A bacon sandwich is one of life’s most simple meals and while it may not be five-star cuisine, it’s undoubtedly delicious.
As well as the taste, one of the great things about bacon is it doesn’t take long to cook, so you can easily whip up a few rashers without much effort. But getting the actual cooking right can be tricky, particularly if you like your bacon crispy. If you cook it for too long it can become overly crisp, or burnt, which turns the texture brittle and can make the meat less flavourful.
But cooking experts say adding flour to your bacon before cooking will ensure maximum crispiness without compromising its flavour or texture.
Adding a coating of flour to your bacon acts as a binder which absorbs the grease from the meat, helping it maintain its shape when it’s cooked and preventing it from curling. Not only that, the flour coating also gives bacon a tasty brown crust which enhances its flavour and texture.
Experts at food website Tasting Table explain: “Browning, also known as the Maillard reaction, removes excess fat and gives a flavorful brown crust on the exterior of whatever meat you’re cooking. This allows for deeper, more complex flavors and improved texture to the meat.
“Adding flour to your bacon not only starts the browning process, but helps dry the meat’s surface for maximum crispiness, and protects the exterior of the meat.”
As an added bonus, this method of cooking means you don’t have to bother with adding any oil to your pan – simply coat your bacon rashers and put them in the frying pan on a high heat.
Bacon already has its own fat which will render and cook it and the flour coating will help it crisp up and turn brown without any need for extra oil.
Experts at Bon Appetit say: “When you douse anything in flour before frying, it jump-starts delicious browning, dries the surface for maximum crisping (and minimal spattering), and protects the ingredient’s exterior.
“But with an all-in-one ingredient like bacon, which brings its own seasoning and cooking fat to the party, there’s no need to season the flour or fill a pan with oil for frying. You just need high heat and the bacon goes right ahead and fries itself.”
