There are few delights as thrilling as fancy, crunchy, candied bacon. Spice it up with some cayenne, and there’s no end to how wonderful the joy can be of eating such a treat. Our friend Ed Sargent experimented with a gazillion versions of spicy candied bacon before coming up with one delicious recipe with a few variations, depending on what you’re going for.
Follow his recipe to make simply perfect crispy, spicy, sweet bacon that’s the perfect sandwich component and can shine bright with a candied shell.
Tools:
- Rimmed baking sheet
- Cooling rack that fits into the baking sheet
- Parchment paper or silicon mat for the bottom of the baking sheet
- Scale
- Blowtorch (optional, but gives you better control)
Ingredients:
- 10 Slices of Hempler’s Center Cut Bacon
- 115 g of Brown sugar
- 2 g of Cayenne pepper
- Pinch of salt (for the precise minded .5 grams)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 225 degrees.
- Place parchment paper on the bottom of the baking sheet.
- Put the cooling rack on top of the parchment paper-lined baking sheet
- Layout the bacon on the cooling rack so that the bacon is in a single layer and not touching each other
- Mix together the brown sugar, cayenne pepper, and salt in a bowl
- Coat the bacon with the brown sugar mixture
- Put the bacon in the oven for 75 minutes
At this point you have a couple of options: After the bacon cools, the bacon is yummy and ready for sandwiches or burgers, like in this version:
If you want a harder, candied shell on your bacon, Ed recommends using a blowtorch or placing the bacon under the broiler for 3 minutes or until the bacon browns to your liking, as in this beauty:
Warning: Please use a new parchment lined baking sheet when using the broiler. The excess sugar and bacon fat left over from cooking tends to burn otherwise…
Stay safe, eat well, and have a happy Father’s Day!