Café Owner's 'Sponge Method' Ensures Perfectly Crispy Bacon Every Time
A café owner has shared an ingenious kitchen trick known as the 'sponge method' that guarantees bacon is always crispy and bursting with flavour. This technique, employed by professionals, addresses a common challenge faced by home cooks: achieving that ideal crispy texture without burning the meat.
The Secret Behind the Sponge Method
Rouz G. Jabibi, proprietor of More Munchies in Acton Vale, London, disclosed this unusual method to SumUp, explaining it revolves around preparing rashers before they hit the pan. Bacon is taken extremely seriously at the café, where chefs use the sponge method to ensure each piece is perfectly crisp.
The process involves 'sponging off' every rasher of bacon, essentially cleansing the surface of the meat. As reported by The Metro, this simple step makes an enormous difference to the final result. Rouz stated: "Most catering bacon, and some supermarket bacon, is frozen in brine, which is why it holds its shape so neatly. But when you cook it, that salt and water rise to the surface as a white residue. A lot of places ignore it. We don't."
How to Implement the Technique at Home
By wiping down the rashers, you eliminate the white residue—a combination of brine, salt, and water—which can otherwise produce an overpowering salty taste once cooked, according to the Express. You won't actually need a sponge; just some kitchen paper to dab the meat. Drying the bacon also allows the fat to render and crisp up quickly, rather than boiling in its own liquid.
Rouz added: "We bake the bacon first, then sponge off every rasher individually, essentially cleaning the surface of the meat. Then we leave it to cool completely, which stops the edges curling and keeps each rasher long and flat."
The Final Cooking Steps for Ultimate Crispiness
Once the café is ready to serve its bacon, having been baked and sponged off, each rasher is dry-fried on both sides. Rouz explained that no oil is used, as the bacon's own fat "does the work." The outcome is an exceptionally crispy piece of bacon.
Culinary experts at Good Food suggest cooking bacon over a medium heat in a non-stick pan when dry-frying. As the fat begins to render from the bacon, crank up the heat and fry for one to three minutes on each side. The longer you leave it in the pan, the crispier your bacon will turn out, making this method a game-changer for breakfast enthusiasts and sandwich lovers alike.
