Bacon in the oven

[BridgeRunner]

Someone clearly has too much time on their hands.

I'm a fan of my bacon press myself.  The Foreman is good too, and fast.  Plus it collects the fat very handily without having to pour hot grease.  Always a plus with kids underfoot.

[Hutch]

Tuttle... Oh.  My.  God.   There must be a name for that concoction.  Let me guess:  Triple Bypass?  Double Lipitor?  Stroke Surprise?

[BridgeRunner]

See, I don't like rubbery.  Bacon must be cooked to somewhere between crispy and burnt, and completely evenly.  With the weave thing going on there I don't see any way to not have rubbery bits.

[MechAg94]

I'll either use a cast iron pan or the George Foreman grill.

I never tried the Foreman grill.  That might be interesting.  

I tried the oven thing this morning.  It worked okay.  The bacon came out great.  The house still got smelled up with bacon.  I am apparently in the minority in that once I am no longer hungry, I really don't want to smell bacon throughout the house or smell in again every time I come back inside.  When it is 97 outside, I really don't want to open up windows either.  

I think I'll go back to using the microwave.  It seems to be the easiest means to cook up 2 or 3 slices at a time.  

[MechAg94]

See, I don't like rubbery.  Bacon must be cooked to somewhere between crispy and burnt, and completely evenly.  With the weave thing going on there I don't see any way to not have rubbery bits.

I'm with you there.  I'd rather have nearly burnt bacon than anything close to underdone. 

[Harold Tuttle]

[lupinus]

I'm with you there.  I'd rather have nearly burnt bacon than anything close to underdone. 

Properly cooked bacon should be something just short of cremation.

[Ben]

Well, I hit this thread again while I had asparagus baking in the oven, and now it has been joined by bacon. :)

[MillCreek]

Dinner last night was excellent.  The ex brought over a big dish of 'cowboy caviar' as the appetizer, and I have forgotten how good that was.  I have not had it in years.

[Boomhauer]

OK, I put the bacon in the oven trick this morning because I didn't have any time to pan fry...

Oh chewy goodness! I still prefer pan fry overall, but the oven method is much superior to microwaving.

[Ben]

Oh chewy goodness! I still prefer pan fry overall, but the oven method is much superior to microwaving.

I'm getting to be almost the opposite. I still like sitting under the tree with bacon going in the grill and beer in hand, but the oven stuff has been coming out oh so good. I've been doing the trick where I crumple and then uncrumple the aluminum foil before I line the pan, so it creates a rough surface with a bunch of little nooks for the grease to go almost like a ribbed griddle. Then I've been copying what Nick posted via pictures a while back and sprinkling brown sugar on top of the bacon before it goes in the oven (his recipe called for pralines too, but I replaced the pralines with extra brown sugar). :)

[MillCreek]

When I bake my bacon in the oven, I set the oven at 400 degrees, and put the bacon in cold.  I use a large jelly roll sheet and put a steel cooling rack into the pan.  The bacon goes on the rack and bakes.  This allows the grease to drip away and the bacon to get crispy.  The bonus is that I have clear drippings to save.  My parents grew up in Arkansas before moving to Seattle, and I picked up the trick of saving your bacon drippings in a jar in the fridge to use in cooking.

[roo_ster]

i was insspired i had an eye round in the oven and fine chopped some bacon  cooked mushrooms and onions in the grease and than made a roux with the whole mess  the gravy rocks after the drippings from the roast and some boullion

That IS inspired!

I love to roast off an eye round on the weekend and then use it for roast beef sandwiches during the week. 

Hokay, cough up recipes/techniques.  Is your eye well-done, or some rare bits left?  'Cause if there are, I might have to try that.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

gravy is always good!  and i do eye rounds to 115

[MillCreek]

As is so often the case, I see that CSD and I have the same approach to cooking.  I put the room temperature roast in a 325 degree oven, uncovered, and roast until the internal temp at the center of the roast is about 110-115 degrees.  I then let it sit for a good hour or chill it overnight before slicing.  This gives me a pretty nice evenly rare roast.  It is perfect for roast beef or French dip sandwiches.  

I read a story a while back in Cooks' Illustrated suggesting roasting an eye round at a roasting temperature of 225 degrees to an internal temp of 115 degrees, but have not yet tried this.  This is supposed to minimize shrinkage and give you an even pink edge to edge.  I have read other approaches suggesting putting the eye round into a preheated 500 degree oven, then turning off the oven immediately and roasting at about nine minutes per pound until an internal temperature of 115 degrees.  I have done this with other roasts, and it only works with my indwelling temperature probe that allows me to monitor the internal temp from outside the oven.  If you open the oven to check the temp, you are screwed, since you lose your residual heat that is cooking the roast.

Edited to add some details.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

i did the big roasts l;ike that  a 90 pd steamship over nite at 225 gets an even pink from the outside all the way to the bone  and as a bonus i would freeze a couple 20 pound top rounds and put em in at the same time they would be perfect for slicing for sandwiches  and be my shtf plan for backing up the steamship if i got extra guests

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

wanna freak out the better 1/2
'  but about  dozen charcoal briquets in a cast iron frypan. get em burning then bring em inside put em in the bottom of the oven  dump a handful of wet hickory chips on them then stick the roast in. smokes the beef   does make for interesting oven cleanup

[roo_ster]

gravy is always good!  and i do eye rounds to 115

Schweet!  My dad always called gravy, "brown gold."

As is so often the case, I see that CSD and I have the same approach to cooking.  I put the room temperature roast in a 325 degree oven, uncovered, and roast until the internal temp at the center of the roast is about 110-115 degrees.  I then let it sit for a good hour or chill it overnight before slicing.  This gives me a pretty nice evenly rare roast.  It is perfect for roast beef or French dip sandwiches.  

I read a story a while back in Cooks' Illustrated suggesting roasting an eye round at a roasting temperature of 225 degrees to an internal temp of 115 degrees, but have not yet tried this.  This is supposed to minimize shrinkage and give you an even pink edge to edge.  I have read other approaches suggesting putting the eye round into a preheated 500 degree oven, then turning off the oven immediately and roasting at about nine minutes per pound until an internal temperature of 115 degrees.  I have done this with other roasts, and it only works with my indwelling temperature probe that allows me to monitor the internal temp from outside the oven.  If you open the oven to check the temp, you are screwed, since you lose your residual heat that is cooking the roast.

Edited to add some details.

I have done the 500deg & turn off.  It worked, but I do wonder about consistency.  Summer/winter indoor temps & all that would vary the amount of cooking done.  I need one of those indwelling thermos.

I am quite hot-to-trot to try

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

check woot for the thermometers  i got a couple and love em