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Probably one of the most tastiest breakfast sides would be is bacon that is cooked to perfection. I think everyone can agree that bacon is a fickle item to prepare. Overdone, too brittle and dry. Undercooked, too rubbery and chewy. However done to perfection, somewhere in the middle, but fine tuned so that it melts in your mouth. This is a reality with bacon. Depending on the brand you choose, the method for cooking bacon is using either a larger toaster oven, or regular oven at 350 degrees.

Out of all the brands of bacon I've tried, one does stand out for the taste and texture test, and that was Oscar Mayer. I don't like most of what Oscar Mayer offers, but their bacon done as I described is a treat, if not the best tasting side on the table. One thing I've found is that when you take the bacon out of the refrigerator, you have to peel each slice apart, and they sometimes cling too much and begin to tear. This of course is because its still too cold and the fat is making each slice adhere to each other.

A few seconds in the microwave solves the problem, and your ready to lay out the strips on a sheet of thick foil. Lay the strips so that the fatty part covers the reddish meat, and what this does is prevents the red meat from getting overdone before the fatty part is a light golden brown, at which point they take on a slight crisp texture, but yet not break into dry pieces as it does if overcooked.

Place the foil with bacon into the oven and let cook until a lot of oil collects. Remove the foil with the bacon, and carefully pour off excess bacon grease, and then return to the oven. Doesn't matter if you do not pour out the grease, you can always blot the bacon with paper towels even though the bacon was almost swimming in its own grease.

Once the bacon has reached the point, a light golden brown, whereas you can take a fork and lift one end of the bacon, and it doesn't sag like it may be undercooked, then you are at the point you want to remove and taste test a piece for tenderness, and a non-crunching type of texture. If satisfied, then what can be said? If not, and you feel it's not done enough, keep an eye on it for the next couple of minutes so as to not over cook. Think of bacon like a fine cup of coffee. Too weak, not good, too strong, not good either, but just right, and any coffee lover will tell you, "it's a drink out of Heaven."

Bacon is one of those treats that if done right, it's worth the effort to do it that way.

Learn more about this author, Richard Serra.
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