Do not buy bacon by the pound, nor have it cut in thick slices, if cut at the market, but purchase it by the whole strip, freshly cured. It will keep well if the paper and burlap cover are replaced whenever opened, and is as much a necessity in the storeroom as is a supply of flour, sugar, or any other staple article of food. It has no equal as an appetizer for breakfast, or in helping out when there is but a limited supply of other meat. Served with omelets, or some other forms of eggs, crisp curly bacon is all the meat necessary for a summer breakfast. It is invaluable to boil with greens or other vegetables. The fat of bacon is one of the most easily digested forms of fat, as the curing and smoking seem to have given it some qualities which render it less objectionable than when fresh. Many physicians prescribe it in place of cod liver oil.

Transparent Bacon

Shave off the hard, lean strip from bacon, also the smoked edges and rind as far back on the strip as you require for one meal. Then with a very sharp knife shave off in slices not more than an eighth of an inch thick. Lay them in a hot frying pan, and turn as soon as transparent; cook a moment on the other side, tip the spider and let the fat drain away from the bacon. Then serve alone or with eggs, beefsteak, veal cutlets, liver, or oysters. The slices may be laid in a fine wire broiler and cooked over a clear hot fire, or the broiler laid in a pan and the whole placed in a hot oven until transparent.

Keep the bacon in a cold place, that it may be hard and firm before slicing, and if not ready to fry immediately, put the slices in the refrigerator until wanted.

Crisp Bacon

Prepare as directed for Transparent Bacon, then shave in the thinnest possible slices; never mind if they are not entire slices so long as they are mere shavings. Take two or three tablespoonfuls of clear bacon fat from a previous frying, or use lard if you have no bacon fat; let it become quite hot in a small pan, then put the bacon in, stir it quickly with a fork for one minute, and skim it out as soon as it rattles. It should be only slightly colored, if dark brown, it has been overcooked. Drain on paper. Should the bacon prove to be very salt, it may be soaked in milk over night after slicing, then drain, roll in very fine crumbs, or flour, and cook it quickly in hot fat.

With a gas stove bacon is readily made crisp by broiling. Then no additional fat is required.