How to quickly cook a pound (.45 Kg, around 16 to 18 strips) of lower-fat bacon (recipe - how-to)
Cooked bacon strips are a basic ingredient for BLT sandwiches, Club sandwiches, Quiche Lorraine, Bacon sandwiches, Green bean casserole, an English breakfast, and other dishes.
A pound of bacon can be cooked quickly by top broiling in an oven, resulting in a fairly low fat bacon. One may also start with a package of lower fat and lower sodium bacon.
You should have a broiler pan with a slotted top insert which a llows fat to drain. An alternative is crumpled aluminum foil in an oven proof pan; put the bacon on top of the foil.
If the bacon came from the freezer, thaw it thoroughly in the fridge. Set the oven to top broil and get out your pan. Open the package of bacon and put it on a cutting board. If there is any solid fat at either end of the strips then trim it using a sharp knife.
Next, place strips of bacon in a single layer in the broiler pan. A large broiler pan may do half of the pound of bacon, 8 strips or so. Then wash your hands with soap and water.
Put pan in the oven, about 5 inches from the top heating element. Set a timer for 2 to 3 minutes.
Get another clean cutting board, or a couple dinner plates, and put a few sheets of paper towel on top.
After cooking two to three minutes one side, grab an oven mitt, pull the broiler pan out, and use a fork to flip the bacon strips other side up. Then put them back in the oven and set timer for two or three more minutes.
By then the bacon should be done. Watch that it is at least slightly brown and not burnt. Pull the broiler pan to the stove top again and place each bacon strip in a single layer on the paper towels.
Next, lay the remaining strips of uncooked bacon in the broiler, wash hands again, and cook the second half of the bacon the same way.
When done, drain the bacon grease from the broiler pan into a jar. Either store or toss that.
This should yield about 12 ounces of lower fat cooked bacon, about 16 to 18 strips, prepared in 20 minutes. Cooked bacon keeps in the refrigerator about a week if it's sealed. Use plastic containers or plastic wrap. Re-heat the bacon in the micro-wave, toaster oven, oven, or in the pan on the stove top.
Now you can do some recipes that use cooked bacon strips. BLT sandwiches, Club sandwiches, Quiche Lorraine, Bacon sandwiches, Green bean casserole, or an English breakfast.