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BLT. BEC. Club. There's one thing these fan favorite sandwiches have in common (besides bread), and it's bacon. Juicy, fatty, delicious bacon. We know it, we love it, but what's the best way to cook it?
When the heat's not just right on the stovetop, you can end up getting hit with burning hot oil. Baking bacon is officially The Kitchn's preferred cooking method, but truthfully, I don't always want to deal with turning on the oven. But this genius trick to cook bacon, which prevents all that grease from popping on you, seems like the answer to my prayers.
America's Test Kitchen recently posted a video of cooking bacon in water, claiming that the water "helps render the fat gently." This is a technique The Kitchn reviewed back in 2020 but one I had never tried before. Now, it's my go-to method.
How to Cook Bacon in Water
- Add bacon to a pan, then add just enough water to completely cover the bottom of the pan.
- Over medium-high heat, bring the water to a simmer and cook until the water evaporates, flipping the bacon as needed.
- Once the water has cooked away, enough fat should have rendered from the bacon to help distribute the heat evenly and crisp things up. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the bacon is crispy.
What Makes Cooking Bacon in Water So Good
This trick, to my surprise, really works. A lot of times when I try to cook bacon in a pan, I get very crispy edges with areas of chewy fat that don't get enough love. But this time, my strips were crispy all over, despite the process being really hands-off.
Since there's a layer of water in your pan underneath your strips, there also won't be any harsh hot areas in your pan where your bacon will brown faster than others. This means you won't have to flip the bacon as frequently, which means in my book you're less likely to burn yourself (score!)
I like my bacon a bit on the chewier side (don't sue me). To achieve this texture, the chef in the video recommends looking for small bubbles and listening for quiet sizzling as your signals to remove your bacon. He also shares that if you like it a little crispier, wait for the bubbles to get so small that it looks like foam is covering your bacon, and you can barely hear sizzling sounds.
Apparently, you can also use the hack to cook a whole pound of bacon in the same pan at once by adding the strips in two layers and a whole cup of water. Now that I know this hack works, I'll definitely be trying it out the next time I host brunch.
Tiramisu
Further Reading
I Tried Every Possible Way to Bake a Potato, and Found the Curveball Trick I'll Now Follow Forever
12 Impossibly-Easy Dinners You Can Make With 3 Ingredients
We Tested 4 Famous Chocolate Cake Recipes and Found a Clear Winner
