Kitchen Happenings: Shakin' and Bacon

In the past, I've always thought that bacon was overrated. The stuff you get in national breakfast chains is generally just thin, salty, greasy, limp, and not particularly appetizing. We never really did bacon in my house growing up. We used to braise pork belly (soy sauce, sugar, star anise, etc.) and eat it with steamed buns, but we basically never did the bacon thing. I've played around a little bit with bacon the last few months, and have decided that I like bacon.

Basically, I saw bacon on sale, so I picked up a package, figuring that I'd do something cool with it, but I wasn't exactly sure what. With regards to the bacon itself, the one thing that figured out was that if you fry it up in the pan, and then right at the end, add on some sort of syrup, you create an extra crunchy, sweet coating on the bacon. Candied bacon, if you will. Incredible. I've had some sage syrup and some ginger syrup. Both work very will for this by adding something more than just sweet. This is sort of that sweet-salty thing that's been in vogue (think salted caramel).

I also figured out that you can make anything better by wrapping it up in bacon and frying it up. People have been wrapping scallops and shrimp forever. I discovered that hot dogs become much tastier once you wrap them up and fry them. Some grilled onions, cheddar cheese, and barbecue sauce finish off something that's really tasty and extra bad for you.

But the most interesting thing that I discovered was that it wasn't just the bacon that was of use. Bacon drippings were also there in abundance. And using the drippings effectively became one of my projects. If you remember from Top Chef a couple seasons ago, they marinated tofu in beef fat, to rave reviews.

I started with the idea of making an improved BLT. The bacon is still there, just like it should be. And you can drop the lettuce, which is just filler, anyway. But the tomato? A nice slice of raw tomato has it's merits. But what I think is even better is a quick sear on both sides, in the bacon drippings, with a quick grind of salt and pepper. You're still definitely eating tomato. But you get a little more flavor out of the tomato by cooking, and you also add on a little of that smoky bacon flavor. I also liked that idea of frying up eggs over easy in the bacon dripping, as well. The runny yolk thing is something that I've always like, and fits in nicely with the sandwich, giving the sandwich a sauce-like effect (in place of mayo). Finally, I added grilled onions, also done in the bacon drippings, with salt and pepper. Put it all between some nice bread (something soft and a little sweet like a brioche or a good bun). Result? Money sandwich.

The other sandwich that I was playing with was a grilled cheese with bacon and grilled onions. Same story as before, with the grilled onions. But the big thing? Using bacon dripping for grilling the sandwich. Finish with a little salt and pepper, and you get an added flavor to the bread that's definitely helped change my position on bacon.

The final verdict? Bacon is definitely not overrated, and figuring out what to do with the drippings makes bacon anything but ordinary.

-foodgeek