What makes bacon crispy, when compared to other cuts of meat? For example, if I were to cut a slice of chuck steak and make it identical in shape to bacon, and then cook it the same way I cook bacon, I think it will not be crispy. Why is that?
Why is bacon crispy
bacon
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Best Answer
A few things occur to me:
In sum, bacon has a lot of fat, is located in a region of the animal with less work (less toughness), and the curing allows the fat to flow out quickly where it can be useful in frying.
What makes bacon crispy is what makes all fried foods crispy -- you dry out the cells by cooking the water out, and the remaining structure firms up. Given the high fat content, a lot of the remaining structure is remnants of the fat sections, rather than muscle tissue (which generally doesn't crisp the same way, even in bacon). Since fat allows cooking at a higher temperature than water, more desirable flavor reactions can also happen (those flavor compounds are also released more in curing). Whereas a more "meaty" piece of meat would go from wet and "boiling in its own juices" to cooked to dry to burnt, the high fat content raises the temperature more quickly but then stabilizes it, which completely alters the reactions that happen in cooking.