Ok, this is a little of a cop-out. It’s bacon, right? Everyone knows how to cook bacon.
Well, maybe so. However, this is really an entry in How to Cook Everything, and I really followed it pretty closely. To make it up to you, I’ll follow the recipe up with a story about this particular toaster, and why Natasha hates it so much.
Ingredients
… Bacon. We’re using thick-sliced fancy stuff from Whole Foods today, 4 slices.
Instructions
Heat up your broiler. Put the bacon in a roasting pan or something else with a good lip that can stand up to your broiler. If you’re using the toaster oven like I am, you might as well cover the pan with foil to make cleanup easier. Throw that pan under the broiler. Every two minutes or so, take a look at the bacon and see what you think. Turn it every second or third time you take a look. Continue that until it looks cooked to your liking. Natasha likes it pretty crispy. Bittman says he likes his a bit chewy, and estimates 10 minutes to get there.
Notes
Our toaster oven sucks (as you’ll see below). As such, I spent a lot longer making this than expected, between the periodic checks to see if it was going to catch fire and whatnot. Even with all of that, the bacon came out well enough.
Bacon always seems like a lot of work for a little reward. I like the stuff well enough, but it’s a hassle, and cleanup tends to suck. Maybe that’s nature’s way of saying “bacon isn’t an everyday meal!”
The Toaster Story
I know that you’re thinking “how on earth can a story about the toaster be that interesting?” Maybe you’ll even say it wasn’t when I’m done. Comment and let me know 🙂
Our toaster is a Black and Decker Toast-R-Oven. I suspect that it’s the TRO620. I could link to it on Amazon, but I won’t in fear of one of you buying it.
Natasha was taking care of my mom’s house a couple of years ago. One day the toaster didn’t turn off when it dinged, and it almost caught fire. She caught it before it really went, but there was a ton of scorching around the front of the toaster and (of course) ruined what was in the toaster. Another day, it happened again! My mom hasn’t ever had this happen, and we haven’t been able to talk her into replacing it despite this story.
Well, imagine Natasha’s surprise when I moved to Chicago and brought… my Black and Decker toaster. My mom’s is white, and mine is fake-brushed-steel, but they otherwise look the same. I somehow convinced her that it surely was just a fault with my mom’s toaster (not even the whole line, just that one). We didn’t use it for months after I moved in, but we started recently to avoid the heat from our oven1. One day she turned her back on it while I was home and we had a guest. After a few minutes, I said “wait, shouldn’t it be done?” Well, it sort of was. Evidently it finished the timer, but instead of making a “ding” sound decided to test our renter’s insurance. I caught it before it managed to catch fire or scorch, but it certainly would have. It’s happened more than once since.
Sorry, dear. We’re probably getting a new toaster now. Actually, we’ll probably buy it after we move, to have one less thing to get from place to place. It’ll probably be a nicer one that CAN TURN OFF. For the next two weeks we’ll just stick with leaving it in time-out when it’s not in use.
More Pictures
More pictures from this can be found at our Flickr page, set 18 – Bacon, in our toaster oven.
This post was edited 28 0ct 2015 to update the Amazon links above, which are affiliate links. Thanks!
1 Our oven also smokes from somewhere we can’t find. The landlords insist we’re just not cleaning it enough. I’d be more worried about this if we hadn’t already signed a lease somewhere else with a move date of a little over two weeks away. ➥