vendredi 22 septembre 2006

How to eat a pound of bacon by yourself.



At my favourite wine bar, they serve something called pig candy. The name does throw you off initially - pig? candy? Is it candy that's shaped like pigs? That could be sort of cute. How the hell do you make candy out of pigs? Do they render the fat out of the meat and add it to the choco.... yeah. You don't want to go too far down that road.

But what pig candy is is nothing more than bacon which has been baked with brown sugar and spices, so that the sugar caramelizes in the oven. The resulting blend of salty, sweet, and spicy is an addictive one, especially for someone like me who likes multiple flavour contrasts. And yes, you can basically end up eating an entire batch before you know it. Not that I would know - I was smart enough to break half a pound up it up into little pieces and put them into ziploc bags as impromptu gifts for friends I was seeing that day.

I don't know if you could make this with fake-meat bacon - there would have to be enough fat in the fake meat for it to come out well.

You can find the recipe here. My recommendation would be to up the amount of brown sugar and spices used by at least 300% - I doubled it, and didn't think it was enough. Optimally, you want there to be an adequate layer of sugar/spices to coat the entire top of the piece of bacon.

While it's amazing plain by itself, it would also be good crumbled over salads, perhaps stirred into macaroni and cheese - or you know, anywhere bacon is used.

Do try it this weekend. But don't blame me if you end up prostrate on the couch bemoaning the fact that there's like half a pig inside of you - be proactive, and share with your friends! Then you all can suffer from bacon overload.