Bacon Candy

[gerisullivan]

lsanderson has a lot to answer for. A little over 4 years ago, he sent me a LiveJournal invitation. (Remember LiveJournal invitations?) Several friends had previously offered me one, but I always begged off. No time, don'cha know? That's still true, but Larry's invitation turned out to be a Good Thing, and on September 7, 2003, I made my first post.

papersky, LJ may not be titled To Serve Man, but it's still a cookbook!

More recently, just this past Sunday, in fact, Larry posted about the recipe for Caramelized Bacon, including the link to that day's NYTimes article about the tasty concoction. Tonight, while I was out picking up copies of the newspaper, I bought the best bacon my rural Stop'n'Shop had to offer -- 8 ounces of standard-slice Boar's Head and a 20-ounce package of thick-sliced Plumrose. And a 2 pound bag of light brown sugar, 'cause I couldn't remember if I had any at home or not.

Oh. My. Ghod.

I wish I didn't still have 23.25 ounces of uncooked bacon here in the house. Or 3 pounds of light brown sugar. It's taking more willpower than I knew I had to avoid cooking a second batch of bacon candy right now!

debgeisler, I'm sure you're right -- this stuff will be "frickin' unbelievable" when made with cob-smoked bacon. I'm also going to experiment adding the spicy maple seasoning I have in the cabinet. 'Cause bacon candy is good!

Dangerously good. I still haven't decided whether I like the thick or thin slices better. More experimentation is clearly in order. As is more exercise, to counterbalance at least some of the health effects.

I disagree with Patricia Marx, the recipe's author. She said, "This is a dish that can't be ruined," but I think an oven that runs hot (even in spots) can do it in. So watch your temperature, and the cooking time, too. Otherwise, the recipe is dead simple. Pay attention to the fact that it calls for a rimmed cookie sheet -- the caramel containment facility offered by a nice, deep rim protected the interior of my oven, and it will protect yours, too. Being generous with your parchment paper will pay off in easy cleanup. The caramel bubbled over the edge of the paper my first time out, but a short soak soon put the cookie sheet to rights again.

Marx reports that the carmelized bacon will keep for 3 days if stored in an airtight container at room temperature. I'm afraid I can't yet offer any evidence in support of that -- mined didn't last 30 minutes. If I'm lucky, I'll manage to pack the container out of reach during upcoming drives to Boston where I hope to share bacon candy with people at Vericon and Boskone. (Worry not, sdn, you're the reason I'm making a batch -- or three -- for Vericon!)

Comments

[kaffy_r]

Wouldn't carmelized bacon sticky up the dispensers?

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

You're so right, it would!

Pick me, Monty! Pick me! Just give all the bacon candy to me and no dispensers will be harmed.

YHOS,
Savior of the Bacon Dispensers

I would rather eat my beans...cacao that is

[dinogrl.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering if it will work with Morning Star Farms faux bacon for us veggie killers. On the other hand, a moment on the lips, forever on the hips...

Re: I would rather eat my beans...cacao that is

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

All that caramely-goodness gets stuck in your teeth long before it gets to your hips. Dentists will be able to put their kids through college if bacon candy ever catches on.

[sdn.livejournal.com]

augh! maybe i will buy some of that dreadful white chocolate with olives and you can try that.

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Yuck and yuck!

w00t!

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

I knew I shoulda flown out to assist in the recipe testing. I ustta be a professional, after all, and what are friends for? ;-)

Re: w00t!

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

It's not too late! There's much testing still to be done. Come now! Better yet, come before Boskone and I'll give you a ride there and even back again if need be. Warning, though -- I usually head to Boskone on Wednesday. Then again, debgeisler and benveniste's home has a splendid test kitchen.

If you come for Boskone, you'll be around for the Peeps Research, too! (Death to Peeps Fun Fest on Friday night. Complete with Peeps Ghosts, Stars, Hearts, and whatever else I lay my hands on.)

Re: w00t!

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Peeponauts

Re: w00t!

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Fun! I love how four of them survived the trip inside deflated balloons. I wonder if the other two will be found.

Re: w00t!

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

It's being planned, but probably just Friday and leave Monday... although Tuesday looks like a cheap flight day.

Re: w00t!

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Huzzah!

Tuesday = cheap flight day, unloading at the NESFA clubhouse, and related fun. Ever seen The Glass Flowers at Harvard? Want to run down to the Cape for an off-season visit to Provincetown? (Weather dependent and an evening flight Tuesday required. I doubt the street scene is the same -- parkas would obscure the view. Probably best left to a spring or fall visit; still sweet, though.)

[elaine-brennan.livejournal.com]

I can't say I'm terribly surprised. sunspiral made a lovely turkey bacon ice cream last summer -- could more sweet bacon treats be far behind?

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

sunspiral's turkey bacon ice cream, Mo's Bacon Bar that Vosges makes, caramelized bacon...okay, there's a future in this. A short-lived one, perhaps, but definitely a future.

[snippy]

My mom used to make that when I was a kid (1960s). I loved it; I wonder why I never made it myself? Maybe I buried the memory.

[(Anonymous)]

I will be at Boskone. Don't let me get away without some of this.

(I may well make some before then. Dear zog, maybe I should make some tonight.)

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

Er, that comment was pretty useless without an identifier... whoops.

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Well, it was entertaining without the identifier, but I agree that telling me who you are makes it much more likely that I'l save some bacon candy for you.

Will you be there in time for set-up and the SBOF Thursday evening? I'm making bacon candy for that as well as to have tasting samples on hand at the beginning of the convention itself. The tricky part is that I usually go over to Boston on Wednesday. Any bacon candy I make here at Toad Woods needs to be consumed by Friday night...Saturday noon at the latest. So catch me early!

[jcbemis.livejournal.com]

Hoping we make it up in time for the SBOF by train, but they do run late sometimes: Tony and I Both love the sounds of "Bacon Candy", and I'm still not up to much cooking.

[ckd]

And here I was planning to be at set-up/SBOF even without the lure of bacon candy. Little did I realize.

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

I work (in Boston) so I will not be around Thursday or Friday daytime. I could conceivably show up Thursday night but I don't currently plan to.

It's no longer an urgent problem, however, because I just made a batch of bacon candy.

That doesn't suck. It doesn't suck a *lot*.

You know what else doesn't suck? Replacing half of the water in the sugar glop with cider vinegar.

You know what else doesn't suck? Eating the caramel that pooled in the bottom of the pan afterwards.

You know what *else* doesn't suck? Dying. Dying doesn't suck after you've eaten that caramel. Which is good, because dying is a whole lot more likely after you've eaten that caramel.

(Doesn't suck is (tm) my friend Goob.)

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Oh, my. I just happen to have a fair bit of apple cider vinegar right here in my pantry cupboard.

While dying doesn't suck, it's something I'd just as soon put off for awhile. But I can't promise not to eat the caramel off the bottom of the pan -- especially if being a bit more careful with my oven temp and baking time leaves it more brown than black next time around.

My one step in the direction of self-preservation is to postpone making more bacon candy until I'm on my way someplace where I intend to share it with people. 'Cause devouring even a small batch all by myself is just Not Advised.

[nkcmike.livejournal.com]

By the way this is Mike's other half. We also made some bacon candy. Some without the chipotle pepper and some with ooohh so good. We like the spicy sweet combo a lot.

You want to know another use for that wonderful caramelized goodness? Put it over baked sweet potatoes. I just let heated the pans a little and then scrapped every last drop of stuff I could get onto the potatoes YYUUMMMMM!!!

All though all I did was put the brown sugar in a plastic bag add bacon and shake. I added a bit more brown sugar once they were on the pan.

May have to make more today. I am so glad you posted this :-D