Keep bacon strips from shrinking in your frying pan by rinsing first in ice-cold water. Try it; you'll be surprised by this simple trick!
By Brianna Southworth from Dutch Harbor, Alaska
This page contains the following solutions.
Before opening a package of bacon, roll it into a long tube to loose the slices and keep them from sticking together.
Isn't cooking bacon a hassle sometimes? My sister-in-law showed me a great way to cut the hassle. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, spray grates with Pam, place your bacon strips tight together on the grates as it will shrink.
When cooking bacon, use wooden chopsticks to flip the strips over. This makes it easy to flip one slice at a time for even cooking.
I use a clean pair of scissors to cut raw bacon strips before cooking. After cooking, I have diced bacon for soups, chowders, and garnishes!
Most bacon presses can run anywhere from $10 all the way up to $20 and $30. A much cheaper and just as effective option is a cast iron skillet.
We like to have breakfast at home. We prefer to have a piece of bacon with toast and an orange for breakfast when in a hurry, but prep could take a considerable amount of time and cause a mess.
Tired of that pound of bacon shrinking away to virtually nothing? Shake the strips in a little flour and fry away. Stops shrinkage!
Preventing Bacon From Sticking. If you sprinkle just a tiny bit of sugar in the skillet when you are browning bacon. . .
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
What is the best way to cook bacon for BLTs?
By jasmine from Pasadena, CA
When cooking lots of bacon, it's easier to bake it in the oven. Line a jelly roll pan with foil, then put down a sheet of parchment paper.
I cook it in the microwave, too. But I put two paper towels on the bacon tray, lay my bacon on top of this and add another layer of paper towels to stop splatters. I cook till crispy. MUCH less fat and taste wonderful!
From someone who used to cook for a gold camp just outside of Fairbanks, AK, I can tell you the easiest way.
With two baking sheets the same size, I lined one with the bacon, and sat the other right on top with the baking side up...just like you were stacking them clean in your cupboard.
Nest them. If you will, with the bacon in between. This accomplishes two things. The bacon is flat and cooks faster, and you don't have any grease splatter. Hmm, now I am suddenly hungry!
This is a page about cooking bacon in the microwave. Cooking bacon in the microwave is easy. It also is less messy and usually quicker than cooking it on the stove top.
If everything tastes better deep fried, imagine what it will do to bacon. If you have access to a deep fryer and love crispy bacon, try deep frying it.
This is a page about separating bacon strips without tearing. Separating bacon slices, especially thin ones can result in torn strips.
Make your own crumbled bacon to use as a garnish or in recipes. This is a page about making crumbled bacon.
This page is about cooking bacon for BLTs. There are a few tricks to preparing bacon for sandwiches. You want your meat flat, crisp and free of excess fat.
Bacon may be delicious, but it is generally agreed that cooking it on the stovetop is messy. This is a page about cooking bacon in the oven.
The shrinking of the fat on a strip of bacon causes it to curl as it cooks. This is a page about keeping bacon from curling.
This is a page about removing bacon in one piece. Removing bacon from the package without tearing a strip can be frustrating.
This is a page about preventing bacon grease splatters. It is a good thing bacon tastes so good, because the spatters are not so good. However, there are some ways to prevent the mess.
ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.
I bake a pound of bacon at 400 degrees F for about 10-12 minutes on two foil-lined jelly roll pans.
When cooking bacon to use in a salad or other recipe, cut across the entire contents of package with your shears. Then fry it in a deep pan so it doesn't make such a mess.
