Introduction: The End of Smelly Bacon
Needed for this are:
- An unopened package of bacon (not frozen)
- A knife for opening the bacon package
- Plastic sandwich bags
- A larger locking plastic bag
Step 1: Open the Package
Open the package of bacon and pull off as many strips as you usually eat in one serving. For me that is two slices.
Step 2: Bag the Bacon
Fold each serving portion and place each into a separate sandwich baggie. Fold the baggie around the bacon.
Step 3: Bag the Baggies
Place the sandwich baggies into a locking freezer bag, seal the lock, and place into a freezer.
When you want bacon, open the locking freezer bag. Remove a baggie. Remove the bacon from the baggie. Place a paper towel on a plate and place the serving of bacon onto the paper towel. Cook for two burst of 25 seconds in a microwave. Remove the plate from the microwave. Watch out for hot grease. Lay each piece of bacon flat on the towel. Wrap one piece in a couple of layers of the paper towel. Then wrap the other in the towel.
Place the plate back into the microwave and cook in bursts of 25 seconds on high until the bacon is done as crisply as you want it. Watch out for hot grease. Unwrap the cooked bacon and enjoy.
I have kept bacon in the freezer like this for a couple of months and it tasted absolutely fresh when cooked.
55 Comments
11 years ago on Introduction
Fry up the whole package. Eat it all. I do this a couple times a year. Pork immersion therapy. mmm bacon'.
11 years ago on Step 2
i also freeze bacon servings. i wrap mine in wax paper and all the bundles in one big piece of tin foil the taste stays fine the bacon comes off the wax paper easy and you can recycle the foil. plus no wasted bacon or, as delish as it is, eating a pound in 2 days.
11 years ago on Introduction
I lay out a length of clear wrap (Saran etc) and lay each slice on that. When I have all the bacon on I place another length over the top and loosely roll it up and place in a gallon bag. and freeze. Whenever I want bacon I take it out and unroll untill I have the number of slices I need. No more old tasting bacon.
11 years ago on Step 3
Your plan is good. I have been doing something similar for 12 years where I take the serving size and put in a gallon freezer bag. I have several servings in the back and pull a vacuum on the bag and freeze it. i open it and take out 1 serving or 2 if needed and reseal and restore the vacuum. I then heat on the griddle turning the bacon over until all are thawed. I have crispy bacon and no waste.
11 years ago on Step 3
As an obvious alternative for those who don't like microwaved bacon, you could just take one serving of bacon out of the freezer the day before, and then cook it as normal on the grill/griddle.
One good tip to reducing the number of plastic freezer bags used by this process is to separate the slices with greasproof (parchment) paper instead. It's recyclable, although you could just as easily re-use the ziplock bags a few times, but you'd have to put them back in the freezer immediately after use for hygeine reasons.
11 years ago on Introduction
Good idea, Phil. I was forced to stop eating ham (prosciutto), which I love, for hypertension problems. Here it is not usual eating bacon, and almost always it is eated raw, not cooked.
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
I remember your Instructable on removing the salt from ham by soaking it in water. I have seen some things lately that suggest medical authorities may have been too alarmist about the dangers of salt for hypertension. Salt may not be as much of a danger as previously suggested. I have always been taught not to eat uncooked pork because of the danger of contracting trichinosis.
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
Yes, it is as you say, Phil, always in medicine o science the day's phrase is "yesterday we think that blah blah, but today we knows that blah blah blah blah". Hypertension, diabetes, kidney stones, are not exceptions.
Desalting ham you loss a bit of taste. I do that only when the piece is too salty, but lately the factories are doing it at good point.
Here are coming the first colds, and this raises the arterial tension.
About trichinosis, I think the danger was exaggerated, in my young 67 years I never seen a case, and these things are very sensitive to people. Raw ham (proscuitto) is for me the King of stiffs (cold meats), its taste is incomparable.
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
I did know a family who butchered a hog at home and made their own sausage. They did not cook the sausage adequately and were very sick with trichinosis.
Here some businesses sell prosciutto ham, which would be ham ham. That amuses me. It sounds very fancy, though.
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
Sausages, hamburguers, etc, all minced meat foods, are very dangerous it they are low cooked. The meat must be all brown, without a pink or red part.
Salt kills the thichine and its eggs-cysts, in some days or hours. Freezer too.
If you taste a well done prosciutto, you will say "what I was missing!". Spanish and Italian are very good, I don't know others. Lately, Argentine are good, too.
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
Color alone is not a sure way of determining how thoroughly cooked meats are. Ground meats must be cooked to 160 deg F (71 deg C). The same chemical reaction that forms the pink "smoke ring" on BBQ can make some foods appear under-done (this is known as pinking). Additionally, some meats can turn brown prior to reaching safe temps.
I feel you only live once, so you might as well be able to eat what you like (in moderation). However, as a food-service professional, I still must advised that eating raw/undercooked foods may be bad for your health. This is especially true for the young, old, pregnant, or those with compromised immune systems.
In the USA, commercial farmers have reduced the occurrence of trichinosis to a point the USDA has said it is fairly safe to cook whole cuts of pork to 140 deg F rare/60 deg C). Without proper oversight/precautions I would not apply this. A home butchered animal may not kept to the same standards the government dictates.
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
Thanks for the info, vanmankline. Here there are many persons that like the meat "jugosa" (juicy). In some cases it mean raw, as you can see here and here. I agree with you in that is dangerous.
A very bad practice is to use the same knike and/or board tu cut cooked and raw meat during carrying to the table. My wife last year was 3 days at bed due to that, we went to eat at a cheap restaurant near home, and she ate kitchen.
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
Phil, I was reading on the web about trichinosis, and it seems it is as you say: the salt is not safe to kill trichina cysts. I guess this must refer to when the stiff has not been done season enough, which usually occurs when one buy cheap cold meats.
USA regulations (FDA) are very strict on that matter, you can buy safe stiffs made in a regular factory.
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
scientists feed mice a diet of just eggs and when the mice die they say eggs r bad for you, then they feed mice a diet of just salty ham and when the mice die they say salty ham is bad for you etc etc. I might have eggs a couple times a month by them selves, a few more times mixed in something else and I try to vary my meat during the week with poultry, fish, pork and beef even an occasional vegetarian meal.. moderation is the key
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
Yes, I8nite, it is as you say. An example is Sodium cyclamate, prohibited in some countries and permitted in others. I use it since more than 30 years ago, and I have not had any problems, except an fully operational elephant's trunk has grown me in the back. But the trunk is an advantage, it helps me scratching and soaping my back.
11 years ago on Introduction
I cannot believe how all these irresponsible "green" comments get into anyone's head!
Waxed paper is horrendous for the environment, as it is NOT recyclable (True!) Plus, lots and lots of wax ants are killed for their high-quality waxy build-up under their toe-nails; billions die needlessly to supply mankind with wax paper products (False, but sounds kinda cute)
And puh-lease don't get me started on the evils of baking parchment paper, as it is made by killing lots and lots of trees and spreading sulfuric acid all over the planet (True, except for the spreading part, as they keep it in large heat vessels). It takes 2,943,811 old-growth trees that have harbored little dancing nymphs and faeries all their lives to make 14.2 rolls of parchment (False, but ridiculous claims by anyone can be believable, right?)
No snail-darters were harmed during this interlude.
11 years ago on Introduction
the easiest way is to use vacuum baggies. they're like regular baggies except for a little tab thingy in one corner and texturing along the inside of one side to let the air escape.
with these you can put them all in the same bag and just use the fridge. plain, simple, and easy.
the vacuum unit only costs like twenty bucks. the bags are very sturdy and can be used over and over, but i'm lazy and don't like washing, so i only use them a couple of times and then throw them away. they're not that expensive. and if you use the same brand as the vacuum unit, the vacuum seal lasts at least a month in my experience. the seal on the ziplock brand doesn't last even a week before you can see air starting to slowly leak in.
it's called food saver / fresh saver and it can be found at both walmart and target that i've seen.
11 years ago on Introduction
Seems like a lot of work. I just buy fresh for what I need when I shop. If you can't get to the butcher and need to shop at the store then get it at the store's butcher. Just get em to pack two strips per package. I've never had a cello pack that was anywhere near fresh and not slimy.
11 years ago on Introduction
I like this idea. But on a side note you should never thaw raw meat and then refreeze it. Once you thaw you must cook, after cooking you can then freeze again.
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
It is more of a quality loss issue rather than a food safety thing. As long as the food was thawed and stored properly it can be refrozen.