Last nights dinner was going to be the long awaited, and twice postponed, pancakes and bacon for dinner. I have actually turned into a rather bad bacon cook, so my husband usually does it. But he was running late, and everyone was hungry, so I started cooking.
It wasn't bad. The first batch was burned but the next few batches were only slightly charred. Then tragedy struck. As I was putting the cooked bacon in the oven to keep it warm, I dropped it. Bacon was everywhere: in the oven, in the drawer underneath, scattered on the floor around the stove.
The dogs quickly got the floor bacon and I was trying to get the bacon off the bottom of the oven when I just decided to give up.
Yes, indeed, not my finest moment, but it was late, I was so very hungry, and picking up bacon covered in oven junk just became too much. I turned the warmer off, closed the oven door and walked away from the whole mess.
Today I knew all my wasted bacon was waiting for me, except the few pieces I'd put on the plate. My poor husband didn't know they were kind of dirty and ate them. I guess that proves I could have just dusted them off and served them, and the family wouldn't have been any wiser, but I didn't and actually couldn't. Too gross.
Well, I peeked in the oven and shuddered. I like to dust and mop and scrub the fridge and keep a mostly cobweb free house, but the one thing I never do is clean out the oven. So I did the only thing anyone could have done. I got out the shop vac and cleaned out the whole stove.....there is not a crumb to be found in there my friends!
As I was running that noisy beast, and freaking the dogs out of their minds (first, I wasn't given them the bacon they could smell, and second, that shop vac is scary loud) I couldn't help but think this might be the only time wasted bacon actually was a good thing. If I hadn't spilled it all in the oven, I never would have cleaned it out. And it's so clean and lovely now!
Oh Boy! My mother dislikes the oven cleaning. Very much. (Especially when I decide to bake something but..we won't go there.)
ReplyDeleteGlad you saw the positive side to it. (:
As I was cleaning it up, I thought well, here is the positive to that disaster!
DeleteOk. I can NOT cook bacon. I just can't. So good to know I'm not alone.
ReplyDeleteGlad your oven is clean now. What you gonna cook next?
I'm braving the bacon front again for BLT's....
DeleteShop vac! Why didn't I think of that?!
ReplyDeleteI only thought of it because when I opened the oven to see what the mess looked like in the light of day, the dogs went crazy. There were some attempts to climb in! Enter the shop vac, quickly picking up bacon and scaring dogs away from the open oven.
DeleteI just had to clean up an exploded baked potato. I learned that you can't fake the fork prongs in the potato. Make sure the fork penetrates the skin completely. PS: Do not wait until the next morning or the potato turns to cement.
ReplyDeleteGood to know! I usually stab them more times than they need becuase I've been scared of exploding potatoes since I was a kid and read "Farmer Boy"...granted, they were roasting them in an open fire, but still!
DeleteGlad to know something good came of it. "Wasted bacon" is usually just tragic at our house in much the same way that "extra bacon" is an oxymoron.
ReplyDeleteOur house too! There is never any leftover bacon and when I dumped the entire plate I could have cried! All that lovely bacon....
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