To Boil Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
If the bacon is very salty, soak it in soft water for 2 hours before cooking.
Cook
Place the bacon in a saucepan with plenty of water and bring to a gentle boil.
Cook for 1 to 1.25 hours for 2-3 pounds, or 1 hour and 40 minutes for larger pieces.
Finish
If using a fine piece of gammon bacon, remove the skin after cooking and sprinkle with finely powdered bread crumbs.
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
- Bacon
- Is the main ingredient; its cut and salt level determine the soaking and cooking needs.
- Bread crumbs
- Finely powdered crumbs sprinkled on gammon coat the surface after the skin is removed.
The step that matters
Bringing the water to a gentle boil. A gentle simmer cooks the bacon evenly and keeps the meat tender. A hard, rapid boil can toughen the outer layers and make the meat stringy.
“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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