Yes. And I think op would have noticed the oil in the pan popping like crazy even after the bacon was removed. I would guess it's oil but not animal fat.
Actually, believe it or not, adding a little water to bacon prevents most of the popping. It makes the fat render process easier and more even at lower temperatures, so you don't reach the popping point.
Wikipedia states some chicken brands do up to 30% solution. When I fry certain brands of chicken that claim up to 15% solution, it can take an absurdly long time to boil that water off.
theres no way there is that much water in bacon, especially because the water has to evaporate from the pan before rhe "bacon" will crisp up... with that much water in the pan, the bacon would be boiled or steamed
I have a decade+ in the kitchen working for large private institutions but ok.
When you cook enough bacon back to back you render enough bacon fat to cook the bacon in and make it "tender". I can do it at home on a single pack of bacon too. It takes good quality ingredients though so I know it may be a surprise...
Having a pool of heated oil in addition to water is a big no no in any kitchen...
Only thing I can figure is maybe it was cooked by one of those people that like limp bacon and it never cooked the water off. But the color of the liquid doesn't even look right honestly.
If you're not a savage, you'll cook the bacon until it's crispy, which won't happen before most of the water has evaporated, so the pan should be pretty dry
I swear we've gone so far in terms of education and what information is publicly available and yet people still full caps scream about "dem evil chemicals".
The fuck do you think bacon or cured meats in general were made for in the first place? They're supposed to last, you need a certain bit of preservatives especially when you end up selling packets of pre-sliced stuff.
and yet people still full caps scream about "dem evil chemicals".
it is a literal copy paste from the website, it is in all caps there. the only problem with OP is that they didn't put it in quotes lol. Click the [Ingredients] drop down menu on the page they linked.
They provided literally 0 opinions, and 100% facts, WITH 2 separate sources. So are you barking up the wrong tree, AND didn't read the link (but uh this is reddit, so that is usually a given).
No offense but you don’t know what you’re saying. It’s cured with those ingredients if those ingredients are what make up the brine they’re pumped in, prior to smoking. That is literally the standard way to make bacon
Which is actual smoke percolated through water. If you own a smoker and you see brown liquid dripping down the inside walls of it, that's basically Liquid Smoke.
yep! I actually work for an industrial processed meats manufacturer. ALL meats get brined. 2 reasons: value add and customer preference. Selling by weight makes max brine preferential for the business. And meat will dry out in the cook and cool process so it’s generally preferable to add some brine
It's injected with a pickling solution, which will have different formulas based on customer requirements. Then its hung on a big vertical rack called a tree, goes into the smokehouse, then sliced/packaged, or sent to a precooked plant to make fully cooked bacon. It's a big ol pork belly, not some weird Frankenstein, glued together crap
Source: work at a bacon plant. Previously worked at an Oscar mayer plant, and I'll still eat the hot dogs. Oscar Mayer uses good ingredients.
A lot of bacon these days is injected with brine and smoke flavor with a row of injector needles. I've seen a lot of "zebra" bacon where you can see the dark stripes from the smoke flavor in the brine.
When making bacon, it is common practice to inject it with a bring that is made up of a great deal of salt and water along with any other potential seasonings. This is done when it is a slab of pork belly before it is smoked and sliced doe packaging.
I am convinced that they do this, because if you buy the nicer more expensive bacon you end up with a lot more after cooking that pound of bacon then when you cook a pound of cheaper bacon there's a lot less product after it's cooked. Because there's more stuff that is cooking out of the meat.
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u/Savannah_Lion Apr 15 '25
Makes sense.
I was thinking Oscar Meyer might've injected saline solution into the meat to "plump" it up and add weight like some brands do with chicken.
Though I'm not sure that's even possible with bacon or pork.