When you cook bacon flat on a baking sheet, the rendered fat can pool, keeping the bacon from crisping up nicely and getting wasted in the process. However, a wire rack can help.

For best results, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (ensuring the sheet has a raised lip for collecting the fat), put an oven-safe wire rack on top, and lay the bacon on that.

As the bacon cooks on the wire rack, the fat will drip down on the foil instead of pooling. Plus, the bacon, being raised, will get convectional heat on both sides and cook evenly.

Once done, you can easily collect the bacon fat. The optimal cooking temperature for bacon varies with certain factors, but 400 degrees F for 20 minutes is a good place to start.