Everyone loves a bacon butty, but it can easily come out of the frying pan burned and soggy if you do not know how to cook it properly. When bacon is dropped into a hot pan, the white fat will render too quickly if you are cooking it in oil, which can result in unevenly cooked bacon that is burnt on the outside and undercooked in the middle
However, Andy Cooks, a professional chef and cookbook author, has shared that the key to perfectly cooked “super crispy” bacon is to ditch oil and instead cook it with water. Andy explained: “[Water] renders the fat out really effectively and evenly, and then you can begin crisping up the flesh.”
He added: “You’re basically getting the flesh super crispy. I like to think of it like the charred effect you get on a steak. You get that outside crust [and] that’s what you’re doing to that whole piece of pig flesh.”
It may seem like a strange cooking method, but adding a little bit of water to a frying pan when cooking bacon creates steam, and the steam will help the fat to render out slowly.
This helps the bacon cook more evenly so the whole bacon strip will crisp up instead of just the white fatty part, and then when the water evaporates, the bacon will cook in its own fat, giving you a better texture.
This is a quick and easy way to get crispier bacon, but what is fantastic about this method is that you will not get any oil splatters or have to clean up a messy frying pan afterwards.
How to cook bacon with water instead of oil
You will need:
- Streaky bacon
- Water
- Frying pan
Andy said: “I like to use super streaky bacon for this as I think it works much better than loin bacon or middle bacon that’s pretty common in Australia and England.
“I like the American or Canadian style streaky bacon. It’s got a higher fat content and I also prefer something with a bit of smokiness to it.”
Method
All you need to do is place the bacon strips into a cold frying pan and then add just enough water to cover them. Be careful not to overcrowd the pan.
Place the frying pan on high heat and wait for the water to evaporate. This will only take a few minutes.
Once the water is gone, the bacon will become crispy very quickly, so keep an eye on the pan so it does not burn. If you think it is cooking too fast, you can turn down the heat.
When the bacon is golden, flip it over to cook the other side. Wait one to two minutes, and then flip it one more time to make sure each side is sufficiently cooked and perfectly coloured.
Once the bacon is cooked, remove it from the pan and place it on paper towels to absorb any excess fat.
Your bacon should be perfectly golden with the ideal crispy and tender texture.
