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Bacon and Eggs
Place nicely cut slices of streaked bacon, from which the rind has been cut off to prevent it from curling up, into a cold pan over a slow fire; turn frequently and serve with eggs, which may be poached or fried, and laid on the bacon. Time, three or four minutes.
A breakfast plate rather than a recipe, but the two instructions it gives — cold pan, slow fire — are the ones most often ignored.
- Cold pan, low heatStarting bacon in an unheated pan over gentle heat lets the fat render before the lean sets, so the slices cook evenly instead of seizing and buckling. This is the hinge of the method; a preheated pan gives you scorched edges and raw fat.
- "Streaked" baconStreaky bacon, cut from the belly — what an American market sells as ordinary sliced bacon. British and Irish books of the period commonly distinguish it from back bacon, which is leaner and renders less fat.
- The rindCured sides were sold with the skin still on, so trimming it was a real step. Supermarket bacon is usually sold rindless; if you buy a slab-cut piece with skin, remove it for the reason given, or score it at intervals.
- Three or four minutesThat timing suits thin slices. Modern thick-cut bacon will want considerably longer at the same low heat, turned two or three times.
- Cooking the eggsThe recipe does not say what to fry the eggs in; lifting the bacon out to keep warm and frying the eggs in the rendered fat is the obvious course. If poaching instead, have the water at a bare shiver, not a boil.
- QuantityReckon two or three slices and one or two eggs per person. Cook the bacon in a single uncrowded layer, in batches if the pan is small, or it steams rather than browns.