The white stuff that comes off of bacon when cooking, is water that is mixed with denatured proteins, like al bumin and even some sugars from the brine, which is released as the bacon heats up.
This, especially occurs in modern, wet cured bacon, which creates a foamy or even gooey residue, which can brown and stick if the heat is too high, although it's generally safe to eat the bacon with the white stuff coming off.
Commercial bacon is injected with a salt water solution, also known as a brine to add flavor and weight, and the heat forces this water and natural meat proteins out, while forming a white foam.
And added sugars, like honey and or dextrose used in the curing process of the bacon can also caramelize and congeal into the white sticky film that comes off the bacon when cooking.
And even the high salt content in the brine for the bacon can also result in the white stuff coming off bacon when cooking.
To reduce the white stuff coming off the bacon when cooking, cook the bacon slower, by lowering the heat to allow water to escape form the bacon more gently, which reduces foaming.
Then dry the bacon by patting the bacon dry with paper towels before cooking and you can also look thicker cuts of bacon or dry cured bacon as they tend to have less added moisture.
Or even rinse the bacon before cooking it, which reduces the surface sugars and salt, although it can sometimes alter the flavor of the bacon.
The cleanest way to cook bacon is to cook the bacon in the oven, on a foil or parchment paper lined baking sheet with or without wire rack and bake the bacon in the oven at 400 F for 15 minutes to 20 minutes, which helps to minimize splatter and makes cleanup easy.
You can also cook bacon cleanly in the microwave, with paper towels for small amounts of bacon for the least mess.
Both these cooking methods of bacon contain the bacon grease and also yield consistently crispy bacon without standing over a hot stove.
To cook bacon crispy, place the bacon on a baking sheet that is lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil, and place the bacon in the oven at 400 F.
Then bake the thick bacon for 20 minutes to 30 minutes until crispy and allow the bacon to render the fat evenly, and get flat and crispy without constant flipping.
Then once the bacon is done, remove it from the oven and drain the bacon of the grease by placing the bacon on paper towels.
You can also cook bacon to crispy by using a cold cast iron skillet and then slowly rendering the fat for consistent crispiness before draining the grease from the bacon.
Sprinkling a light dusting of flour on bacon also make the bacon crispy and flat.
The flour helps bacon get crispy and flat, because the flour absorbs excess grease from the bacon and creates a nice, thin and crunchy coating, which also prevents the bacon from curling up and results in evenly cooked, rigid strips of bacon.
Sprinkling bacon with flour, allows the starch to crisp up while the fat renders, which results in perfectly crunchy bacon without much splatter.
Another good way to get crispy bacon is to use Martha Stewart's preferred bacon cooking method in the oven, which gets nice crispy bacon.
Martha Stewart's preferred method to cook crispy bacon in the oven with baking paper is to use a rimmed baking sheet that is lined with parchment paper.
The method of cooking crispy bacon in the oven with a rimmed baking sheet that is lined with parchment paper is a technique that provides an easy and hands off, mess free consistently crispy result when cooking crispy bacon.
To cook crispy bacon in the oven with baking paper using Martha Stewart's preferred method.
Prep the pan, by lining a rimmed baking sheet with some parchment paper, although aluminum foil also works, but parchment paper is preferred to avoid sticking.
If you want more crispier results, Martha Stewart also suggests that you use a wire rack on top of the lined baking sheet to allow the fat to drip away from the bacon strips.
Next lay the bacon out on the baking sheet and arrange the bacon slices in a single layer on the prepared sheet or rack and ensure that they don't overlap.
The place the baking sheet and bacon in a preheated oven at 400 F and bake the bacon for around 15 minutes to 18 minutes, or until the bacon is well browned and crisp.
The exact baking time for your bacon, will depend on the thickness of the bacon.
Once the bacon is done, use tongs to transfer the bacon to a plate that is lined with paper towels, to drain out any excess grease.
And as the bacon cools down, the bacon will get a little bit crispier.