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Bacon, Broiled
Cut streaked bacon into thin slices and lay them on a gridiron over the fire; turn repeatedly until of a light brown colour, and serve hot. Time to broil, three to four minutes. Probable cost, 10d. to 1s. per pound.
A four-line instruction that assumes an open fire and a gridiron; the method transfers almost unchanged to a heavy pan or a broiler.
- Streaked baconThis is what a British cook meant by streaky bacon — the belly cut, with alternating bands of fat and lean. It is the ordinary American supermarket bacon, so no substitution is needed.
- Gridiron over the fireA grid set directly above coals, giving fierce radiant heat from below and free drainage of fat. The nearest modern equivalents are a ridged grill pan or an oven broiler with the rack about 4 inches from the element.
- Slice thickness"Thin slices" is the hinge of the three-to-four-minute timing. Standard thin-cut rashers will do it; thick-cut bacon will need appreciably longer at a lower heat, or the fat will still be underdone when the edges char.
- Turn repeatedlyNot fussiness. Over direct flame the rendering fat drips and flares, and constant turning keeps the surface from scorching before the lean is cooked.
- Light brown, not brittleThe recipe stops at "a light brown colour," i.e. pliable rather than crisp; bacon of this kind was commonly eaten alongside dishes such as kidneys, liver or eggs. If you want it shattering-crisp you are making a different thing and will need more time at lower heat.
- Cost note10d. to 1s. per pound is pre-decimal British currency — roughly a shilling, twelve pence. It appears because Cassell's priced nearly every entry so a housekeeper could budget; it carries no cooking information.
- YieldThe original gives none. Reckon three or four thin rashers per person as a breakfast portion, two as a garnish.
Broiling was one of the foundational heat treatments a cook was expected to master, and bacon was the cheapest material on which to practise it. Bacon-curing was a domestic and small-trade business through the nineteenth century, and the streaky belly cut was the everyday grade, generally said to have been sold by the pound from a flitch and sliced at home — which would explain why the recipe begins with cutting rather than buying rashers. The gridiron over an open coal fire was probably still the standard broiling apparatus in the 1870s and 1880s, and the instruction to turn repeatedly suggests a cook working over live coals with no thermostat, judging by colour alone.