Baconriffic!

Is it possible I really have more to say about bacon? I mean, have I not already beaten this topic to death? Apparently not.

This lovely breakfast (or anytime in my opinion) delectable delight is fuel for many a blog post to come, I fear. But, today? Today is about my adventures with caramelized bacon. Did I tell you? I made it last weekend. And it was sooooo delicious. And soooo bad. And soooo deliciously bad.

The recipe could not be easier. Two ingredients: brown sugar and, you guessed it, bacon. You coat the uncooked bacon with the brown sugar and place on a rack. Place the rack on a rimmed baking sheet and bake at 350F for about 8 minutes, flip the strips over, bake another 8-10 minutes, let cool. Word to the wise: line the baking sheet with foil. I didn't do this. Sticky.

I'm not sure how it is this whole thing works because, theoretically, since you're baking on a raised rack, the juices and fats actually drain onto the sheet below instead of the bacon cooking in its fat like it does when you fry it. So I expected the bacon to be less greasy. I mean, right? But no. The sugar coating somehow helps the bacon actually retain major juices (or maybe it starts breaking down the meat thus making it juicier?) because this stuff is still super juicy. I don't know. I'm not a meat-sugar-reaction expert (yet) but wow, one piece of this deliciousness will knock your socks off and clog your arteries all at the same time. Just use caution when consuming. Ian and I could not decide what could possibly be worse for a human to eat (that still classifies as an actual food. Obviously things like cement and rusty tractor trailer parts would be worse for you. Lucky for me I won't be tempted because neither of those come in caramelized versions.)

Below is a pic, a la Ian's camera phone, of me at the wedding where I first discovered this amazing juxtaposition of sugar and bacon, (my two most favorite things,) holding it up to remember that historic moment. After this, I had made it my little bacony mission to try to recreate the wedding version but I think they must have used a thicker cut of bacon because theirs was, well, thicker, and it just seemed crispier. But theirs had also probably sat out for a while; or maybe they just baked it longer. I was too eager to wait for the full cool down, so mine was still a bit sticky but mmmmm. Melt-in-your-mouth bacon candy. It's so... so... yummm. I need a word that means both sinful and heavenly. Sivenly?

Since I had made a whole plate of the stuff and knew that with each bite my cholesterol was being multiplied by 10-- or to the power of 10-- I offloaded most of it to my wonderful neighbors/family. Having house guests of their own, they were eager to relieve me of my bacon burden, to rave reviews.

Now, some of you were naysayers last time I wrote about this and to you I say (emphatically, and possibly with a British accent): TRY IT! You will either a) love it, or b) not love it and leave more caramelized bacon for the rest of us, or c) immediately go into grease/sugar coma and still leave more caramelized bacon for the rest of us. It's a win-win.