The bacon weave is a cooking technique where strips of bacon are laid side by side vertically and then more bacon is woven horizontally through the vertical strips, similar to how you might weave a basket. The result is a grid-like pattern of bacon that can be cooked until crispy and holds together after it’s cooked. Large bacon weaves can be used in recipes like bacon-wrapped meatloaf or bacon-wrapped chicken. For sandwiches, a bacon weave can hold pieces of bacon together inside the sandwich, and it can be used to fit the bacon to the shape of the bread.
Oven roasting works best for cooking a bacon weave because it doesn’t require the bacon to be moved, ensuring that the weave stays together during the cooking process. For sandwiches, cooking the bacon weave between two baking sheets holds the bacon down during cooking, and yields a flat sheet of bacon.
The following instructions produce two bacon weaves that fit neatly inside slices of common pullman loaf-type bread:
1. Gather what you need. All it takes is 6 slices of bacon, 2 rimmed baking sheets, and parchment paper. The smaller 9.5” by 13” baking sheets work perfectly, but 13” by 18” baking sheets work just as well.
2. Cut two pieces of parchment paper to the size of the baking sheets. Parchment paper will keep the bacon from cooking directly on the baking sheet, helping with clean-up. Aluminum foil can be used as an alternative to parchment paper, although cooking times may vary.
3. Lay one sheet of parchment paper inside one of the sheet pans. If you cut the parchment paper a little larger than the bottom of the baking sheet and then press it into the baking sheet so the edges fold upward, the parchment paper will trap most of the bacon fat.
4. Prepare to get dirty. The next steps involve handling uncooked bacon, so either put on a pair of gloves or be prepared to wash your hands after.
5. Cut the bacon in half, crosswise. Half-sized slices of bacon will cook down to a length that fits perfectly across a (Pullman loaf) slice of bread.
6. Place half the bacon into the baking sheet vertically. Lay six strips of bacon, side by side, across the length of the pan so they are almost touching and not overlapping.
7. Fold the center strips back. The second and fifth strips of bacon will be the centers of each weave. Fold these strips back on themselves away from you by about 1/3 of their length.
8. Place the first horizontal strips. Lay two strips of bacon perpendicular to the folded-back strips. One of these strips should cover the bottom third of the first and third vertical strips and one should cover the bottom third of the fourth and sixth vertical strips.
9. Unfold the folded-back strips. Unfold the center vertical strips of bacon so that they cover the horizontal, perpendicular strips that you just placed.
10. Fold back the alternate strips. Fold the first, third, fourth and sixth vertical strips of bacon towards you over the first horizontal strips.
11. Place the center horizontal strips. Place another two strips of bacon horizontally across the center of the weave next to and perpendicular to the folded-back strips.
12. Unfold the folded-back strips. Unfold the four vertical folded-back strips of bacon away from you over the center horizontal strips you just placed.
13, Fold the center strips back. Fold the two center vertical strips back towards you over the center horizontal strips.
14. Place the last horizontal strips. Lay two strips of bacon perpendicular to the folded-back strips. One of these strips should cover the top third of the first and third vertical strips and one should cover the top third of the fourth and sixth vertical strips.
15. Unfold the folded-back strips. Finally, to complete the weave, unfold the center strips so they cover the horizontal, perpendicular strips of bacon that you just placed.
16. Cover the bacon with another sheet of parchment paper. The top sheet of parchment paper will help keep the top baking sheet clean during cooking. As with the bottom sheet, if you cut the parchment paper a little larger than the inside of the baking sheet and then press it into the baking sheet so that the edges fold upward, the parchment paper will trap most of the bacon fat below the paper.
17. Place the second baking sheet inside the first. Sandwich the bacon between two baking sheets by placing the second baking sheet on top of the bacon and inside the bottom baking sheet. The top baking sheet will press down on the bacon while it cooks, and make the bacon weave flat.
18. Cook the bacon. Place the bacon into a cold oven and heat the oven to 425°F. The cold start will tenderize the bacon at the beginning without noticeably extending the cooking time. Not preheating the oven also saves a step, and it’s really convenient in ovens that start the timer when the target temperature is reached.
After the oven reaches 425°F, cook the bacon for 32 minutes, or until it reaches your desired crispness. Bacon comes in different thicknesses, and ovens heat differently from one another, so cooking times will vary a bit. 32 minutes works for me for the bacon I buy and the oven I use, but you might need to experiment to find your sweet spot. Keep in mind that the bacon will continue to cook for a while after it is removed from the heat, so take it out of the oven when it looks just about where you want it.
19. Transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels. By the time the bacon has cooked on the baking sheet, it will be swimming in a pool of rendered bacon fat. You’ll want to let the bacon cool on paper towels to remove some of that fat.
20. Reserve the bacon fat. Rendered bacon fat is full of smokey flavor, and if you discard it, you’re tossing out flavor that you could use in the future. After you remove the bacon from the baking sheet, collect and store the liquid bacon fat.
assembly gallery here
Notes:
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Equipment that I used:
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recipe block here