Wait wait wait wait, so ignoring health because I like me some trash, why would you fry bacon in anything other than its own fat, it's right there, there's plenty of it!
Discussion
Bacon w/o oil glazes the pan too much, even constant scraping with a metal spatula doesn't keep off the brown sticky. In some recipe where I could deglase I wouldn't mind it, but in this case it was easier to just use oil.
I don't ignore health.
Bacon eaten frequently measurably increases your risk of colorectal cancer, probably due to the salt (or nitrate). But I don't eat it very often.
And diet patterns high in polyunsaturated fats significantly reduce all cause mortality. Many people are skeptical of canola oil due to the processing methods, but the health research hasn't picked up any health difference from chemically processed deoderized heated canola oil, and something like fresh mustard which is a very similar plant seed. So sure *maybe* canola oil is less healthy because of that, but apparently not by much.
Maybe all these studies are fooling me. Do your own research and choose your own belief system. I'm going to make my own conclusions about them. And if I die young from canola oil and I was wrong, oh well I'll be dead so I really won't care, will I?
Sounds like you need to get on the machined, well seasoned cast iron skillet train! I don't eat much bacon but that's because I got really sick after eating it once so I've kinda lost a taste for it.
Calorie for calorie canola and other seed oils are probably fine compared to other fats BUT I don't think it tastes as good and it's substantially less filling. It's really hard to eat an entire plate of fries fried in lard, it's stupid easy to eat a plate full of fries that have been fried in a seed oil.
I'm convinced our brains aren't wired to understand how many calories are being ingested when it comes to refined seed oils. I also happen to think they don't taste as good, so I stick to the EVOO, avocado, animal fat camp. Ghee makes the best popcorn.
Nutritional studies are a tough thing to do. There's a lot of variability in them since people are difficult to control (ethically). They don't typically account for long term exposure since there's limits to how long they can perform a study. Then there's also the factor of tight portion control for the purposes of limiting variables. Not something that's really done in real life. Even the knowledge of participating in a study is going to affect how people behave. Not saying it's useless information, but things to consider. Plus best of all it lets me Cherry pick data to justify my level of butter consumption.