sprinklefingers

a few weeks ago an enormous slab of bacon showed up at work. weighing in at approximately 13 lbs, i’ll admit right now it was the most bacon i’ve ever seen in one place at one time. it took two of us only a few minutes to break the entire slab down into manageable lardons - then just a few minutes more to package and label them all for storage in the freezer. 

having 13 lbs of bacon around was kind of inspiring for me. i worked out a recipe for bacon & fig compote. i created a new candied bacon scone. i made tarts filled with creamy spinach and bacon. but most importantly i had all the bacon i needed to figure out the best possible way to cook bacon for all of my baking needs.

what i don’t like about simply dropping bacon in a frying pan and setting it on the heat is that the pieces of bacon get smaller and smaller while cooking - and if i’m including the delicious morsels in a baked good, i’d like them to keep their shape. for a while now i’ve been reading that cooking bacon in water is one way to achieve this. so why not try it out? i did - and the results were perfect. not only does the bacon only shrink a tiny bit, but cooking it in water also gives it a great texture. perfectly chewable.

here’s how you do it:

• add the bacon (whether in strips or lardons) to your pan.
• pour enough water over the bacon to just cover it.
• turn the heat to medium and cook until all of the water evaporates.
• once the water evaporates, the bacon will begin to get crisp.
• from this point, simply cook the bacon until it reaches your desired level of doneness.
  for a tart i prefer slightly less crisp bacon since it will continue to cook once it’s inside the tart. for scones, i cook the bacon until crisp but still chewable. 

this method works well for any bacon - whether it’s strips of bacon for breakfast or for a late summer blt (yum!), you should try it!

bacon!