Bacon: Fried or Baked?

[CJ-95GT]

I have always fried my bacon and have never heard of baking it until this past weekend while at a friends house. Anyways, he goes on to tell me it's healthier and taste about the same. I called BS on the taste, but I wasn't sure about the health aspect. It's bacon, what's healthy about it? Anyway, am I living in the dark ages by frying it? Whats the board concensus?

[VaderTT]

All of the high volume restaurants I've worked at, do their bacon like that.
It tastes just fine and may be a tiny bit healthier. We couldn't fry it with the fryers because it would taint the oil and also curl up super bad.

[bcoop]

All of the high volume restaurants I've worked at, do their bacon like that.
It tastes just fine and may be a tiny bit healthier. We couldn't fry it with the fryers because it would taint the oil and also curl up super bad.

Lol, nobody "fries" bacon in a fryer, unless it's chicken fried bacon. By "fried" he means in a pan on the stove, where it cooks in its own fat.

Just about anywhere you order bacon, be it breakfast, bacon burger, or otherwise, batch cooks it in an oven. Bacon takes too long and valuable range space to fry it in a skillet every time someone orders.


As for whether or not it's more healthy, no. Baking it doesn't magically remove the fat. In fact, they cook it in 18"x26" sheet pans, so it is still cooking in its own fat, so it's no more healthy than frying in a cast iron skillet. As for the taste, depends on who is cooking it, what kind of pan, how maintained, etc. the taste difference would not be noticeable to 90% of people. That said, you do benefit from using a cast iron skillet when all aspects are used properly. It's just minimal when it comes to actually flavoring bacon. The reason people like to use cast iron skillets, is because they are porous. The fat soaks in to the skillet, and flavors things cooked in that pan after the bacon. For instance, sautée some onions and peppers in a skillet after you've cooked bacon. The flavor transfers. It also helps prevent sticking. This is why people don't wash cast iron skillets. The detergent in the soap penetrates the pores of the cast iron, thus getting rid of the "seasoning". So when you do wash cast iron, you have to season it again.


I do both, just depends on what I've got going on. If I'm cooking a lot of bacon, it goes in the oven. If its just me, I use my cast iron.

CAUTION: if you do decide to cook in the oven, DO NOT use a cookie sheet with no lip. The fat will run off the edge and drip on to your element, and very well could start a fire. You MUST use a pan with some depth/edge. Also, DO NOT just go swing the oven for wide open when it's done, or you'll receive a facial courtesy of steam. Steam burns will fuck you up. Just crack the door, let the steam roll out for a minute or two, then open fully.

[Matt]

Had fried Bacon on Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday morning.

[Trick Pony]

As long as you use the right time and temperature there is no difference in taste or texture of the bacon when you cook it in the oven as opposed to a skillet. Like bcoop said, either way it's frying in it's own grease.
I prefer the oven because you can cook a lot more in the same amount of time and you don't have to turn it or anything.
In my oven 400 degrees seems to work best and I put it in with the oven cold to keep it from sticking.

[VaderTT]

Lol, nobody "fries" bacon in a fryer, unless it's chicken fried bacon. By "fried" he means in a pan on the stove, where it cooks in its own fat.

No shit Brent, I know how to cook bacon. I was speaking high volume, like 2 cases. There have been places I've worked, that have used the fryers as an attempt to turn out a large amount of cooked and preped bacon. After that debacle, they switched to the oven.

I probably should have been more clear, lol.

[bcoop]

There have been places I've worked, that have used the fryers

Post it up, so I know who has a fucking retard in the kitchen I need to avoid. You can pretty much do a case at a time in a convection oven, depending on amount of racks, width/length of bacon, etc.

[VaderTT]

Post it up, so I know who has a fucking retard in the kitchen I need to avoid. You can pretty much do a case at a time in a convection oven, depending on amount of racks, width/length of bacon, etc.

It's an HMS host chain (super high volume) , may have just been 1 locations staff though. They ended up doing exactly this, convection and multiple cases. The few times they tried the fryer, were all during a rush.

[Unicorn Jeff]

Fuck Bacon...

[Silverback]

Fuck Bacon...

fuck you!

[sspstang]

Im making sliders tonight, I plan on mixing the raw bacon in with my meat, so it will be cooked rather then fried. I prefer fried, but we will see how it tastes.

[UserX]

[krazy kris]

I grill my bacon nigga

[Tannerm]

I voted baked only because I eff up my bacon when I try to stove top it... Pisses me off but baking is eff up free!

[hotrod66stang]

Gotta go with fried. Baking does lose a little something in the flavor department, as does frying in oil. I've been to places that serve burgers with curled up bacon on top, and it just isn't quite the same.