Chef Will Murray has identified the grill as the best way to cook bacon, delivering "good results every time" after testing 20 different methods.
Bacon's British popularity
Bacon is a staple of British cuisine, with a 2018 survey of 2,000 Britons ranking the bacon sandwich as the food they would eat daily if they could. Murray, who refined his skills at Mayfair's two-Michelin-starred Dinner by Heston Blumenthal and co-runs Fallow, Roe, and FOWL restaurants with chef Jack Croft, appreciates its appeal.
In a video for Fallow's YouTube channel, Murray trialed various methods, including the restaurant's demerara sugar technique, frying, grilling, air frying, blowtorching, flambadou, sous vide, and "southern candied" bacon.
Traditional methods fall short
On the traditional frying pan method, Murray said: "This is like you would get in a proper traditional British cafe. Very smoky as it caramelises. We're cooking them all to crispy because the fat didn't render out nice and evenly." He added that the colour was "patchy" and "slightly burnt", concluding: "Not good. Average."
Murray had never used an air fryer for bacon but was impressed, calling the result "absolutely banging" and evenly cooked, though not the most "appealing" in shape. He said the air fryer "rivals any of the bacon techniques or grilling techniques" and is superior to bacon cooked over a rack.
The winner: grill
Despite the air fryer's success, Murray suggested the traditional grill might be the most uncomplicated option. He also tried the southern candied method with brown sugar and powdered cayenne pepper, calling the spicy kick a "game-changer" but noting it was "a bit of work" and left a dirty tray.
In his final summary, Murray returned to the grill: "So, the easiest and quickest is under the grill, and it gives you good results every time. Very consistent."
