How to Cook Bacon

Ah, Bacon! Is there a more perfect food? I think not. It can be used in so many ways in so many dishes.  Why, it should be its own food group.  That smokey, salty, fatty goodness! But, alas, far too many people do not know the proper way to cook bacon.  So, as a public service I reveal the secret here today.

First: Put that frying pan away (for now) and pull out a sheet pan and spread the bacon on said pan. As pictured.

Now, preheat your oven to about 425F and place the sheet onto the middle rack. Keep an eye on it but expect it to take about 15-20 minutes, depending on weather you want it crispy now or crispy later.  You can have it not so crispy too, if you want. Hey it's your food!  It should look something like the picture below.

Here, I have cooked the bacon just shy of crisp, because I will be using most of it at a later time and will finish crisping it up in a frying pan when needed.  Don't worry about all the grease, we will be draining that to use for making English Toast at a later date, so nothing will go to waste.

I keep it in a little cappuccino cup cause I don't really like cappuccino and I have all these cups.  Anyway, the bacon, when crisp enough should look like the picture below:

Notice that the bacon is flat and not curled up at the ends or sides and that it stands up on its own, proud and strong.  Now, what could we use this for?  How about, a BLT (tis the season, after all) or, on the side of pancakes (oh wait, not Sunday yet) or, chop it up for the best bacon bits in a Cesar salad (or any salad, there are no rules here) or, to top a burger or ice cream ( damn it, I said there were no rules here!).  Anyway, now that you know the best way to cook it, you can think up a bazillion uses, bacon goes with everything.  Good luck and good eating!