Blackened Bacon

The other day Ray was telling about how a guy he knew had this unique way of cooking bacon that kept it from curling up. It turns out this guy would put a plate down on top of the bacon in the pan and that pressed it down flat while it cooked and not only kept it from shrinking it also kept grease from splattering all over the place.

I decided to try it out, lawd knows I hate the grease splatter, as far as the bacon curling up, that wasn't really a deal breaker for me. I didn't have any plates that fit down inside my iron skillet, in fact I was curious about this particular detail as I can't imagine how he maneuvered that around while cooking. I decided to use a pot lid from a set of enamel pots that fit inside my skillet perfectly. My fork also fit nicely into the thingy you use to lift the lid so I didn't have to worry about burning myself.

It turned out that my bacon strips were still so long that they curled up around the edges of the pot lid, so no perfectly flat bacon here. The first batch turned out burnt to a crisp in the middle and raw on the edges. I got interested in reading my email (that's code for getting on facebook) a few short feet away from the stove and lost track of time, so I burnt the bacon.

The next batch, I cut the strips in half and had another go at it. Burnt again as I was a slow learner that day and didn't give the stove my full attention. Apparently my "lid it and forget it" technique was clearly not the way to go! Yep, I was still trying to fb and cook at the same time.

Third batch I realized that if I just listened closely, I could tell when the bacon was getting close because as it turns out bacon stops making a frying sound when it's on the verge of turning to charcoal. Better yet, use the same rules as microwave popcorn and when the popping sounds get slower, you better get your butt over to the stove and turn the bacon over.

All in all breakfast turned out OK. There was nary a kitchen fire, even though I neglected the frying pan the majority of the time. I have to admit though, the thick sliced bacon I purchased, turned out to be the same texture as Streak-O-Lean due to the lack of attention during the cooking process. That brings back memories, who else loves eating the rind from that salty treat? Mmmmmm, streak-0-lean, I need to add that to the grocery list!