Page Two with Shane and Wil: the more you know

Sunday, April 30, 2006

I've learned that, when cooking bacon, the margin of error from "delightfully crispy" to "inedibly burned" is eleven seconds.

leathej1 said...: I don't usually give cooking tips online, because somewhere along the space-time continuim, someone is going to look it up and call me a dope. But here goes:

#1: The Device
I use one of those plug-in griddles. It allows me to accurately control the temperature, get lots of bacon cooked at a time, and clean up easily. Rub down the non-stick surface with olive oil before the bacon goes on. Use wooden chopsticks to lay out the bacon (why, yes - my wife's family is Japanese. How'd you tell?)

#2: The Meat
I am a vegitarian. But I eat bacon on occasion, so I'm not a particularly good one. I have a friend who raises pigs on a mountainside, organically. In that bacon, I can taste the heriloom apples the pigs ate while basking in the sun, gazing at the Catskills. The point: get to know where your bacon comes from.

#3: The Time:
Depends on the thickness of the strips and the amount of fat. I turn them over with chopsticks when they shrink by about 1/3, and then take them off when that same amount of time elapses on the other side.

#4: The Rest:
Get the Gourmet Magazine cookbook . In there is a simple recipe for cream cheese and scrambled eggs with chives. Cook this in a cast iron skillet.

And when you feed the troops, tell 'em LeatheJ1 sent ya.; 10:08 AM