GoKawiilStop fighting a losing battle with a grease-spattered stovetop. If you're buying high-end bacon, you want a perfect crunch without the 20-minute cleanup. The real problem with a frying pan isn't the taste, though. It's all that popping and the errant grease spots that mark your skin and kitchen walls.
In an effort to find the best, cleanest way to make bacon for a Sunday brunch or BLT, I tried several methods, including the stovetop, oven and air fryer.
It turns out I've been doing it all wrong.
A frying pan
Cooking time : 10 minutes
: 10 minutes Hassle : 8/10
: 8/10 How much bacon: 7-8 strips
I grew up on pan-fried bacon but my test revealed there's a better way. Mike Mackinven/Getty Images
This is the way I grew up cooking bacon and it's perfectly fine. There isn't much skill needed to fry bacon in a pan, although just about every batch I've ever made sends a healthy splatter over the stove. In more unfortunate instances, that infernal grease lands directly on my skin or clothes, presenting two distinct but equally aggravating problems.
Pan-fried bacon soaks up a ton of grease, which is why many turn to paper towels to drain it after cooking. Pan-frying these strips of pork belly also tends to curl them into little bacon balls. While that has no impact on the taste, it can make for a suboptimal presentation.
... continue reading