Bacon Candy
( Serves: 12 Prep Time: 300 minutes)
Shopping List
Staples Used
Notes
Preheat the oven to 250.
Take two rimmed cookie sheets; lay a wire rack in each. Place the strips of bacon on the wire racks. Put into the oven, and just leave it there for four hours.
Remove from oven, place on paper towels to let a bit of fat wick off. Place in plastic bags; keeps for several weeks in the fridge.
Variation Master Recipe: when making Flavored Bacon Candy (variations shown below), only cook for three hours in the first step. Turn the oven down to 175, take the bacon out, and spread the toppings on each slice. Place back in oven for anywhere from 45 minutes to another four hours -- at 175, you can just leave it indefinitely. If the variation calls for an extra coat, remove, flip the bacon slice, and put on the second coat. Place back in oven for another 45 minutes, then remove and drain on paper towels.
With granular toppings, it usually works best to add them by hand, a pinch at a time. With liquid toppings, it is easiest if they come in a squeeze bottle that allows a thin stream or drops -- squeeze it on in drops, then use a silicone brush to spread it on more evenly.
History: Originally learned this technique from Mara, and have spent several years refining it to my taste. Came up with the idea of adding flavorings in the summer of '16, and did vast amounts of experimentation (tasty, tasty experimentation) to figure out how that works.
Bacon: Mara originally taught this to me when she gave us three pounds of gourmet bacon for our wedding. That was greatly appreciated, but I came to conclude that my tastes are too pedestrian to properly appreciate the expensive stuff, and I like the delicate crunch of the relatively fatty stuff. I do find that this works with thick-sliced bacon -- I usually use plain old Oscar Meyer Thick Cut.
-- One of Justin's favorite afternoon snacks, although mostly too salty for Kate. Useful to have some plain strips in the fridge as an ingredient.
Variations
Garlic Insanity
Use maybe 1/2 tsp of Auntie Arwen's Ultimate Garlic Insanity per slice. Can be added at the beginning of the process -- it doesn't burn at this temp, so you don't have to wait.
-- My personal favorite version: easy to make, and has a rich roasted-garlic flavor.
Frank's Red Hot
Use two coats.
-- A tad on the salty side, but awfully tasty.
Sweet Curry Powder
I use Penzeys. Need to try their other curries and see how they come out. Apply with a small spoon in little piles, then spread evenly. Only needs one coat.
-- Weird but tasty, with a nice rich curry flavor.
Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
Can be added at the beginning. Only needs one coat.
-- Solidly excellent, as you'd expect
French's Dijon Mustard
Get it in the squeeze bottle -- tried with the "made with Chardonnay", which is fine but not important.
Kim Kim Korean Hot Sauce
Where this whole experiment originally came from: I woke up one morning with the tastes of bacon and Korean hot sauce in my mouth, and began to experiment. Needs two coats. Note that this burns easily, so be careful about temp.
-- Still don't have the flavor as strong as I'd like, but it's getting there.
Sriracha
Use two coats
-- Solidly good, with moderate heat and decent flavor.
