The Must-Have Kitchen Gadget For The Crispiest Bacon Ever

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Whether accompanying your eggs in the morning or topping a burger for dinner, bacon gracing your plate is always a welcome sight. That said, when it's limp and soggy, it tends to lose some of its appeal. Some folks reach for pantry staples to ensure bacon ends up crispy, but Chris Mattera, culinary innovator at North Country Smokehouse, says you can skip using those hacks if you invest in a handy bacon press.

It's a decidedly unambiguous kitchen gadget — essentially just a weight attached to a handle. As Mattera put it, "Using a bacon press is fairly straightforward, and most of what you need to know is in the name: it is used to press the bacon against the cooking surface." But sometimes it's the simplest culinary devices that work best.

Despite its uncomplicated nature, the tool performs a vital operation that promotes crispy pork ribbons. "Using a bacon press can lead to crispier bacon, since it helps hold the bacon strip flat against the pan, which increases the degree to which fat can render off, leaving behind crispy lean meat," Mattera said. All it is really doing is helping the pan do its job. It works with any type of bacon you pick up from the grocery store, and even the most culinarily challenged folks won't find it difficult to use – as long as they don't overthink it.

Sometimes people like to overcomplicate things in the kitchen, but a bacon press isn't supposed to function as anything other than a weight. Chris Mattera emphasized this by saying that you don't need the gadget to behave like a panini press. "I wouldn't bother preheating the press," he said. "Its main function is to hold the bacon against the hot pan, not to cook it from both sides."

All you need to do is cook the pork as you typically would – the only difference is that there will be a weight on top. "Lay the bacon in a single layer in a cold pan, and place the bacon press on top of the slices so that they are held flat against the pan," Mattera said. It pays to start it in a cold pan because that allows the fat to render slowly, before any of the meaty portions burn. Cook until it's roughly halfway done, and your helpful kitchen gadget has fulfilled its expectations. "Removing the weight for the second half of cooking allows moisture to escape, which prevents the bacon from becoming soggy," Mattera advises.

As for what brand to use, Mattera has a favorite he recommends. "I like Chef's Press, which can also be used as a steak weight or grilled cheese press," he said. "It is also vented, which allows moisture to escape, which, as we discussed, prevents soggy bacon." If you can't find Chef's Press, this AME D'ESSENCE Bacon Press on Amazon allows moisture to escape as well. Or you can go with this Norpro Cast Iron Pig Shaped Bacon Press and add a cute factor in the kitchen whenever crispy bacon is on the menu.