traying it up

This blog isn't exclusively about bacon, I promise.  But it is a fairly large and important part of my life.  Finding quality bacon after we moved from the South was a challenge.  The bacon at the store is kind of thin and bland.  It curls up in the pan when I fry it (I need a bacon press).  Then I decided to scope out the Farmers Market.  Score!  I discovered a local meat processor who made the bacon I was accustomed to:  thick, nicely marbled strips of pork belly.  It's not nitrate-free or organic, but when I run into the ages-old conundrum (ha!) of local vs. organic, I usually lean more toward supporting local businesses and producers.  Anyway, back to the topic at hand.


As much as I love this bacon I found, I can't make it through a pound before it starts to get a little funky.  So, when I get home with my pound of bacon, I take it right out of the package and start a process my husband and his restaurant friends call "traying up."  I take a sheet pan, spread it out into a single layer, and pop it in the freezer.  Like so:

When it's frozen solid, I pull the pieces off the tray and place them into a plastic freezer bag.  This way, I the slices aren't frozen together, so I can pull out one or two when I need them and leave the rest for later.  I just love when a bright idea comes to me!