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You have options beyond the frying pan.

By Cheryl Morrison

bacon can be fried, grilled, baked or nuked. Using any of those methods, you can produce straight strips that are evenly cooked just to the degree of crispness — or softness — that you prefer.

Baking and Grilling

Most restaurants cook bacon in the oven, which produces excellent results more efficiently than frying. Many home cooks also favor this method, which is easier and less messy than frying.

At the Bavarian Inn in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, bacon “goes into our convection oven for 7 to 9 minutes at 425 degrees,” says sous chef Tim Durst. “That cooks it most of the way. Then we drain the fat off.” The bacon is returned to the oven for a couple of minutes when orders come in, with the temperature depending on the order. “We can always bump it up for someone who wants it extra crispy,” he says.

The cooks at Minerva’s Restaurant & Bar in Rapid City, South Dakota, use a combination of baking and grilling. “We parcook it in the oven at 350,” says executive chef Farzad Farrokhi, “about two-thirds of the way. We finish it on the grill. It takes three or four minutes to finish. Then we shake the fat off with tongs.”

Farrokhi says he and his wife use their oven for cooking bacon at home, too. “It doesn’t make a mess,” he says, “and you don’t get that residual bacon smell in the house that you get with frying.”

Clair’s Family Restaurant in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, uses wood-smoked slab bacon from a local producer and cooks it on a flat-top grill.

“We lay it out on the grill, flip it once and cook it three-quarters of the way through,” says owner Clair Stanley. “Then we put it a cooling rack and let the grease drain.” For each customer order, “we put it back on the grill to make it crisp” or just to heat it through for customers who prefer soft bacon. “If the customer wants it extra crispy, we’ll put a weight on it, just for a few seconds.”

Oven-cooked bacon creates less of a mess than other methods.

How much bacon does the average American eat per year?

A. 10 pounds

B. 18 pounds

C. 30 pounds

D. 5 pounds

Answer: B. Nearly 18 pounds of bacon (17.9) each year.

Full disclosure: I have never met Stanley and don’t know anyone who has, but I’ve eaten breakfast at her restaurant a couple of times, and the bacon was perfect.

At home, I cook bacon in a gas oven, which I preheat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit while arranging the strips side by side on a shallow baking tray. Ten minutes into the cooking, I remove most of the grease from the tray, turn each strip with tongs, and turn the tray 180 degrees. When my nose tells me they’re done, I move the strips to a plate lined with a couple of paper towels to degrease it. It’s almost as delicious as Clair’s, except that the raw bacon I use isn’t quite as good.

Tips:

• For easier cleanup, line the baking tray with aluminum foil.

• To promote crispness, use a baster to remove grease from a baking tray during cooking.

• Arrange the bacon on a slotted broiler tray with a catch tray under it, eliminating the need to remove the grease.

Pan Frying

Many home cooks prefer to prepare their bacon in a pan on the stove, despite the splatters. Here are some tips for those who do:

• Start with a room-temperature pan. Cold bacon slapped into a hot pan is apt to burn.

• Cook a panful of bacon, not just a few strips, so you produce enough grease to prevent burning.

• Line up the strips so they don’t overlap. Overlapped strips won’t cook evenly.

• Flip the strips once when they’re partially cooked.

• To prevent curling, prick the slices with a fork after the fat starts to melt but before the bacon crisps.

Microwaving

Cooks in a hurry can use microwave ovens to turn out crisp, tasty bacon with minimal mess. Lay paper towels on a plate, arrange the bacon strips on them side by side, and cover them with another paper towel before closing the door and pressing the start button.

One minute per slice on the oven’s high setting is the rule of thumb, but watch it closely the first time; microwaves vary in power, and you might need to adjust the time. Also, if your microwave lacks a rotating tray, rotate the dish halfway through the cooking.

General Cooking Tips

Take the bacon from the refrigerator a half-hour before cooking it. This makes it easier to separate the slices.

Pay close attention when cooking bacon. Its thickness, the method used to cure and other factors — such as the evenness of your oven heat — can affect cooking times.

Strain and save the fat for use as cooking oil. It’s loaded with flavor that shouldn’t go to waste.

Slab bacon often comes with the rind still attached. The rind should be removed before you cook the bacon, but you can fry the rind separately to render it and produce cracklings, which make a delicious snack.

Cheryl Morrison, a freelance writer who lives in New York City and southern Vermont, cooks her bacon in the oven until it’s crisp.