Have any of you ever cooked bacon in the oven?

I have seen bacon baked in an oven when I was working in a university’s cafeteria kitchen. It’s quite good.

I saw the cooks separate the individual slices and layer them on top of each other in a pan and then bake it. I’m sorry that I can’t tell you the temperature or duration.

Here’s how

This isn’t going to get the same discussion results as my divorce question is it!! :)
That’s it, @gailcalled! I figured that it would work just fine. Twenty minutes is a dream!!! Thanks @Hawaii_Jake too. anytime I don’t know what temp to use, I use 350. It seems to be the perfect temperature for everything!

My MIL does it in the microwave. In the oven you would cook more at once I am sure, but I think the microwave is very fast if it interests you at all.

^^^”...mass quantities…”

@Dutchess_III: This time it is 400˚ and unheated.

Yeah, I’ve done microwave @JLeslie but you can’t cook that much at once. Also, you don’t get the grease and I’m sure someone is gonna want to make gravy!

@gailcalled I think I acknowledged the oven would cook more at once.

The microwave? What? No..just no…

@Dutchess_III Gravy from bacon fat? I never heard of such a thing. What do you do with it?

@Michael_Huntington yeah! It’s good! crispy.
@JLeslie That’s where all gravy comes from! The “drippings!” You mix flour in the drippings and make a roux, then you pour milk in that and stir it till it thickens.
We’re having fried potatoes too, so there are those who would like gravy over it. There will be those who like gravy over EVERYTHING. Even over their wives!
I LOVE chicken gravy over bread. Yumm!

No. Bacon is pig disgusting.

Didn’t AX you @ragingloli!

@Dutchess_III I know what a roux is and how to make one, but I like to think my gravy is made with mostly drippings that are not fat. You know the gelatinous at cold temps type stuff that has the juices from the meat. Bacon just leaves grease behind. Is what you described a white gravy? What goes on chicken fried steak and sausage gravy for biscuits?

Sure, we do it all the time, often in lieu of stovetop when we’re doing a big breakfast or brunch and have other stuff going over the flames. It works very nicely, and cooks the strips with better consistency than frying them does. The directions in @gailcalled‘s link are accurate.

@JLeslie All drippings are from fat. Drippings = Fat = Grease

Even turkey gravy is made from the drippings off the little fat that turkey contains. Chicken gravy is the same.

Bacon has more fat on it, so it leaves more drippings. Yes, bacon drippings are what’s usually used in the gravy for chicken fried steak and biscuits and gravy. Pork sausage can be substituted for bacon, too.

Thank goodness I don’t eat a lot of gravy. I always thought of gravy as being part meat juices, not all fat. I didn’t realize drippings was synonomous with fat? Drippings=lard=schmaltz is that right? I learned something new. I never use the term drippings, but the word was not unfamiliar to me.

You are correct, @JLeslie. Dripping is synonymous with fat and lard.

@Hawaii_Jake So any stock is a separate thing? If I take what is in the bottom of the pan and let it chill, the drippings are just the hard fat on top?

If I understand cooking correctly, @JLeslie, yes, drippings are the hard fat on top of chilled fat.

Ok thanks.

No, @JLeslie, you were right. Drippings include blood and other things that drip from the meat. Not just the fat. Usually you separate the drippings from the fat, because you only need two tablespoons of fat or so. Then you use your flour and stock made from the bones and gizzards or whatnot, depending on the beast.

The drippings come out from the meat when you carve it, as well. And if you scoop them off the carving board, they can extend the gravy, later on.

I think it is a more Southern custom to use bacon fat to make gravy. It sounds disgusting to people who want to try to keep their arteries in working order, and don’t want to grow rumps the size of Mt. Vesuvius, which is what would happen you got into the habit of eating bacon gravy on a regular basis. But it would be mighty tasty, I’m sure, and I do love frying potatoes in bacon fat. I just don’t do it very often.

Of course, the best fat, for my money, is goose fat. Potatoes fried in goose fat are out of this world. I’ve roasted two or three geese in my life, and I don’t know if I’ll do it again. The meat is not really worth the trouble. The goose fat, however, almost makes it worthwhile.

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say on the matter.

@wundayatta That makes more sense to me, because I would guess drippings mean everything that drips from the meat, but I had never really looked into the term, it was just an assumption of mine. I usually use butter and flour to make a rue and then add the stock. I do make my breakfast in the fat the bacon leaves behind, whether it be an omelette or hashbrowns or whatever. But, I sop almost all the fat up, just leaving a thin coating on the pan. Do you mean you deep fry potatoes in bacon fat? Like a home fry? I never thought to do that. I have read that lard is very good for making pie crust. I personally don’t think that is any worse than butter for your health in terms of fat.

No, not deep fry. Just plain old frying. I have never deep fried in my life.

And yes, I call them drippings… or my family does. Pan drippings.

Stock is separate. Like for my turkey gravy, I made stock from the gizzards while the turkey was roasting. After the turkey was done, I collected the pan drippings, and made a roux with flour. Then added the stock to thin it out a bit, and added the giblets to make a giblet gravy. It was very tasty.

@Hawaii_Jake Oh thanks. That supports what you have said all along.

@wundayatta Do you use the term drippings? Or, do you always say fat, stock, etc.

@Dutchess_III I’ve cooked bacon in the oven before and it’s such a time saver. Less splatter to clean up around the stove and I don’t have to watch to turn the bacon over in the pan.

I have to add, though, that I use a broiler pan because the top has slots for the drippings to run through to the bottom, and the bottom is deep enough to catch whatever drips through. Take it out right before it becomes crispy because the fat dripping away means the bacon crisps faster and can easily become crumbly.

Let us know how it goes!

Ah…yes.

Reminds me of dear old Mom. No one prepared those lean, tasty strips as artfully as she.

It was Mom who introduced me to placing bacon in the oven. I find this method preferable to pan frying, yet there is no wrong way to cook bacon besides burning it to a crisp.

And even burned bacon has an appeal.

Tasty bacon.

Yum.

Lay out the rashers on a lightly-oiled non-stick baking tray and cook until done to your taste. Me, I like it really crispy, and oven-cooking it great for that.