Precooked Bacon: A Friend to the Road Wary
Years ago, when I first saw precooked bacon on the shelves at the grocery store I was pretty grossed out to be honest. Who in their right mind would buy this product? I figured it wouldn’t last long. Then summer came along and I was meal planning for our family backpacking trip. I had found the perfect ingredients for some killer breakfast burritos but felt that they needed a breakfast meat to round out the burrito. It then hit me that the precooked bacon I had seen months earlier would be perfect! Indeed it was! It made what would have been some pretty decent backcountry burritos into arguably the best backcountry breakfast any of us had ever eaten! After that the thin, salty slices became a staple for camp cooking.
You won’t believe it’s precooked bacon!
The slices that I originally bought were tasty, but very thin. They gave a slight bacon flavor to any dish, but not the bite that a fresh cooked slice would provide. However, I have recently discovered that there are several brands offering thick-cut bacon that is already cooked and ready for your recipes. These thick-cut slices are almost indistinguishable from thin slices of freshly cooked bacon, making them perfect for sandwiches, omelettes, and salad toppings. Nothing really compares to the fresh stuff if all you really want is a slice of crispy bacon, but these precooked beauties are a shelf-stable substitute for almost any dish calling for bacon.
What this means to you, dear traveler, is that you don’t have to be paranoid about keep bacon in the cooler or fridge, fearful that it might contaminate everything else in there, essentially ruining your trip. You don’t have to figure out what to do with bacon grease…since it’s already cooked, you just remove the bacon from the package and heat it up (if you feel like it). Easy and mess free! What more could you want?
These bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers are hard to beat.
Well, if it’s recipes you want, you know I’ve got you covered! I’ve already mentioned that you should throw some precooked bacon into your next breakfast burrito or on your next burger, but I’ve got a real crowd-pleaser of a recipe for you. Bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers. Normally when you think of jalapeño poppers you think of the deep-fried variety served in restaurants. This recipe, however, utilizes bacon and a grill for a perfect popper. Plus, when using precooked bacon, you don’t have to worry about the bacon not being done or losing any filling trying to flip them. Simply halve and seed the jalapeños, add the filling, wrap with precooked bacon, and grill jalapeño side down until melty and delicious. That’s it! Just pop over to the recipe page for the full details!