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Like this recipe? Pin it to your favorite board on Pinterest.Cooking Smoked Bacon Candy on Your SmokerĪfter you’ve coated all of the bacon pieces, let them rest in the bowl while you get your smoker going. Tweet This What to Serve with Candied Bacon: How to Make Candied Bacon: Smoky and sweet and salty and crispy and chewy and just plain ridiculously delicious. Let the bacon cool on the rack for at least 3 minutes that caramelized sugar is hot, and you could burn your mouth if you can’t resist for a few minutes! You can do it! Remember that the bacon will continue to crisp up a bit as it cools. You may want to check midway through the baking to see if the bacon is cooking evenly if there are areas that seem to be cooking faster than others, rotate the pan in the oven. Very lightly dust a bit of black pepper and also some cayenne if desired on each strip.īake for about 25 minutes, until the sugar is melted and the bacon is a deep mahogany brown and fairly crisp. Lightly and evenly sprinkle the brown sugar over the strips of bacon, using about 1 teaspoon per strip. Lay the bacon strips on the rack crosswise, making sure they don’t overlap at all it’s ok if they are just touching. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil (seriously, do this!) and place a wire cooling rack in the baking sheet. Add it to a graze board! Or sprinkle it over a soup (see suggestions below). Maybe place a slice or two into a grilled cheese. You can also think about slicing it crosswise or crumbling it and adding it to salads, like a Cobb Salad, a Waldorf Salad, or a wedge salad. I once saw a piece slid into a Bloody Mary, which seemed kind of cool, kind of odd. It’s a real treat for the holidays, and if you serve it up at a cocktail party, be prepared for it to go and go FAST. One delicious bite at a time! Serve it as an appetizer or a snack, or as part of a brunch. If the bacon starts to soften, crisp it back up in a 375☏ oven for about 5 minutes, watching it carefully. Place a piece of parchment paper or wax paper between the layers of bacon so they don’t stick together. You can store candied bacon in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks in the fridge. You do NOT need salt! The bacon is plenty salty! Storing Bacon Candy I also like to add a little heat to mine with a tiny sprinkle of cayenne pepper and/or a bit of freshly ground black pepper. You can use brown sugar, maple syrup or honey or even a combo. It’s smoky and sweet and salty and crispy and chewy and just plain ridiculous. You should watch to make sure the bacon doesn’t tip over from crisp to burnt (which absolutely has happened to me. As you would expect thinner slices will crisp up faster than thicker. You can use thick or thin sliced bacon, but I prefer thicker slices which have a more toothsome bite even while the outside gets that burnished, crisp exterior. (Sometimes it’s called pig candy, but I’m just not a fan of that name). What is Candied Bacon?Ĭandied Bacon, or bacon candy, is simply bacon that has been brushed or sprinkled with something sweet, then baked until crispy and caramelized. But I do remember thinking that I had not seen anyone eat anything in recent memory with as much pleasure as my dad ate that candied bacon. We won’t even get into the meat-as-an-appetizer-for-meat discussion. No one left the table anything other than stuffed, and while there were some very classic appetizers to order (sliced tomatoes and onions with their secret sauce, a wedge salad), there was also something utterly perplexing – a single strip of crispy, sweet thick bacon. My dad was a fan, as was his dad, and often picked it when we were celebrating something good.
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