The moving finger rants

I took a close look this evening during dinner and it didn't look anything like salt, since it hung together when I moved it. http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/blog/232-bacon/ has more information - apparently it's the protein being released:

The white scum that you see when cooking bacon is protein being released, or so I was taught. You see the same thing when pan frying some kinds of fish too, such as salmon steak or chunky white fish. I seem to remember being told by a knowledgeable cook that once you start seeing that white scum, then you have overcooked your fish/bacon as the protein is being released from it. I don't think the white scum on bacon, therefore, is anything to do with quality, probably more to do with how it's cured. And I totally agree with buying British bacon over imported, although most of the stuff from supermarkets is full of water. Farm shops are a better source, aren't as expensive as a lot of people think they are, and locally reared and cured meat will always taste better than the over-packaged and over-traveled supermarket bought meat.

In my family we've got into the habit of emptying the water/fat out the frying pan half-way through too.