Ingredients
1 pound (450g) thick-cut bacon, still in its package (see notes)
Directions
Preheat a sous vide water bath to 145°F (63°C). Place bacon, still in its original plastic packaging, directly in water bath and cook for at least 8 and up to 48 hours. When ready to serve, remove from water bath and proceed immediately to step 2, or chill in refrigerator or freezer for later use (see notes).
To finish, preheat a large skillet or griddle over medium-high heat for 5 minutes. Add bacon and cook, pressing gently with a press or the back of a spatula (just enough to keep it mostly flat), until brown and crisp on the first side, about 2 minutes. Turn bacon and briefly cook on second side, just to remove pale color (about 15 seconds).
Transfer to a paper towel–lined plate to remove excess fat. Serve immediately.
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why bother doing this when it takes 5 minutes on a pan anyway? Whats the benefit to sous vide beforehand?
The very first thing the article says is
WHY IT WORKS
Cooking bacon sous vide overnight leads to extraordinarily tender results.
A quick sear on one side only gives you a crisp texture to contrast with the tenderness.
Yes, exactly. I just tried this last night for the first time and I’m cooking my bacon like this from now on. It has a whole different flavor even. I cooked at 145F for about 10 hours and then torched the bacon with my sear torch. Tasted like the bacon came off the grill. Super tender inside and nice and crispy on the outside. The bacon had a texture more akin to a crispy pork chop. I found a new favorite
Also, like you said it’s the first thing in the article. And then the very first paragraph is:
I love the work that they do over at ChefSteps, but when I saw their video recommending sous vide bacon, I have to admit I rolled my eyes a little. This has got to be one of those “everything looks like a nail when you have a hammer” situations, I said to myself. You know, one of those times when sous vide is deployed just for the sake of sous vide, rather than to actually improve things. I mean, can you really improve on plain old fried bacon? What could possibly be the point of cooking bacon at 147°F overnight?
Still, I trust them enough that I decided to give it a spin.
I just don’t understand how you can take the time to comment but not spend that same few seconds to read the first paragraph and get your answer.
Tried this last night and this is my new favorite way to cook bacon. It it a whole new dimension. This paragraph explains it pretty well:
I mean, really, really good. The idea of bacon that’s crisp and moist at the same time is appealing, but in practice, it ends up crisp in some areas and rubbery in others—which is why I generally prefer my bacon cooked completely crisp. But overnight sous vide bacon using an immersion circulator is the first bacon I’ve ever tasted that delivers on that moist-and-crisp promise. It’s crispy on the exterior as you bite into it, but it quite literally melts in your mouth, like the finest confit pork belly, as you chew.
I love how Kenji can’t just try a recipe, he has to test the extremes to find the perfect way to do it. I ended up going for 10 hours at 145F and then hitting it with the searing torch and it came out perfect. Nice and crispy on the outside and super tender on the inside.
This won’t be the only way I cook bacon from now on, but it will be my method of choice when I want to impress a brunch guest with something they’ve never experienced before.
The last sentence in the article hits it spot on for me, but I think I will cook it like this from now on when I have the time.
