Bacon in big chunks, no slices

#1

I’ve found unsalted, no additives bacon in big chunks, no slices, no small bits and pieces. I want to freeze so that I can have it available at all times.

I’ve done it once and looked on the internet how to cook it from frozen. I’ve decided to try putting some water in the pan, then let it cook in the water. The water evaporates and it ends the cooking like frying.

But I was a little disappointed with the texture. It was too chewy.

Does anyone have experience with cooking big, thick chunks of bacon from frozen? I’d like the result to be crispy.

I’ve got a good cup of fat from my bacon that’s in the fridge. I’ll use it to fry eggs and brocolli. I can’t wait for eggs tomorrow!

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

You could try slicing it before freezing; that might help.

(UsedToBeT2D) #3

Bake it at 350F on parchment paper until it as crispy as you like.

(KCKO, KCFO) #4

These two should do it.

However, I bake mine at 300 for 70 hrs. I love the creamy texture of the fat along with the crispy meaty parts. Parchment on the bottom of the pan and a piece over the top, pinch the two pieces together to totally stop the splatters.

#5

It sounds delicious!

But I couldn’t leave my oven on for days.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #6

Seventy hours does seem a long time. :rofl: I suspect that 70 minutes was the intent. Though even that seems a bit long to wait to eat bacon! :bacon::bacon:

(KCKO, KCFO) #7

Sorry that should have been mins. not hours. My super bad.

(KCKO, KCFO) #8

But you can do two large trays of it at the same time, so you have bacon for a couple of days.

And yes, it should have been mins. not hrs.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #9

Bacon for days! Yes! :+1::bacon::bacon:

#10

I’ll try that.

The extra bacon, you can freeze, or just refrigerate? To get it back to eating standards, you bake it again?

Thank you for the tips, all who replied!

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #11

Since we’re talking about bacon here. Slightly off topic, but here goes…

PS: ‘Pemmican’ was invented by North American plains Indians as a method to preserve meat and provide daily rations over weeks to months. It’s simply a mix of fat and dried meat sealed in a fist-sized pouch of hide. The fat acts as a preservative and seal to keep oxygen off the meat. In the case of the plains Indians, the fat and meat were bison, but I don’t think they would have turned up their noses at a mix of dried bacon crumbles and beef tallow.

(KCKO, KCFO) #12

I put in fridge and nuke in the microwave for 30 secs to reheat it. You could warm it in a skillet or the oven. Microwave is just quicker. I am sure you could freeze it too, and warm up the same way, just keep the slices separated in the freezer container.

#13

That looked super tasty!

However, tallow is something I can’t find. I wish!

I did get bacon fat from my last bacon cooking. I’ve used some to fry eggs and even to make a weird concoction. I’m saving the rest as if it was gold. I wish I could just buy it somewhere.

(Doug) #14

I think Paul is right on with the slicing suggestion. There’s a limit to how crispy the inside of a really thick piece will get, unless the outside is truly incinerated. The cells need to dry out and get firm - that’s a big part of being “crispy,” along with chemical changes from the heat, like browning / Maillard reaction. So, the hot air needs to be able to get fairly close or the cells won’t end up as crispy as the outside.

I think a microwave does a fantastic job, either to just warm bacon up, or to make it more crispy. It doesn’t take very long, either - for normal ‘thick’ sliced bacon I just do 20 or 30 seconds, with the bacon in between paper towels. That’s after it’s been cooked in a pan or in an oven (I think the oven is the best method). I usually put something low in the pan in the oven - like a cooling rack inside a cookie sheet - to hold the bacon up a little, so it’s not frying in its own fat as much. This helps if you really want it crispy.

BaconPorkBelly
BaconPorkBelly.png729×562 630 KB

This was a nice old piece of pork belly I roasted last year. After cooking it was ~1.25" or 3 cm thick. I like the picture and it was delicious, but the inside wasn’t as crispy as the outer surface.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #15

It took me quite a while to find a butcher shop that carries it here in North Vancouver. And it turns out to be close to the mall where I work at Walmart! It happened that I was in another nearby super and I asked at the meat counter whether or not they had tallow. When the clerk said no, another customer who just happened to pass by at that exact moment said “So and So butcher has tallow”…

(Sarah) #16

Not sure if your cut will be the same, but hubby cures and smokes his own side meat for bacon and has found it very difficult to slice without it being slightly frozen and using a very sharp knife. The slices still come out a bit thicker than he likes, but I think you’ll find you’ll still get that traditional bacon crispness.
Sometimes he’s just cubed the pieces in half inch pieces and I just never care for them the same.

#17

That’s a real problem, slicing it thinner.

I’m going back for more bacon today and I’ll try asking the butcher to slice it for me.

The whole idea is just so that I can avoid the already sliced pieces, because those have nitrite. I’ve checked all cuts in the supermarket and they all have additives. Same with sausages. I’ve seen the video of Dr Berry saying nitrite is ok, but I’ve checked and he was definitely cherry picking info. So, I don’t know if you can, or not get cancer from it, but I’m so afraid of cancer, I’d rather err on the cautious side, until I’m really convinced it’s ok to eat nitrite. I think a little of it isn’t bad, but I’m eating so much meat, it isn’t just a little bit.

I was wondering if kitchen robots can grind bacon. That’d be tasty and quick to cook.

#18

It looks really good!

#19

I don’t like tallow (maybe I don’t know what goes well with it) but I have some. I bought some mutton once and we made roasted mutton ribs, it was amazing… And it yielded a surprisingly big amount of tallow. The chickadees and the cats eat it, even I can but I strongly prefer lard and that’s very easy to get in good quality from the nearby pig farm :slight_smile: The supermarket lard is awful here.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #20

Ask your butcher for scraps of beef fat, and render your own. A day or so in the slow cooker on low, strain out the connective tissue, and you’ve got tallow.