So I have an issue using the same cast iron skillet to make both my bacon and eggs. I normally cook the bacon first, which leaves a little crispy residue on the bottom of the skillet where the bacon was frying. It also produces a ton of grease which I normally soak much of up with a paper towel before cracking eggs. The problem I have is when I crack the eggs they stick to the residue left by the bacon. If I would just cook and eggs in this pan, they wont stick so I believe the skillet is properly seasoned.
I realize a solution is to use two pans, but the eggs are awesome cooked in bacon grease. Anyone else run into this problem of have a solution?
The most likely issue is using commercially processed bacon. Almost all commercially processed bacon is cured with sugar. This will stick to the bottom of the pan (the bits), and it will cause anything else cooked in the same pan (eggs) to stick to the bits.
The only sure ways to prevent this is to either cure your own bacon, find some bacon cured without sugar, or use two pans.
I usually start my bacon off in a nice large skillet, #8 Griswold, cooking low and slow in order to render out fat and end up with crunchy bacon that isn't burnt. As it cooks down, I pour off some of the grease, with as few crunchy bits as possible into a #3 Griswold in which I will later cook 3 eggs at a time. I pour the rest into a #9 Griswold in which my hash browns are already cooking with a little butter.
Eggs cook very quickly and are the last thing I cook, After the hash brown and bacon, so as soon as the bacon is almost done I start the first batch of eggs. Two sets of three eggs, one for me and one for my wife. Nice, quick, and no stick.
The skillets for the eggs and the hash browns only require a wipe out with a couple of paper towels.
---------- Post added at 06:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:13 AM ----------
While I'm surely not the first to figure this out, a number 7 makes a great bacon press when cooking in a number 8.
A larger hot skillet makes a great lid for a smaller skillet cooking eggs. The heat from the top sets and cooks the eggs without having to turn them. I do spatula free eggs all the time. I don't have to flip them, and they slide onto the plate from the skillet.
---------- Post added at 06:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:20 AM ----------
Russell, I haven't found any that isn't cured with sugar, even at my health food store. What else is bacon cured with?
Bacon is usually cured with a combination of "curing salts" (nitrates) and sugar. The sugar is simply there for additional flavoring.