Showing posts with label bacon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bacon. Show all posts

Making Kimchi

November 22, 2011 bacon , Cabbage 0 Comments

I love food and yet there are still a lot of foods that I'm coming into late into life. Some I've posted about before. Things like squash and figs were items that I didn't grow up with and so I had no experiences to draw from. Some things were just plain stubborness. Like sushi. I only learned to eat it about seven years ago because I had the typical naive aversion to the idea of eating raw fish. Another is jalapeno peppers. I was afraid of them, I guess, until I cut one up in a burrito and realized that it added so much more flavor and heat. That was about 15 years ago. Or even being as silly as to not putting a flavoring into my hot chocolate. Now I can't stand hot chocolate plain, I have to have some sort of additional flavor added to it.

Kimchi was one of those scary foods. After all, it's fermented cabbage with a reputation for being spicy. Don't get me wrong. I love spicy foods. Yet, here I was having a stubborn obstinance to trying this strange looking concoction of hot cabbage.
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Candied Bacon

December 15, 2010 bacon , candy 1 Comments
We come across those recipes or food items that seem to be hot and trendy. I believe, though, that bacon is not a trend, it is a way of life for many people. Pork happens to be my favorite meat, and so I can't argue with any bacon lovers. Candied bacon is also not necessarily a trend, but it's an item that seems to be cropping up more and more in recipes and on food shows. Essentially candied bacon is simply bacon that has been caramelized in brown sugar.

Yes, I have been on a "bacon as candy" kick of late. See my posts on bacon peanut brittle and bacon turtles. I decided that candied bacon sounded darn easy and worth spending an hour on over the weekend. Unfortunately it took more time than that because I wasn't happy with my first results.

First attempt at candied bacon

All you really need is a cup of brown sugar with which you coat the bacon. You can add some pepper if you like and so I added a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Since I knew I was going to dip these in chocolate, I cut the bacon into inch long pieces. I coated them with the mixture and laid them out on my stoneware baking pan. (I chose to use my Pampered Chef stoneware because it is easier to clean the expected greasy, sticky mess than a metal pan is.) In recipes I found on FoodNetwork.com, they say to line a baking pan with foil or parchment paper.

You bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. I checked mine and found the pan full of greasy, sticky goo and the bacon partially cooked - like chewy bacon. I wanted it to be more crispy, so I left it in there for longer. It didn't help. So then I took it out cleaned out the mess with paper towels, and then put the bacon back on and into the oven again. Still wasn't getting the results that I wanted or had expected. It was OK, but not great.

I finished that batch up but decided I needed to try a different method, one that I saw on a different site.



This time I lined my pan with a couple layers of paper towels and then put a wire rack over it. I put the bacon across the wires without any seasoning yet. I wanted most of the grease to be cooked out of it first. I baked these for 20 minutes and then took them out, dipped them in the sugar mixture, and then laid them out on the wire rack again. After 10 more minutes in the oven I took them out and  brushed them with more sugar and returned them to the oven. Another 10 minutes and then I flipped them, brushed them, and back in the oven. After about an hour I had more of what I was looking for. Success.

This looks much better
You can watch a video of a similar process done by my friend, John of Foodwishes.com.

The final step is just to melt chocolate, dip the bacon in it to coat, and then let the pieces cool on parchment paper. Chocolate covered candy bacon!

Chocolate covered candied bacon


Candied Bacon

1 package of thick cut bacon
1 cup of brown sugar
1 t cayenne pepper (or to taste)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the brown sugar and cayenne pepper.
Line a baking sheet with a couple layers of paper towels. Place a wire rack on top. Drape the bacon across the rack in a single layer. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and dip each bacon into the sugar mixture and make sure to get all surfaces coated. Replace on the wire rack. Bake for another 5-10 minutes. Brush some sugar mixture on top of the bacon, return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes. Remove, flip bacon over, coat with more sugar and then bake for a final 10 minutes.
Remove sheet from oven and let bacon fully cool.


Bacon
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Chocolate Bacon Peanut Crisps

September 23, 2010 bacon , candy 0 Comments


If you saw my post last week for Microwave Peanut Brittle, you know that I had a bit of mess on my hands. I tried to double the recipe and had a mess of sticky, caramel goo overflowing in my microwave. This mishap created a side problem - my candy did not reach brittle stage. So here I had a double batch of bacon peanut caramel instead of brittle.

What to do? After all, this was still edible stuff and shouldn't be just tossed out. A double batch as well. No way was I gonna toss this failed attempt. The problem was I had this stretchy, sticky, ropey mess. It was soft and pliable. In the end I decided to take small bits and dip them in chocolate. I ended up with lovely chocolate candies.

Because it was a mess in the microwave and I can't give you a precise timing to use that way, we are going to go back to the old fashioned stove-top method and use a candy thermometer. Basically my concoction had reached soft ball stage versus hard ball stage and for that we should use the thermometer.


Chocolate Bacon Peanut Clusters

     4 slices of bacon
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. light corn syrup
1 c. unsalted peanuts, skins removed
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1 lb of dark chocolate

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.  Grease the foil with butter. Set aside.

Fry the bacon in a skillet until it is crispy. Remove and dry on paper towels. Reserve one tablespoon of bacon grease for later. Take crispy bacon and chop it into very small pieces.

Combine sugar, corn syrup, and peanuts in a medium, nonstick pot. Cook over medium high heat, stirring occasionally. When thermometer reaches 240 degrees, remove from heat and immediately mix in bacon, bacon grease, vanilla, and baking soda.  Pour candy mixture onto foil. Let cool completely.
Cut candy into small pieces. Put back into frig until you are ready to dip in the chocolate.

Break chocolate into small pieces and microwave for 1 minute. Stir. Microwave for another 30-60 seconds or until all the chocolate is melted.

Dip candy bits into chocolate and set onto parchment paper to cool. Enjoy!


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Microwave Bacon Peanut Brittle

September 12, 2010 bacon , candy 1 Comments
Microwave bacon peanut brittle

When I was at IFBC in Seattle last month we were treated to bacon peanut brittle. This would not be something new to the bacon lovers out there. After all, our world is slowly being taken over by baconnaise, bacon lip balm, etc. We even came across bacon martinis and bacon bloody marys when we were at brunch. But for me the idea of bacon in peanut brittle was something new and yet, oh-so right.

My problem is that when I'm bored, I bake - or  make something generally not healthy, but satisfying to my sweet tooth. So here I was thinking about that bacon brittle. My version is a tweak to the microwave versions out on the internet.

Important! Do not try to make double batches! It will boil over and make a sticky, gooey mess in your microwave. Believe me. I know.

Bacon amount can vary depending on your bacon addiction.

Bacon Peanut Brittle

     4 slices of bacon
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. light corn syrup
1 c. unsalted peanuts, skins removed
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.  Grease the foil with butter. Set aside.


Fry the bacon in a skillet until it is crispy. Remove and dry on paper towels. Reserve one tablespoon of bacon grease for later. Take crispy bacon and chop it into very small pieces.

Combine sugar, corn syrup, and peanuts in 2-quart microwave glass mixing bowl. Microwave on HIGH for 8 minutes, stirring after 4 minutes. Add bacon, vanilla, baking soda, and bacon grease. At this point it will foam up, but stir thoroughly and put back in microwave. Microwave on HIGH 2 minutes. Brittle should be tan in color. Quickly spread on buttered baking sheet as thinly as possible. Let cool. Break into pieces.




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