything about making pork products, and he doesn't add any chemicals to the meat. How could it be good?
You have probably already eaten hog jowl, if you have ever eaten at Cracker barrel, or had a canned ham.

RE: Mayonaise with raw eggs. That is how mayonaise is made, in the wonderful delicious factories, or at home. The raw eggs are the reason that anything made with mayonaise cannot be left out of the refrigerator for more than 1 hour. The raw eggs start to go bad, resulting in food poisoning. But then again, you know everything, so why not make some potato salad, RIGHT NOW, and leave it on your porch overnight. Tomorrow for lunch, ENJOY!

You are a jerk
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felixandme
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 06, 2007 6:02 pm    Post subject: Bacon Test 1&2 Reply with quote

I bake my bacon at 400 degrees. It only takes 12-15 minutes and comes out crispy (or you can cook it less to make it softer.) My mother in law cooks hers in the toaster oven.
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Mike
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 11:44 pm    Post subject: why has no one mentioned this yet? Reply with quote

Bacon cooked in the oven is very easy to do, and very tasty. But my absolute favourite is to coat the slices generously with brown sugar before placing them into a 350 degree oven. You have never tasted anything like it!
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Visiter
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 23, 2007 3:20 am    Post subject: Differences in Bacon Reply with quote

Some here have noted teh differences in bacon available, not just the thickness of the slices but the amount of water (effectively adding to shrinkange) and the ration of fat to lean.

My uncle had a hog ranch in TX. THere are many types of hogs and they all have differing weights for the "best" fat or lean uses. The geographic area actually makes a difference (or used to) as far as how fat or lean meat was to be. Remember that the hogs are raised for ALL thier meat, not just the pork belly. One good weight for the rest of the meat might make a fatty belly, as would hogs that were "penned" verses what we would call "free range" today.

His hogs always had large pens and could move at will. They were raised on grain and sold at 190 to 200 pounds average. If my uncle delivered at 185 pounds he would not be paid enough to stay in business, teh same at 202 pounds. Believe me, they were all very close in size (average) by sex. It was amazing because My uncle would one day say "its time to sell them" ....he would never have weighed them he just knew by looking.

The point is that the companies that make the bacon heavily brine them, use sugars and other unnecessary items in curing, add liquid smoke, add additional salt and then at packaging add and inject water. They do NOT care about a good product. They are there to make money. They certainly do not care about the "lean" of the product. Some idiot will buy it and eat it because they aer programmed to like it.

I have eaten bacon that of course was brined before smoking, but never had anything added or changed after smoking, no water, nothing. There is NO comparison of REAL bacon to the stuff being sold in the US as palletable. There is NO meat on this stuff, if there is it is fatty streaked meat as well (penned hogs) from flacid muscles.

WE need a minor revolution in bacon to have good product.

The only product I was able to find that was any good at all was sold in stores in the San Jose area as cut ends and peaces of bacon (the drops and cuttings from processing). It was meaty, thick and even huge chunks. It was cheap. It was better than any I have found as regular store items.

If you are int eh SF bay area (unfortunately I am now in FL) try Cosentinos Markets, they sometimes have fairly good bacon in the meat department. I watch for exceptionally lean product even there before buying, I even make them sort some for me if I can.

As to the cooking of the bacon.....after having read all the reports and methods, it seems that there is a thread of evidence that would make one believe that cooking for over 15 to 20 minutes under a heat that allows this without burning delivers the best results. I believe that is correct as I usually slow cook on stove top or oven for about 20 to 30 minutes myself
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xenobiologista
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 6:45 pm    Post subject: bacon at Copps Reply with quote

The Copps Supermarket (it's a Wisconsin chain) near my place in Madison has thick cut applewood smoked bacon at the meat counter. I've only recently started eating bacon (thanks to this webpage!!!) and the thick cut stuff is so much better than the prepackaged bacon on the shelf - in the same supermarket.

I'm Chinese Malaysian...the taste for fatty pork must be genetic or something. I'm going to use the drippings for fried rice. The source of grease in Chinese fried rice is usually small cubes of salt pork fat, which are fried until the oil renders out before you add other ingredients.
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California Insomnia
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 12:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's 4am and I can't sleep! But reading about all this bacon inspired me to go cook some.

Truth is I'm old school I like my bacon cooked in a cast iron skillet; and I feel the microwave is just so unnatural. But I might try grilling it after reading this page. Poor pigs! Why did God make you taste so good?
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Guest






PostPosted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 2:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sheesh. Having worked for a major airline all of my adult life, I've lived in many places over the years (big cities for the most part), but decided to retire in the wonderful rural Ozarks. For the first time ever I'm now able to buy hog jowl FRESH (i.e., never frozen) and I've fallen head over heels in love with it. The bacon is to die for. And may God bless the "hicks" who make it available to me for something like .79/lb. Does life get any better???
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Melsonic
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 12:02 am    Post subject: Bacon Reply with quote

My uncle used to cook his bacon coated in a light dusting of flour in a skillet. I sometimes do this in the microwave, and have also had it baked in an oven. Yum. It's also good with a little Tony Chachere's Cajun seasoning mixed in with the flour. You can get the unsalted version if you object to salt on your bacon.
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jkarle1106



Joined: 10 Jul 2007
Posts: 16
Location: DeBary, Florida, USA

PostPosted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 9:43 pm    Post subject: Bacon Reply with quote

Down here where I have retired, in Florida, on the "Red Neck Riviera" (the St Johns River in DeBary, FL), we are infested with wild hogs. They are a cross bread of feral pigs and Russian Boars. The latter having been brought here for sport hunting by the Robber Barons of the nineteenth century. They taste really good. The bacon, made from the belly and the jowls is to die for. While I don't hunt them, I occasionally have to kill one or two for plowing up my lawn like a 16 row cultivator. I cure the bacon parts using Morton Tender Quick as a brine, and cold smoke it in an old barrel type smoker. I've cooked the bacon in the microwave, the oven, in a skillet, and on a cheap flat top electric griddle. The best I've had is on the griddle. Start cold, set the temp at 350 F~, and use an old cast iron frying pan as a bacon press. While I can feel my arteries plugging up, it's still the best eating bacon I've ever had.
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quadcap
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 9:22 pm    Post subject: Best way to cook bacon Reply with quote

The very best way to cook bacon that I have found is to pan fry it over very high heat, stirring constantly. This beats the time consuming slow fry method you describe, and works when you have more bacon than will fit on the bottom of the pan. It cooks the bacon evenly, without the painstaking "flipping" process, and renders the most fat. Try it!
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jw
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 2:40 am    Post subject: mayonnaise Reply with quote

For the person afraid of mayonnaise....

Wikipedia has this to say.....

"Mayonnaise has a pH between 3.8 and 4.6, making it an acidic food. There is a misconception that foods like potato salad can make a person sick if left out in the sun, due to the mayonnaise spoiling. This is false; the pH of mayonnaise prevents harmful bacteria from growing in it. Left out of refrigeration, mayonnaise will develop an unappetizing taste and smell, due to other types of bacteria and molds that can spoil it; but will not make one sick."
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Elizabeth A.
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 4:27 pm    Post subject: multi rack for toaster/conv. oven bacon cooking Reply with quote

I just realized I could put more than one layer of bacon in my toaster/conv. oven at a time if I had a multi layer rack as the hot air is constantly moving around and through the layers. I tried my little broiler pan with a small cake cooling rack sitting over that, but there wasn't enough air flow under the rack on the pan. There was under the cooling rack. I thought that if I had a multi rack over a drip pan with water in it, and at 400 degrees, I would have the fastest cooking method. Has anyone seen a multi rack that would be smell enough to fit in a toaster/conv oven? The racks would only have to be about 1/2 inch to 1 inch apart. Four to five layers could probably fit.
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jdr
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 8:21 pm    Post subject: bacon Reply with quote

I was a vegetarian for 11 years. During that time I would often dream about bacon! I never dreamed of any other food, just bacon.
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Philip Robert
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 3:10 am    Post subject: Cooking Bacon Reply with quote

Before reading this post I had never given much thought about the way bacon was (or should be) cooked. Throw it in a hot frying pan until crispy then dry on paper towels. For cooking at home now I use the baking method. Typically I'll wake up at 3:00AM turn the oven to 200 degrees and put in a half sheet with a rack to hold the bacon out of the grease. At 6:00AM when I get up I kick the oven up to 400 degrees for about 10 minutes to finish. Best bacon I've ever cooked.

A while ago I enjoyed breakfast at a place called The Tractor Room in San Diego. The bacon came out in an interesting looking curl. It was absolutely incredible. When I inquired as to how it was prepared they told me that they deep fried it. Nice, but I'm not going to put a commercial deep fryer in my kitchen.

Now I'm looking forward to grilling some bacon. Would have already tried this if I was still living with my ex. We had a nice deck off the kitchen with a wonderful gas grill. God I miss that <del>girl</del> grill.
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fatty
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 6:01 pm    Post subject: Agreed! Reply with quote

Oven baking is the most consistent, provides the easiest, most mess free way to create crispy bacon, and leaves lovely grease for later use.

http://fattyfatfat.com/index.php/2008/09/no-more-crappy-bacon/
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