There’s nothing quite like the smell of bacon in the morning. It’s the kind of smell that will wake you up if your tired and will make your tummy start to rumble before you even realize you’re hungry. Bacon is a staple in our household, whether it’s for breakfast, lunch or dinner. To celebrate International Bacon Day, we were happy to cook up some bacon and enjoy each and every crispy bite.
More than Just a Breakfast Meat
If you’ve watched any episodes of Top Chef or Chopped, you’ll soon notice that bacon seems to be one of those ingredients that chefs love to add. Whether it’s to some leafy salad or a fancy saute, bacon makes everything better. We use bacon with our hot dogs, on top of burgers, and on top of salads.
For International Bacon Day, we cooked up some Smithfield Hometown Original bacon for breakfast. If you just want to cook up a few pieces of bacon at a time, the Smithfield Pouch Pack makes it very convenient. It has 2 individual pouches that each have 6 slices of bacon. We go through quite a bit of bacon so the regular pack works for us too.
Now there are quite a few ways you can cook bacon. I suspect most people use a frying pan to cook their bacon. When you’re short on time, you might nuke a couple of strips in the microwave, and for those who are a little more patient, the oven is the way to go. While I cook bacon using any one of the methods mentioned, I think I prefer oven-baking. This seems to be the easiest way to cook a lot of bacon and have them all come out perfectly.
I use two wire racks inside a cookie sheet so that all the bacon fat can drip off the bacon. Simply lay the bacon across the wire racks and then bake them for 17-20 minutes in a 400F degree oven. Some people say that you can start the oven cold and put the bacon in, letting it cook as the oven heats up; I have not tried that technique yet.
As I mentioned, the oven-baking method is for those who can wait the extra time to allow the bacon to cook, but I assure you it is well worth the wait. The bacon comes out just right – crispy but not over cooked and with great bacon flavor without cooking in it’s own fat. Add some scrambled eggs and some tater tots and you have yourself an awesome breakfast.
I hope you’ll join Smithfield and me in raising a strip of bacon in honor of International Bacon Day! You can find Smithfield bacon in the breakfast meats section in grocery stores nationwide.
Smithfield Online
The WiC Project Smithfield Bacon Giveaway
The Prize:
One winner will receive a Smithfield prize pack which includes: Smithfield’s popular Pouch Pack bacon and Hometown Original bacon, as well as other bacon-themed items including a notepad, koozie and Smithfield bacon coupons.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
This giveaway is open to eligible US residents only.
Visit our Giveaway Rules page for general giveaway rules that also apply to this giveaway.
Disclaimer: This post consists of my (and/or fellow tester) opinions only. Your experiences may be different. No compensation was given for this review/giveaway. I did receive a free product from the manufacturer or their representing PR agency to use and test for the purposes of this review. This did not affect the outcome of this review.
Anything with bacon in it is awesome – BLT’s, toast and bacon, bacon with eggs. As long as it is crispy I will eat it!!!
I love BLT’s, bacon on salads, bacon wrapped steaks and chicken on the grill. Any thing with bacon is yummy!!
Fresh green beans with bacon and potatoes!
i love my bacon crisp lol
Our favorite dishes with bacon are either bacon egg n cheese breakfast burritos (at home of course) or fried potatoes with bacon (yummy).
in a breakfast sandwich with eggs and cheese
My husband like bacon and American cheese sandwich–toasted..thanks, simmsmba@gmail.com
my favorite is a bacon,lettuce and tomato sandwich
<3 Bacon and grits
I love any breakfast with BACON!!! Oh and baked asparagus wrapped in BACON!!! Thanks for a great giveaway!
We love BLT’S!
German potato salad with bacon
My fav bacon dish is 8 8″ pieces of bacon woven together into a square with eggs, cheese on toast.
LOVE Bacon. My favorite is a BLT.
I like bacon wrapped scallops!
chocolate covered bacon
The best way to eat bacon is PLAIN! I will have to try in the oven…at what temp for how long?
My daughter and I love just frying it up and eating it plain. Sometimes we’ll make bacon sandwiches but usually, just bacon.
I love Bacon sandwiches!!!!
ptavernie at yahoo dot com
I love Bacon Cinnamon Rolls are sooooo delicious.
Bacon with asparagus green beans,okra and tomatoes.
Bacon Lettuce Tomato Sandwich yum
i love my bacon dipped in chocolate! yummy
I like crispy bacon with eggs
I like crumbling up bacon in my soups.
Bacon makes everything better. I love bacon and eggs
I’m a fan of good old fashioned BLT’s
I like it soft, not crispy.
I like my bacon crispy with eggs and I also like it on a hamburger.Thanks for the yummy and cool giveaway!
Crispy BLT
My favorite is a bacon potato soup.
I love bacon in loaded potato skins! Nothing like a loaded potato skin with cheese & bacon!
mine is crispy bacon on a egg sandwich
BLTS! Yumyum. Especially with my homegrown tomatoes!
I like bacon wrapped around filet mignon. YUM!
I love BLT sandwiches, but I only eat them during the summer when I can get local fresh tomatoes. The rest of the year the tomatoes just ruin the sandwich.
bacon wrapped scallops – delish!
I like my bacon with eggs for breakfast
Thanks for the giveaway…love crisp bacon with pancakes.
We love having bacon cut up with scrambled eggs and cheese! yum! Of course we have the good ole BLT as well! Thanks for the giveaway!
I like a good bacon cheeseburger