Earl Cooks is Makin' Bacon By Bakin' Bacon into BITS

I always liked the good quality REAL bacon bits you could buy at the supermarket. It always seemed easier and faster than making my own. But they are not CHEAP! They definitely charge you for the effort. So I started making my own with the microwavable, precooked bacon...half the work was DONE, just crisp them up and chop them and you have freshly cooked (almost) bacon bits that are cut to meet your likes. The problem with that is there isn't a bunch of flavor in the microwave bacon.

Big Buy Bacon In and Out of the package

My brilliant idea was to bake my own from CHEAP bacon! The cheap bacon has been a really good price recently.The great thing about cheap bacon is the reason it is cheap...it has a high fat content. The smoke flavor permeates the fat and is released when it cooks and renders down. I am continuously looking for a better way to cook bacon. I have tried the oven, the microwave, the stovetop, griddles, as-seen-on-tv devices. My wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") is the best because she has the key...patience.

Baking Sheet with Corrugated Foil

For under $2 I can have bacon chunks that taste like bacon! I start by taking a baking sheet and line it with  foil I had corrugated at the suggestion of a chef to allow the fat to drip away and make cleanup a breeze.

Pieces of Cheap Bacon Raw and Baked

I cut one pound of bacon into small pieces, keeping in mind that they will shrink...a lot. I baked them at 350℉, which was the temperature recommended on the package for cooking their bacon.

Only half of the bacon fit on the first sheet, so for the second batch I decide to change it up a bit. I like my bacon on the less-than-crispy side, so I think I will bake the second batch with my oven's broiler mode rather than from beneath. It turned out great. Can you tell which is which?

Baked on the left and Broiled on the right

Make your own bits. Just take the time when you aren't doing anything else. Your house will smell great and they can be refrigerated or frozen, so next time you want bacon for your salad or scrambled eggs, you'll be set!