Instructions: Heat a cast-iron or other heavy skillet over medium heat. When hot, add bacon strips in a single layer. Cook until browned on bottom, 3 to 4 minutes.

Flip bacon, using tongs, and cook until browned on both sides, about 2 minutes.

When cooking, continually pour out some of the bacon fat into a container (it can be used again when cooking, lending its unmistakable flavor to everything from fried eggs to croutons). Repeat with remaining bacon. Drain bacon on paper towels. Serve immediately.

This recipe yields 1 pound.

Comments: Crisp and tender, bacon is almost impossible to resist. Its near-perfect combination of salt, fat, smokiness, and rich pork flavor is liked by almost everyone. In nineteenth-century America, it was the single most popular cooking medium, flavoring everything from vegetables to baked beans, chowders to porridges, and puddings to pies.

When choosing bacon, look for strips in which the fat is firm and white and the lean part is firm and deep pink. Read the label on the package carefully: "Smoke flavoring" is not going to give you the same multilayered flavor as natural smoking. You might also consider dry-cured bacon. Though expensive, difficult to locate, and salty, it has a more intense, fuller flavor than its wet-cured cousins.

Yield: 1 pound

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