Bacon & Eggs

Adam_R.

Member
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?
 
Eggs will stick in any pan, CI or not, under those circumstances. I argue with myself about just cooking the eggs in the bacon fat, because they aren't really going to absorb the grease, plus you're getting ready to eat bacon anyway. If you don't want to use two pans, cook in the bacon fat without draining any of it beforehand, and just tilt them in the pan before you remove them to drain, and then dry them on paper towels. It may shorten your total life span 23 seconds if you do it every day, but you won't do it every day. Pioneers never worried about this stuff, though they burned a ton more calories.

Personally, I use my trusty Griswold 5 to fry eggs separately from the bacon, and they slide out so easily after cooking that there's no washing necessary anyway.. I just wipe it clean with a paper towel.
 
I just lightly scrape the bacon schmutz with my spatula before cracking the eggs into the skillet. Depending on how much bacon I've fried and what size skillet I'm using, I may or may not drain off some of the bacon grease before frying the eggs.
 
My Dad made his own breakfast on work days because he got up before dawn to deliver the mail, Mom's job was to get us 3 boys up and off to school. I still use his egg cooking method for myself.
Fry 3-4 strips of bacon in a 10" skillet, turn off the heat to let the bacon brown evenly without burning, remove the bacon, scrape the skillet with a metal spatula to free the stuck particles off the bottom. Crack 2 eggs into the bacon fat on one side of the skillet being careful not to break the yolk. Turn the heat back on and let the egg white flow naturally into the pan. The heat will contain the flow. Do not loosen the bottom of the egg from the skillet with the spatula, it needs to be slightly stuck. Once the bottom of the egg is set, tilt the pan so the fat collects on the side of the pan opposite the eggs and splash the bacon fat over the top of the eggs with the spatula just until the yellow disappears. With a quick motion slide the spatula under the eggs to break them loose and remove them together.

You now have perfect over easy eggs. The yolks will flow once you cut into them allowing every bite of egg to have the yolk flavor in it.
 
While I have cooked eggs in my CI skillet after cooking the bacon, I prefer to use two pans. I use a bacon press because I like my bacon evenly cooked. When I pull the press off the bacon, I hold it vertically over the CI skillet for the eggs. I usually get more than enough drippings from the press to cook my eggs in. The excess bacon grease from the bacon skillet gets strained into a container for future use. I really don't mind having two burners on and cleaning two skillets.
 
Thats why you need to get a Bacon and Egg skillet. Cook the bacon in the bottom part then just tilt the grease to the top sections and cook only in grease. Pretty practical pan when you think of it.
Kyle
 
You soak up the bacon grease with a paper towel?? Blasphemy!! I pour off the extra into a ceramic coffee mug and store in the fridge for those times when you need grease, but have none.
 
Glad I'm not the only one that has issues. Appreciate all of the tips. I especially like the idea of the breakfast skillet.
 
I tried again this morning scraping the bacon bits off the bottom of the pan. Still a little to sticky for my liking. One egg was fine but I broke the other. Looks like 2 pans for B & E from now on.

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.
 

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Russell, I haven't found any that isn't cured with sugar, even at my health food store. What else is bacon cured with?
 
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.
 
I didn't realize the sugar in the bacon was what left the sticky residue. Thanks to all who noted that, I'll have to adjust my approach.
 
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 will have to disagree with this last statement. I cook commercially prepared bacon all the time. Yes, it is cured with sugar. I use a single pan for both the bacon and the eggs and my eggs don't stick. As I stated earlier in this thread, scrape the bacon schmutz with your spatula before cracking the eggs in the skillet. The eggs don't stick.
 
I will have to disagree with this last statement. I cook commercially prepared bacon all the time. Yes, it is cured with sugar. I use a single pan for both the bacon and the eggs and my eggs don't stick. As I stated earlier in this thread, scrape the bacon schmutz with your spatula before cracking the eggs in the skillet. The eggs don't stick.

I do the same thing and no problem with the eggs sticking.
 
Yeah, I don't know if sugar is the problem. I tried making Side Pork--no sugar--and it stuck to the skillet, same as curried bacon.
 
When cooking sunny side up eggs, I add about a 1/2 egg shell of water to the pan and cover. The steam cooks the tops without turning, leaving runny yellows, which I like.
 
Covering the pan is an effective way to firm up the top of the whites without overcooking the bottom or the yolk when cooking SSU.

It does have one side-effect, though - the yolks have a thin film of egg white on them that normally is invisible. Using this technique will cook that film, giving the yolks a kind of dull "dead eye" look. It's only cosmetic but some (like my wife) find it unappealing.
 
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