Makin' Bacon

I'm making bacon for a holiday craft and I'm using The Bacon Method.

1. Line a pan with bacon.

2. Place pans on the middle rack of a cold oven.

Check to make sure your assistant is ready to help with any spills.

3. Set the oven to 400 and the timer to 20 minutes.

4. Wait for bacon.

5. Check the bacon. Our bacon wasn't quite done. So I left it in for another 10 minutes. I checked after 5 mins, and about half was done, so I pulled it and left it to dry on a paper towel.

It took about another 10 minutes for the rest to cook, for a total run of 35 minutes. I think it took longer because I did a whole package. The end result is amazingly crisp, well-cooked bacon. The bacon did stick to my jelly roll pan, and since it's so crispy, it came apart as I tried to remove it from the pan. The bacon did not stick to the glass pan, though, which may be a better pan for this operation.

Unfortunately, while using this method made great bacon, it did not make what I really was going after, which was bacon grease. From both pans, I got only a measly tablespoon of grease from a full pound of bacon. That's not nearly enough for what I need.

So, I broke out the griddle, and fried another pound on the stovetop. This produced a lot grease, and also thicker, slightly chewier bacon. It's much more unevenly cooked, but is tastier, in my opinion. It also filled the house with smoke.