Crispy Oven-Baked Nitrate-Free Bacon
Brain-boosting bacon is a great source of healthy fats and glorious nutrient density that can help support a good mood, stable energy, and healthy hormones. Bacon is a health food? Yes, you heard that right. Just make sure it’s organic, pasture-raised, uncured, preservative, sulfite and nitrate-free, center cut and whey/milk fed if possible, and if there are any sugars that you’re ok with, ensure that it’s unrefined natural cane sugar. Do read the label!!!
Bacon is a source of sulfur which can help support the body through heavy blue light exposure, especially during a plane flight, along with a source of DHA and iodine. Think raw wild caught salmon/sushi (can be pre-frozen), whey fed bacon and eggs for this purpose. Pan frying bacon on cast iron/carbon steel is great, but I find that it cooks more evenly with a better texture when baked. Hence, this method is one of my staples for cooking bacon.
Ingredients
1 pack of organic, nitrate-free, non-GMO, pasture raised bacon strips (use as many as you’d like to cook at a time)
Method
Preheat oven to 350F.
Place the bacon on a single layer, side-by-side on an oven-safe tray, lined with unbleached parchment paper if needed.
Cook 13-15 minutes, keeping a close eye on it (do not leave the room, it burns very easily). Flip in the middle of cooking if you like, but I usually don’t bother.
Remove when cooked to desired doneness.
Serve the bacon with anything you like, and DO NOT DISCARD THE PRECIOUS BACON FAT since it’s perfect for cooking. Place the lard drippings in a glass jar and store it in the fridge for future cooking. Lard goes especially well with roasting vegetables, imparting great flavour. Lard also makes for excellent toxin-free skincare, very moisturizing for the winter months, and I find it softer and easier to use than rock hard tallow (plus it’s virtually free, unlike costly, pre-made tallow skincare).
Tips
Bacon is a classic breakfast food for a reason along with a varied, seasonal, balanced diet. Serve with organic avocado, pasture raised eggs cooked in the lard, raw organic carrot salad, organic sourdough toast with grass fed butter, and/or a protein coffee.
