Bacon is one of the most popular and simple treats around depending on what part of the world you live in. There are many things which make it one of the most popular breakfast foods around, while also making it a great option as a snack or during other meals of the day. While it is rather simple to prepare, there are still some things which can go wrong. One such example is curling, which makes it develop an unappealing and inconvenient curled up shape. If you’re looking to learn how to keep bacon from curling, here’s how to do so.
Why Does Bacon Curl?
Before getting into the ways that one can stop bacon from curling, it’s important to find the reason why it’s curling in the first place because that makes finding a solution much easier. The main reason is the way that the meat is shaped, along with the effects that the heat can have on this shape. To specify, whenever the heat is directly forced on the bacon, it starts to reduce a little in overall size. The reason why this causes the curling is because of the fat that stays inside of the meat despite it reducing in size.
The heat effects the meat a lot more than it effects the fat. As a result, all of the meat starts to reduce in size as time goes on but the fat still stays inside all the same. This fat then keeps collecting inside of the smaller meat and groups together to form a curl. This fat eventually reduces as well as time goes on with heat being applied to the bacon, but regardless the curled shape now stays no matter what cooks try to do next. The only option is to make sure that you don’t repeat the same mistakes you did with the curled bacon next time around.
How to Keep Bacon from Curling?
The first thing to do is making sure that you pay more attention to your bacon from now on if you cook it on the stove. Make sure that it is spread evenly and there no one part gets more attention to the other. What’s more is that users should also be focusing on flipping the pieces every now and then. While this can sound a bit more demanding compared to what some might usually do, the extra precautions are definitely worth it.
Alternatively, there’s the easier and much safer option of preparing the bacon inside of an oven. Line some foil on a cookie sheet and then places the pieces of bacon next to one another on top of it. Put it into the oven and then observe it as it’s being made as the process is a rather quick one and requires supervision, otherwise the bacon can burn. It’ll be easy to tell when it is prepared to your liking, so just take it out when that point comes. This process ensure that bacon doesn’t curl and is easy to try.