People want the best of both worlds when it comes to bacon, and sous vide bacon has risen in popularity as a result. Thanks to this method, consistently excellent outcomes are possible.
If you want to reduce the amount of fat in your bacon, this is the method to use. Bacon fat can be easily and cleanly removed with this method.
SOUS VIDE BACON: WHAT IS IT?
French for “under vacuum,” this method of cooking calls for the food to be vacuum-sealed in a plastic bag before being immersed in a water bath maintained at a certain temperature. Because of this, the meat can cook for long periods of time without drying out or burning. Bacon prepared in this manner always turns out crispy and flavorful.
Explain why sous-vide bacon is preferable to pan-fried bacon.
Bacon cooked in sous vide machine yields bacon that is meatier, crispier, juicier, and more tender than pan-fried bacon. The bacon is partially cooked in its own fat, so none of the moisture is lost during the fat’s rendering process.
Slow cooking at an exact temperature lays out the meat fibers as they cook. When pan-frying bacon, I know from experience how difficult it is to prevent the strips from curling.
Each slice of bacon never seems to get to the right doneness when the bacon curls up. When I prepare bacon in sous vide machine, it turns out perfectly crisp and not at all burned. My kid put it best, Mom! It’s not crunchy; it’s beefy!
How to SOUS VIDE Bacon video
INSTRUCTIONS
Preparing bacon in sous vide machine:
Place the thick slices of bacon in a resealable plastic bag.
Preheat the water in the sous vide to 67F/20C.
When the water is at the desired temperature, the bag is fully immersed.
Keep the sous vice covered to prevent the liquid from evaporating.
Put it in the oven and leave it there for 8 hours.
Take the bacon out of the water and let it cool to the touch.
If you don’t want your bacon strips to stick together, you should separate them as soon as possible.
How to finish sous vide bacon:
For 5 minutes, preheat a skillet with a heavy bottom, such as cast iron. Pan might be a smoker.
The ideal cooking time for bacon is two to three minutes per side in a hot pan.
Take out of the skillet and put on a dish covered in paper towels.
Equipment
- Plastic food saver bag
- Temperature-safe water tub
Ingredients
- Package of Thick Cut Bacon
SOUS VIDE machine settings
Step 1
First, to the fill line, fill the sous vide tub that can withstand the desired temperature. The bathtub is the fastest and most efficient way to fill up with hot water.
As a rule of thumb, it’s best to put the water tub away from the kitchen cabinets while using a sous vide. During the process, the machine will expel a little amount of steam that may be damaging to wood.
Step 2
Attach the sous vide machine to the edge of the water container, and make sure it’s tight. If so, connect the device to an electrical outlet. The last time you used the machine, the temperature would flash on the screen.
145 degrees Fahrenheit (62.7 degrees Celsius) is where you want to set the thermostat.
The USDA advises cooking pork to an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit (62.7 degrees Celsius).
Cooking bacon using SOUS VIDE machine
By cooking it at a low temperature for a long time, the bacon is cooked to perfection.
Look for thick-cut bacon at the grocery store because it has more meat and less fat (the white stuff is the fat).
The bacon fat content decreases significantly as cooking time progresses.
Step 3
Put the bacon in the oven for 8 hours at 145 degrees Fahrenheit (62.7 degrees Celsius).
Step 4
Take the bacon out of the bag after 8 hours, open it up, and drain the accumulated fat. A lot of stuff has been taken out, as you can see.
Step 5
After the food has finished cooking in the sous vide bag, seal it and chill it in the fridge so it can firm up.
Due to its high temperature and pliability, bacon benefits from being chilled. That makes it challenging to manage individual bacon slices. The freezer can be used to quicken the cooling process.
Ways to cook SOUS VIDE bacon
- Oven (on a wire rack)
- Stovetop
- Air Fryer
- Grill
- Smoker
- Deep Fryer
- Microwave
This is what sous vide bacon will look like after being prepared and stored in the fridge for a while. It’s time to get the bacon nice and crispy.
We put these two techniques to the test:
Stovetop, using a cast-iron skillet, oven, cooking on a wire rack.
Test #1, we put oven-baked bacon through its greasy paces.
The fatty bacon turned out to be delicious when I cooked it. Crispy to the point of being edible, yet not chewy. A superb slice of bacon.
Test #2: oven-baked, thick-sliced bacon
Crispy and beefy best describe the oven-baked thick-cut bacon I made. The highest possible rating is ten stars.
My preference would go to the thick cut if I had to choose between that and the fatty cut.
Why? I mean, who doesn’t want a bigger hunk of bacon…
Stovetop bacon cooking uses direct, high heat, resulting in more fat being rendered in less time. Stovetop bacon gets incredibly crispy, more so than oven-cooked bacon, and it cooks twice as fast.
FAQS
IS SOUS VIDE BACON FREEZABLE?
Yes. It’s important to wait until the bacon has cooled down entirely before storing it in the freezer. Since liquids and fat have been removed from the bacon, it will keep for a longer period of time than regular bacon.
HOW TO USE BACON SOUS VIDE?
Why is it not ideal to wrap food in bacon? It takes longer to finish cooking than the food itself.
Wrap beef tenderloin, asparagus, or scallops in bacon and cook it to perfection with a sous vide machine. The bacon gets cooked faster because of the sous vide process.
IS 8 HOURS TOO LONG TO WAIT TO EAT SOUS VIDE BACON?
The USDA recommends frying bacon for 8 hours at 145 degrees Fahrenheit (62.7 degrees Celsius) to ensure it is well done.
If you want your bacon to have a better texture, a second cooking procedure is recommended. Sous vide bacon relies on fat removal to get its signature ultra-crispy outside and soft interior after a second cooking.
Can I use the bag to cook the bacon in?
You can get some individuals to agree to sous vide the bacon in the bag it came in if you ask nicely. My answer is no. ‘Easy open’ bags are commonplace for bacon. Those seals don’t have my trust. If the bacon is packaged the way I’m used to seeing it, there will likely be some kind of paper or cardboard insert. I’m also fairly confident that paper shouldn’t be heated in the oven.
Some of the reasons why I put my bacon in a zip-top or vacuum-sealed bag are as follows. This is simply my advice and opinion, however I recommend not sous viding your bacon in its original container.
CAN I USE REGULAR CUT BACON?
Sous-vide cooking works for traditional bacon slices. Just make careful to keep the parts apart so they don’t get stuck. The meatiness of thick-cut bacon makes it ideal for sous vide cooking.
FIND BEST SOUS VIDE MACHINE FOR YOUR BACON
Chuansy supplies multiple models of SOUS VIDE machines for your choice.
Contact us to get a good SOUS VIDE machine.
