Kitchen Tip: Bakin' Bacon

First off, I want to apologize for that. I couldn't control myself.

I have a whole series of tips that are based on nothing more than using your kitchen appliances to make your life easier. These tips are a little embarrassing in their simplicity, but since they really do make life easier, who am I to keep them from you?

I have never actually made bacon on the stovetop. I don't have one of those nice spatter screen things, and I loathe cleaning up grease off of my kitchen surfaces. So I bake it in the oven. Here's the deal:

Get out your bacon and a rimmed baking sheet or shallow pan. You don't want bacon grease running all over your oven.

Tip within a tip: Get a pair of dishwasher-safe kitchen shears and hide them from your family. Use them to cut your food instead of using a knife all the time!

You don't have to cut the bacon in half-- sometimes I do, sometimes not-- depending on what I'm using it for. Lay it out on the pan and put it in a hot oven (400*-425*) I put this one in at 415* for no good reason. Here's what it looked like after 5 minutes:

And after 10:

You'll want to take it out when it's done the way you like it. (I like it pretty crispy.) Then just drain it on paper towels as usual.

One more thing about this. I am a big believer in homemade convenience foods. With a little forethought, you can make up a pan of bacon and store it in the fridge. That way, it's ready for sandwiches or a quick breakfast and you didn't even have to buy that creepy pre-cooked bacon in the store.