To Boil Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the bacon in cold water for 1 hour before cooking.
Scrape and wash the bacon well.
Boil
Cover the bacon with cold water in a pot.
Heat and boil the bacon slowly, removing any scum that forms.
Cook until a fork easily penetrates the bacon, about 1 to 1½ hours for smoked bacon.
Top and serve
Remove the bacon, strip off the skin, and top with breadcrumbs or grated toasted bread.
Dry the topping slightly in front of 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, with flavour from the smoke cure.
- Bread
- Forms a crisp, toasted topping on the cooked bacon.
The step that matters
Boil slowly and skim off the scum. Boiling gently keeps the meat tender and prevents it from toughening, while skimming removes foam and impurities that would cloud the cooking liquid and spoil the flavour.
“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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