By cooking bacon that has been dredged in flour first, you're doing a few things to help improve both its flavor and texture. Firstly, the coating of flour will help dry the bacon and absorb excess moisture, which is one of the keys of properly browned meats.
Flouring your bacon also helps to dry out the meat's surface, protects the exterior of the meat, absorbs excess grease, and helps stiffen the bacon so the slices hold their shape and don't curl, all of which lead to the ultimate crispness.
In the Delish test kitchen, we love the oven method. Baking at 400° for 20 minutes is a reliable and easy technique that yields crispy strips every time.
Add some water. Cook's Illustrated editor-in-chief Dan Souza is a fan of a tablespoon or two because it doesn't add much time to the cooking process. Cook over medium heat until the bacon is crisp tender, flipping after the first side has crisped. The timing will depend on the thickness of the bacon.
This method works both when pan-frying bacon and baking it in the oven! For even crispier bacon, coat it in flour the night before and leave it to rest in the refrigerator overnight.
How to make the crispiest bacon: The night before you want bacon, dip bacon strips (2–3 per person) in a medium bowl of flour to coat completely.
The idea behind coating meat with a sprinkling of flour before browning in a hot pan is pretty simple: Flour is full of starch that will caramelize quickly and give a deeper color and flavor. You most often see this technique called for in stews, where flour is used to thicken the cooking liquid.
The Classic Method: In a Skillet
At room temperature, bacon just cooks up better (just like steak). 2: Don't preheat the skillet. Lay out the bacon strips without overlapping in a cold pan. This helps the fat render slowly, for consistently cooked strips.
Dredging is done by lightly coating food in a combination of flour and other dry ingredients. This thin, even coating of flour to prevents the food from sticking to the pan and also promotes browning. It also serves as a buffer between the heat and chicken so that it doesn't dry out.
Frying. Both flour and cornstarch will fry foods, but they do have slight differences. Flour will do just fine as a breading, but it won't get as golden and it doesn't quite achieve that coveted crispiness. Many recipes—e.g., fried chicken—will call for a 50-50 amount of flour and cornstarch to achieve ultimate crisp.
According to Dawn Perry, Real Simple's food director, cooking bacon in water could keep it tender on the inside while still crisp on the outside. How? The bacon fat would render into the water. Once the water evaporates, the bacon would crisp in its own fat.
They say the simmering water renders the fat, so by the time the water has boiled away and the bacon is crisping up, it won't splatter. It also makes it easier to achieve the ideal crispy-yet-tender texture.
According to The Kitchn, all you need is balsamic vinegar and brown sugar. The two ingredients are used to create a sticky glaze, and when brushed over bacon and cooked down, it makes for a sweet and smoky combo. It's a great way to add flavor to your breakfast or any recipe involving bacon.
The biggest obstacle to frying bacon is the relationship between heat and fat. If you cook it low and slow for too long, too much fat may render off, resulting in tough, jerky-like strips. If you fry too fast, the fat may seize up and get gristly, or worse, the strips could burn.
If you want to cook crispy bacon in oven, the main trick to the recipe is to use an oven-safe cooling rack — instead of placing the bacon directly on the sheet pan. This means it doesn't sit in the grease as it cooks and the fat drips down, which gets you that perfect crispness.