I love shortcuts in the kitchen! Who doesn’t right?
For a long long time, I didn’t eat pork or beef! Things are different now. However, one thing I just couldn’t give up… Bacon!! I mean really! I wouldn’t know how to…
One problem… Bacon has alot of fat!! Everytime we fried those suckers it would be floating in a pool of fat… Its great to keep this fat for other purposes though – for frying eggs or making other things! It’s not the healthiest… but for a treat… Bacon Fat makes everything so yummy!
In Australia, you get great bacon… but Americans really take their bacon seriously! There is so many choices… thick, thin cut, different smoked bacon! It’s pretty overwhelming. With all these choices… I can’t imagine why they don’t sell bacon resealable boxes!! Or do they? Please let me know! One thing I learnt how to do though is to check those back windows of the Bacon pack… they let me know if the Bacon I’m buying has more fat than the others. Not sure if it’s a well known thing to do. That window at the back of your bacon packet, let’s you see the meat:fat ratio before you buy it!
With just the two of us… a packet of bacon lasts a very long time… and I don’t like keeping it in the fridge after breaking the seal.
So this is what I do whenever we do buy a packet of bacon! I got this tip thanks to The Kitchn! Makes it easier because you can still buy it in bulk PLUS I can make the bacon with different spices or sweet!!! 🙂
We both prefer spicy spice mix. However the sweeter spice mix is delicious too – especially with waffles or pancakes.
Recipe
Spicy Candied Bacon – 2 ways!
Difficulty:
US based cup, teaspoon, tablespoon measurements. Weight measurements are recommended for accurate results whenever available.
Common Measurement ConversionsIngredients:
- 10 slices bacon Each mix should be enough for about 10 slices.
Sweet & Spicy
- 2 tbsp ground black pepper
- ½ tbsp cayenne pepper
- 63 g brown sugar 5 tbsp. The sugar caramelizes and helps create a surface for the spices to stick to and enhances the spice flavour too!
Sweet
- 100 g brown sugar ½ cup
- 1 tsp black pepper Or less if preferred.
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F.
- Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. The spicy mix in one bowl, and the sweet in a different one.
- Lay bacon on wire rack that is placed inside a Baking Pan.
- Sprinkle either the Sweet & Spicy or the Sweet Bacon rub liberally on the bacon.
- Place Bacon trays in the preheated oven until it is cooked to the desired done-ness.
- I like it extra crispy – so keep it in there for about 20 minutes. It will depend on your oven.
Nutrition Information:
“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”
The blackpepper is optional in the sweet rub, but we like having just a hint of heat even with our sweet bacon! 🙂 but for kids, you can completely omit this and use just brown sugar!
Lay the bacon in a single layer on top of the rack. It is ok if there is slight overlapping as the bacon shrinks as it cooks.
Generously sprinkle the chosen rub on the length of bacon. I don’t always use it on all the bacon (as can be seen in the picture), because I like keeping some just as they are!!
Bake the bacon in the preheated oven. Now this is where I can’t give you a time. After about 5 minutes (in our oven), I like to keep an eye on it till I get the desired crispiness! It doesn’t help that my husband likes it less crispy than I do! So I leave a couple inside for longer to crisp up fully (I know… it’s sacrilege!). I think the way Mr K likes to eat his bacon is the best way to eat it!!
This is such a great way to cook bacon! It drains the bacon fat (you can place the cooked bacon on paper towel to drain it more). It cooks the bacon flat, so it’s evenly cooked, & great to put in sandwiches.
I store them in little seal-able sandwich bags (ziplock bags) and keep them in the freezer till I need them. Then it’s just a matter of re heating them in the microwave (Just 30 seconds!) if I need to use them for anything.
Do you cook bacon like this?? Or do you have a better way?? Please share ANY bacon related information with me. Bacon wisdom never goes out of style!
Till next time!! 🙂
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