Never be without bacon (2024)

QUESTION: When you have to cook a lot of bacon is it possible to cook in advance and reheat the next day? What’s the best way to do this? — Pat Tancill, Livonia.

ANSWER: First off, I have to pass on some simple bacon advice I read years ago in a cookbook: Never be without it. Always have a package or two stashed in your freezer. Bacon pleases so many, so that is advice I follow. And bacon is one of my vices, I love it and prepare it many ways.

Okay, now on to cooking bacon. Yes, when you have a lot to make, cooking bacon in advance is a good idea. I would cook the bacon just until it starts to get crisp. That way when it comes time to reheat it you can reheat it until it’s just crisp. Or you can reheat to your liking. It’s best to reheat the bacon in the oven or in the toaster oven if you’re not reheating a lot.

To cook big batches of bacon you can, of course, use several skillets. But why bother standing and watching and flipping the bacon? A better way is to cook it in the oven. It just makes for easier clean-up, and it’s hands-off.

Line a sided baking sheet with foil. Place the bacon strips side-by-side on the sheet. You can also place a cooling rack on the tray, spray it with nonstick spray and place the bacon on the rack if you don’t want the bacon sitting in its melted fat. If you want to get real fancy and have curly bacon pieces, place the slices on the rack lengthwise opposite of the metal rungs. Push some of the bacon through at several intervals.

A good way to make a lot of bacon to serve, say, as a brunch item, skewer the bacon. Center-cut bacon works best when you use a 4-inch skewer. Thread one slice of the bacon on the skewer so it’s in a ruffled shape. Place the slices on a sided baking sheet, lined with foil, and drizzle with pure maple syrup. You can sprinkle with fresh, coarse ground black pepper, too, if you like. Bake them at 350 degrees until just slightly crisp. You don’t want them too crispy because one bite into them and they’ll crumble.

You can fit a lot of skewers on one tray, and they look nice, too. You can also store and reheat on the same tray. When you store them, cover with foil and refrigerate until ready to reheat. Reheat about 8 minutes in a preheated 300-degree oven.

Finally, here’s an easy way to bake bacon for a classic BLT. It’s something I picked up from Food & Wine magazine years ago. Take half pieces of bacon strips and weave them together like lattice work and you’ll have a complete square of bacon. This means you’ll get a bacon piece in every bite.

You’ll need three pieces of bacon for an average-sized slice of bread. Cut those three in half so you have six pieces. Weave together on a foil-lined, sided baking sheet. To prevent it from curling, place an inverted cooling rack on top of the bacon.

This technique is a time-saver if you are making several BLTs. Here’s a summery BLT recipe to try the technique out. It makes a nice sandwich with the addition of avocado, cucumbers and sprouts. Slice them thin. With all the other ingredients, you don’t want the bacon to get lost.

Have a question? Contact Susan Selasky at 313-222-6872 or sselasky@freepress.com.

California BLTs

Makes: 4 hearty sandwiches / Preparation time: 30 minutes / Total time: 45 minutes

In this recipe, I skipped the sprouts and made sure I thinly sliced the cucumber and tomato. There are several layers to this sandwich, and I didn't want the bacon to get lost among the other flavors.

12 slices of bacon, halved crosswise

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon finely chopped tarragon

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

8 slices multigrain sandwich bread, toasted

1 avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced

2 Persian or hothouse cucumbers, thinly sliced on the diagonal

1 medium tomato, thinly sliced

4 small Bibb lettuce leaves

1/2 cup mixed sprouts, such as radish, sunflower and alfalfa

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. For each lattice, weave six strips of bacon, three vertically and three horizontally, on the prepared baking sheet.

Set an ovenproof rack upside down on the bacon to keep it flat. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the bacon, until browned and crisp. Remove the rack, then transfer the bacon lattices to paper towels to drain.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the mayonnaise with the tarragon and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.

Spread the tarragon mayonnaise on each slice of toast. Arrange the sliced avocado, cucumbers and tomato on 4 slices of the toast and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with the bacon lattices, Bibb leaves and sprouts. Close the sandwiches and serve.

Adapted from Food & Wine magazine, March 2015 issue.