Breakfast the Sixth: Bacon

      In my novel, I write a lot about bacon. This is because in my imagination, pioneers, frontiersmen, and prospectors ate bacon at every breakfast. For awhile I thought this was a legend perpetuated by Hollywood and the pork industry, but that didn't curb my enthusiasm for writing scenes featuring sizzling slices in a cast iron skillet. But then, I am a writer who likes her research, so I decided to delve - albeit casually - into the realities of bacon in the California gold rush, the U.S. civil war, and the Old West in general.
      I discovered that my vision was not too exaggerated. Bacon was indeed a staple among pioneers, prospectors, and soldiers in the mid-19th century. There were, however, a couple key details that made a lot of sense once I learned them. For example, the tasty bacon many of us enjoy today requires refrigeration, and there were none of those on the Oregon trail. The answer was that bacon in the Old West was just one of a number of pork products referred to under the general category of "salt pork." Preparing meat for the trail could be done in one of a few ways: smoke it for weeks until it was dry and smelled like charcoal, as with a tasty strip of genuine jerky; put it in a jar of brine like a pickle, such as corned beef; dry cure it in so much salt it will make the flesh of your tongue curdle if you just bite straight into it. This last one is "salt pork," and it's very effective at scaring off insects and delaying decomposition.
      To render salt pork edible required cooking. It might be tossed in a pot of water and leafy brassica--thus the birth of traditional collard greens. It could be fried to render out the fat, which would then be used to make biscuits, bread, or Johnnycakes. Necessity is the mother of invention, and nothing screams necessity like an empty belly and a bored palate.
      Now, it should be noted that the salty-sweet bacon we know and love today has a long history, deeply rooted in Europe. Homes that raised their own pigs might elect for a combination of dry curing and smoking, with a family recipe including much more than just salt. But this was not the bacon sold at general stores as trail provisions.
      It is, however, the bacon that enters my kitchen. And while I only buy it maybe once every couple months, it is something that gets devoured with relish! So allow me to take a moment to discuss the various modern methods of cooking bacon.

Skillet Bacon
      For the majority of bacon history, it has been a skillet food. Fry it up in its own grease and eat with gusto! This is a tried and true method, producing wavy rashers with spots of chewiness and spots of charred crispiness. The flavor can't be denied. If you then want to use a skillet full of grease to fry other things - eggs, fritters, Johnnycakes, etc - you're all set. The problems are a) uneven cooking, which means spots of flaccid, pale fat, and b) smoke and splatters. Unless you have an industrial grade ventilation system above your stove, you will wind up with a grease-perfumed home, and even the best splatter guard will not prevent a generous misting of grease around your burner. Honestly, I like my skillet cooked bacon on camping trips, for those very reasons.

Microwave Method
     I grew up on microwaved bacon. Before the Bacon Craze of the last decade, most store-bought bacon was fairly thin, and heavily imbued with chemical flavorings and preservatives. But it was still pretty damn good. My Mom would take a microwave safe plate, put down a double layer of paper towels, lay the bacon strips in a single layer, and top with another paper towel. Zap for about one minute per slice, then check for desired doneness. This was very easy and convenient. In a good microwave the bacon cooks quickly, fairly evenly, and most the rendered fat is be absorbed in the paper towels, producing crispy, low-grease bacon. The down sides are a) it's hard to get chewy bacon this way, if that's your preference, and b) if you like to re-use the grease, you're out of luck.
      Also, I don't own a microwave. Yes, yes, I know--you are now mildly alarmed as to whether or not I am in fact an honest American citizen. But once you get the knack of re-heating with a stove and oven, not having a microwave does wonders for encouraging a healthy diet. (Says the woman talking about cooking bacon.) So how do I cook my bacon? My preferred method is...

Oven-Roasted Bacon
      Seriously, if you haven't tried this, you're missing out. It's very easy. You put the bacon in the oven, fix the rest of your breakfast, then when the bacon is done you take it out and eat. Because the meat has been subjected to even heat from all directions, it cooks evenly. You can control how crispy or chewy it is by monitoring how long it roasts. The fat drips into a pan, so if you want to re-use it it's easy to retrieve. No splattering. No lingering grease-smell. The pan can go in the dishwasher. What's not to like?
      Techniques differ slightly in oven temperature, and whether or not to put the bacon on a raised rack or lay it flat in a pan (the finished product is very similar). Feel free to experiment as you like. If it's your first time, you are welcome to use my favorite technique, as follows:

Z.D.'s Approach to Oven-Roasted Bacon

Ingredients:
Bacon.
Preferably thick-sliced, from organic, free-range pork. If you're ever in the Seattle area, this is the best bacon I have ever eaten in my entire life. Seriously. It's unreasonably good. When I eat it, I know the souls of the departed pigs are dancing in heaven; it tastes like happy pig angels. I've eaten some damn good bacon in my life, but this crowns them all.

Directions:
 - Turn your oven on to 400º F. Don't wait for it to pre-heat, however--immediately proceed with the next steps. You want your bacon to sit in the oven as it heats.

Bacon makes the Kitchen Buddha happy!

 - Line a broiler pan with foil. Place the bacon in a single layer on the top broiler rack. (If you don't own a broiler pan, line a rimmed baking sheet for the bottom and lay your bacon on a pastry cooling rack.)

My Mom taught me to be picky about my bacon: this was thick, broad, and offered a high percentage of tender meat to fat, just the way I like it!

 - Place the pan on the middle shelf of your heating oven. Close, and set the timer to 20 minutes. Proceed with preparing the rest of your breakfast.
 - When the timer goes off, check your bacon. It should be done but still somewhat chewy. If you prefer crisper bacon, leave it in for a couple minutes longer. Then eat. With gusto.

Perfectly prepared bacon.

      If you desire additional breakfast items cooked in bacon grease, simply set your bacon aside on a warm plate and dribble some of the rendered fat from the foil into a clean skillet.

Easy enough, and in a non-stick skillet, only a teaspoon is needed for extra flavor.

This morning, I was going for an authentic pioneer breakfast, so I fried a couple eggs in bacon grease, and ate them with biscuits and black coffee.

This is so all-American I expect a Bald eagle to fly into my kitchen.

      A quick note on frying eggs: remember you want your skillet pretty hot to start. I put mine over medium-high heat, so that the eggs sizzle as soon as they're cracked. Then I lower the heat a bit. For over-medium eggs, watch for when the white is just shy of fully set, then flip, cook for one more minute, and then slit that beauty onto the plate.

I like my eggs fried over-medium because the white is fully cooked, but the yolk is still runny and rich.

I served this breakfast with butter and honey for the biscuits and called it good. The grapefruit was a contemporary touch.* No scurvy for me, thanks.

Our Old West Breakfast. Apparently, they had jars of Vitamin D supplements in the Old West.

     If you are a fan of history, let me share with you my favorite site for quick historic food references. It's a bit of a challenge visually, but the information is great, and there's a lot of it!
http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodpioneer.html#goldrush




*You may notice I included a bottle of whiskey for visual effect - in the Old West, clean water was very often in short supply, and hard liquor was a necessary beverage supplement to ward off bacteria - but in this day and age alcohol at breakfast is not a good idea. By all means, enjoy a brunch cocktail from time to time if you so choose, but if you often consume alcohol at breakfast you may wish to talk to a counselor or medical professional.