All About the Bacon No Images? Click here The Best Tools for Cooking BaconThere are as many ways to cook bacon as there are varieties of the smoked meat, but not all are created equal. These are the essential tools for cooking bacon like us—whether you're at the stove, on the grill, using the oven, or going sous vide. Want to know what kind of bacon to start with? We did a taste test of our favorite supermarket bacon and the winner was none other than Oscar Meyer. Grab that or any kind you love, and get cooking. The best pan for stovetop bacon is a cast iron skillet. As with fried chicken, cast iron has a symbiotic relationship with bacon. The cast iron cooks the bacon with minimal to no sticking and has an easy cleanup (at least, it's easy if your cast iron is well-seasoned). The bacon, in return, provides a ready supply of grease to help maintain and improve that seasoning. Make sure you have a thin slotted offset spatula or other thin metal spatula. If the bacon adheres slightly to your pan, the spatula will be able to slide under and free it. If you're cooking bacon for a crowd, you'll need a rimmed baking sheet, where multiple servings are possible with minimal effort. Slide a second baking sheet in the oven, and you're practically ready to open for business. You want very thick-cut bacon if you're going to go the sous vide route. That's because the whole advantage of sous vide is getting a pronounced texture difference between the seared exterior and melting interior. If you want to use this technique, grab a Joule, one of our favorite immersion circulators in our review. Already got your equipment? Head over here for the recipes! |