To Boil Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the bacon in cold water for 1 hour before cooking.
Scrape and wash the bacon thoroughly.
Boil
Cover the bacon with cold water in a pot and heat it slowly until it boils.
Remove any scum that forms on the surface.
Boil the bacon until a fork easily penetrates it, about 1 to 1.5 hours for smoked bacon.
Finish
Remove the bacon from the pot.
Strip off the skin.
Cover the top with bread crumbs or grated toasted crust.
Dry the bacon slightly before the fire or in a gentle oven.
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
What each ingredient does
- Smoked bacon
- Provides the main meat and fat, flavored by the smoke that was applied during curing.
- Bread crumbs or toasted hard crust
- Forms a dry, crisp coating on the surface that adds texture and light browning.
The step that matters
Heating slowly to a boil. Bringing the water up gradually lets scum rise to the surface so it can be removed, keeping the bacon clean and the liquid clear. Rapid heating can toughen the meat.
“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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