Having a particular food preference means that you have certain unique qualities you look out for when you think of eating. These qualities help in deciding the kind of meals you eat and the ones you don’t.
Maybe you like well-cooked bacon and you’re looking to get precise information about the difference between well-cooked and undercooked bacon, or just get acquainted with the knowledge of it so that you can easily differentiate between them.
Whatever your reasons might be, we’ll be providing all the needed information on what undercooked bacon looks like as we proceed.
It doesn’t matter if the bacon you made in the microwave is undercooked, or if you’re just concerned that the bacon you just had made from BBQ is undercooked; whatever the case may be, we’ll go over the things to look out for so you can determine if the bacon is truly undercooked.
Now, the signs listed here will help you to find out whether or not your bacon was undercooked.
- Color: The more the bacon is cooked, the more its color changes. It gradually changes from a light grayish pink color that looks kind of off-white, to a more reddish color, and the fat turns yellow or golden. Now it is important that you pay very close attention to your bacon as it cooks, because if it begins to get too dark, then that’s a sign that you’re overlooking it, which will result in your bacon having a bitter taste.
- Browning: After your bacon has been cooking for some time, it begins to accumulate fond, which are the brown colored things that get attached to your pan.
- It shrinks. After cooking bacon for some time, it begins to shrink. This shrink is caused by the evaporation of moisture inside the meat. It actually shrinks by up to forty percent, which is up to fifteen percent more than other types of meat and poultry.
- While your bacon is cooking, it will lose its fat. This is because the fat melts away during the process, which leaves the fat on your bacon looking thinner.
- Normally, raw bacon is generally wet and quite a bit slimy if it is touched, while cooked bacon is generally dry. This is the case, most especially when the meat was dabbed with a paper towel.
- After cooking, a well-cooked bacon should easily lift from the pan without dangling or drooping from the spatula when you go to get it.
What is the best way to prepare bacon?
Well, if you’re a vegetarian, I’m sorry, but you have to skip this one as soon as possible because today we are talking all about bacon and how it can best be prepared. Cooking is something that we learn how to get better at, as no one can literally say that they are absolutely perfect when it comes to cooking.
Even the best chefs still learn and improve as there’s always something to learn. Whether you are planning to host your guests with bacon and looking for ways you can prepare it, or maybe you’re an aspiring chef and you would like to add this one to your list of things you know how to cook, whatever it might be that you seek, we shall be revealing the secrets to perfect bacon. Stay with us as we progress.
- To begin, kindly grab your waffle maker and preheat it.
- Put the bacon in half and put two-and-a-half strips on the separate squares of the waffle iron. Now go ahead and close the waffle maker and allow it to cook for up to 3-4 minutes, then check back to see how done it is.
- If you check and see that they aren’t done, but they’re not brown enough yet, cover and allow them to continue cooking, then check again after three minutes.
- Once it’s cooked, go ahead and drain it with a towel.
- One nice thing about cooking your bacon this way is that the grease from the bacon actually gets drained into the waffle iron as the bacon is nicely pressed into a flat state for it to cook well.
Other ways you can cook your bacon are as follows:
Oven:
- Prep your oven to 425 degrees.
- Place a rack that is upside-down over the bacon to maintain its flatness.
- Go ahead and roast them for six minutes. Get the pan you’re cooking in turned to at least 180 degrees and continue to roast them for another six minutes. After it is done, you’ll find that your bacon is flat and well cooked.
Another way you can cook it using the oven is by putting the bacon right on top of the cooling rack, and not beneath it. This way, the fat contained in the bacon will drip down and give you a much crispier bacon.
Is it okay to eat undercooked bacon?
It’s not too surprising that people die from eating food that should normally keep them alive, but instead they get killed by it. This is because the food was not appropriate or good to be eaten the way it was. Eating any meat that hasn’t been properly cooked can pose a threat to your health. Eating undercooked bacon is likely to get you poisoned because it can expose you to different bacteria and parasites.
If you eat undercooked bacon, you are likely to develop trichinellosis, which causes gastrointestinal problems. Bacons contain bacteria, and they can triple when you store them in the fridge. This is why it is highly advised that you cook your bacon as it kills these bacteria. Cooking your bacon till it turns crisp is the best way if you want to eat your meat the right way.
Let’s quickly look at some of the effects of bacon on our health.
Trichinella, which is a type of worm larva, usually infects uncooked bacon. Even if you’ll normally find commercial manufacturers smoking and curing pork before eventually selling it out, it still doesn’t always rid the bacon of trichinella. However, the salt that is added does reduce the chances of the meat getting bad quickly, which is done by reducing the water content in the meat, which bacteria actually needs to be able to thrive.
Let’s also see how pre-cooked bacon affects us.
Precooked bacon is heated bacon before it is actually packaged, which in turn kills bacteria. Now, if the bacon eventually gets contaminated in the process of being packaged, you can still contract bacteria if you eat it in that state without cooking.
Must bacon be crispy before it is considered cooked?
Well, the truth is that people have different preferences when it comes to how they love their bacon. You can actually just prefer a slightly crisp or fully crisp bacon, and it’s still okay because bacon does not have to be crisp for it to be taken as cooked bacon.
However, in order for bacon to be considered fully cooked, it has to be cooked to a temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit. Somehow, this can be quite hard to measure as the meat will be too thin to actually be inserted into a meat thermometer, so the color of the meat is used to determine how cooked it is instead.
Is there a possible way to make bacon not get crispy?
Yes, it’s actually possible to make your own bacon chewy and not crispy by cooking it in an environment that is moist under a low temperature.
Another option you can use to make your bacon chewy is by adding extra oil to the bacon while you’re cooking it.
Also, if you cook your bacon using the microwave, it will definitely result in it getting chewy Not crispy, as it will help maintain the bacon moisture.
