This Unconventional Appliance Alton Brown Uses To Make Bacon
When it comes to breakfast foods, there is one that is always the star of the show. The aroma of it cooking is enough to rouse you from slumber. The taste is enough to make you close your eyes and moan. It's bacon! According to NPR, the flavor and aroma of bacon are so powerful that they've even pulled several vegetarians back into eating meat. But bacon is tricky. Cook it for too short a time and it's gummy and limp. Cook it for too long and it'll burn.
There are quite a few cooking methods (and probably just as many potential mistakes) when preparing bacon. Some people swear by using a sheet pan in the oven. Others prefer to fry it in a skillet. Some would rather cook it in the microwave. But Food Network host and chef, Alton Brown has a different method, which uses an unconventional kitchen appliance.
An unexpected job for a waffle iron
In this clip from his Food Network cooking show, Good Eats, Alton Brown shows how he uses a waffle iron to make crispy bacon. Brown suggests cutting the bacon strips in half with cooking sheers so the pieces fit comfortably and cook evenly in the waffle iron. After that, close the lid and cook the strips of bacon for two and a half minutes. At this halfway point he recommends opening the iron and moving the pieces around with tongs to make sure the areas that aren't being seared will come into direct contact with the metal. Finish up with another two and a half minutes, and voila! The bacon is ready to serve.
While Brown recommends this unconventional technique, some are skeptical. Real Simple tested this method and found that the presentation is lackluster since the bacon strips are cut in half. The outlet also mentioned the bacon was unevenly crispy due to the waffle iron's shape. It might not be a full-proof method for perfectly cooked bacon, but Brown's unconventional method is novel and does seem like fun.