Candied bacon

It started innocently enough. We had been at a party on Saturday evening where someone had made this amazing candied bacon. I had never had candied bacon, so became intrigued. Wondering how to make something so delicious.

It didn't take much fiddling to hit upon a tasty recipe. It could have used a bit more heat (it had a little habanero chili vodka in it - it could have used more.  It clearly needed a little acid too, so I used rice wine vinegar, but I suspect that apple cider vinegar might have been nice too.

It was pronounced good by those who tried it, so I must have done something right.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs (24 oz) thick cut bacon (streaky for English readers).

1/3 Cup packed dark brown sugar

3T Vinegar (I used rice wine vinegar because it is quite mild)

4T Maple Syrup (any quality)

A few drops of "hot sauce" to taste. We used habanero vodka

Several grinds of black pepper

Method

Set the oven rack to the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 (350 fan assisted).  Meanwhile lay the bacon strips out on a rack over a foil lined sheet pan. At this stage it doesn't matter if the bacon strips overlap a bit since the fat will render and the bacon will shrink.

Once the oven has reached temperature, slide the sheet pan/rack/bacon onto the middle shelf. Leave to render for 10 minutes.

While the bacon is rendering, mix the remaining ingredients, dissolving the sugar into the syrup and vinegar.

After 10 minutes, slide the pan out of the oven, flip the bacon over and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes.

remove the pan and brush the sugar/syrup mixture lightly over the bacon. You will be repeating this activity 4 times (5 applications in total).

Return the pan to the oven and bake for 7 minutes

Repeat the brushing/baking - again 7 minutes

Remove the pan from the oven, and flip the bacon over. Brush the sugar/syrup lightly over the bacon and return to the oven for 7 minutes.

Repeat t he removal/brushing and again return for 7 minutes.

Remove from the oven, flip the bacon and use the last remaining sugar/syrup to brush onto the bacon. Turn the oven up 25 degrees, and leave the bacon in the oven for a further 7 minutes (or until it seems done to your taste). It will not become crispy until it is overcooked.

Remove from the oven, allowing to cool on the rack. Once cool, place in an air tight container.