Why it works: Bread and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,964 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Breakfast Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Cut the bacon into thin slices, removing the outer rind.
Cut slices of bread, making them nearly an inch larger than each slice of bacon, and trim off the hard crusts.
Arrange the bread in a baking pan and place a slice of bacon on each piece of bread.
Bake and serve
Dust the bacon with pepper and place the pan in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C).
Toast the bacon for 2 to 6 minutes until crisp.
Transfer each slice of bacon with its bread to a hot dish and serve.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Well cured bacon
- Provides the main flavor and fat, which renders and crisps in the oven.
- Slices of bread
- Acts as a base that soaks up rendered bacon fat and becomes crisp and toasted.
The step that matters
Toasting the bacon until crisp. Bacon moves from underdone to burnt quickly. Fat must render fully and the surface must dry and brown, so watch closely across the 2 to 6 minute window.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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