The Finest Method to Cook dinner Bacon, In response to an Knowledgeable

In response to Allan Benton, the producer of the Tennessee hams, bacon, and sausage most heralded by cooks all around the world, bacon ought to be cooked within the oven on a sheet pan at 350°F for 14 to 16 minutes. However in accordance with Sharon Benton, his spouse of fifty years and the one who cooks a lot of the bacon of their home, there’s a greater manner.

“You place one pound of bacon in a chilly massive forged iron skillet in two layers in a crosshatch sample, very like a lattice on high of an apple pie besides with out the over-under. Cook dinner it over medium-low, and because the fats renders, use a fork to fold the underside items excessive items so the highest items turn into the underside items. You possibly can’t stroll away from the range, and you’ll’t velocity up the method. It’s received to be low and sluggish, with you folding the underside items excessive till the bacon is simply barely performed,” Sharon shared with us on the Meals & Wine Basic in Charleston, South Carolina. “Bacon continues to cook dinner after you flip off the warmth, so don’t wait till it’s crispy earlier than you are taking it out of the pan.”

Low and sluggish is the secret in the case of Benton’s bacon. Since 1973, Allan Benton has used time, endurance, and top-quality components to supply hams and bacon which have graced the kitchens of Blackberry Farms in Tennessee, Momofuku in NYC, and McCrady’s in Charleston, simply to call a number of. 

“If you happen to play one other man’s recreation, you’ll at all times lose. High quality will maintain you,” Benton added. The result’s clear. Benton’s methodology is easy however efficient. “We use salt, brown sugar, and pepper, by no means nitrates or nitrites. Different varieties of bacon are injected with options so that they’re prepared for market in 24 hours. Our bacon cures for 3 weeks earlier than being smoked for 3 days.” 

If you happen to’re questioning for those who can style the distinction, the reply is an emphatic sure. Throughout a session on the Meals & Wine Class in Charleston, we tasted 4 varieties of Benton’s bacon: applewood smoked, cherrywood smoked, hickory smoked, and unsmoked pepper. Every chew had a lot taste but slight nuances between the kinds that it felt like I used to be tasting by way of a wine flight. There’s good bacon and nice bacon, after which there’s Benton’s bacon. The smokiness and distinct taste notes prolonged previous the smoky chew, and the end lingered in your tongue, very like how one can nonetheless style the flavors of costly wine far past a sip. 

“The fats is so earthy and savory,” says Meals & Wine Assistant Editor Lucy Simon. “It’s like I used to be consuming a dry-aged steak.”  

Relating to cooking bacon, Allan and his spouse may not use the identical methodology, however they definitely say the identical factor when requested how you realize when bacon is finished cooking. “Bacon ought to be served so you’ll be able to bend it with out it breaking,” Allan added. Standing subsequent to him, Sharon agreed.