Pork

How to Candy Bacon

“Candy is dandy,” goes the saying. But candied bacon is even dandier.

Just ask my wife. This morning, she announced she would like candied bacon to go with her eggs for breakfast.

Well, you know the other saying: “Happy wife, happy life.” So candied bacon it is!

Fortunately, I had a package of organic, thick-sliced, cob-smoked bacon in the refrigerator. I grabbed some maple syrup and brown sugar (equally organic) and fired up the griddle.

So who first created candied bacon? One predecessor may have been “pig candy”—pioneered on the competition barbecue circuit by pit masters who crusted pork belly with brown sugar, black pepper, and cayenne, prior to an hours-long smoke in their offsets. Martha Stewart got into the act in the early 2000s with sugar- and spice-crusted bacon baked crisp in the oven. But that effort paled next to the “Millionaire’s bacon” introduced (and trademarked) at the Sweet Maple restaurant in San Francisco.

You know what I think? Candied bacon had no single progenitor. Like fire, it arose in many places independently, because sweet + salty + smoke = edible paradise every time.

How to Make Candied Bacon on a Griddle

Which brings me back to the wife-pleasing candied bacon I made this morning. It’s super easy. All you need is bacon, maple syrup, brown sugar, a griddle, tongs, and a wire rack.

Step 1. Heat your griddle to medium-high. Open a 12-ounce package of thick-sliced bacon and fry one strip to grease the griddle. (Figure on 2 to 4 minutes per side, rubbing the bacon across the griddle so the fat will grease the surface.)

Step 2. Spread out the remaining bacon on a platter. Place 1/4 cup maple syrup in a small bowl and using a basting brush, brush each strip of bacon with the syrup on both sides.

Step 3. Spread out 1 cup brown sugar (light or dark—your choice) in a foil pan. Dip each strip of syrup-glazed bacon in the brown sugar, turning to coat both sides. (Add more sugar as needed.) Arrange the sugar-crusted bacon strips on the griddle.

Step 4. Fry the bacon until sizzling and darkly browned on both sides, 2 to 4 minutes per side, turning with tongs.

Step 5. Transfer the bacon to an oiled wire rack over a drip pan. Let it cool slightly or to room temperature. It will crisp on cooling.

We served the candied bacon with my wife’s scrambled farm eggs, but it’s also delicious with French toast, on a BLT sandwich, crumbled over baked potatoes and salads (hum—what a cool flavoring for potato salad!), and, yes, even ice cream sundaes. Really! (See the recipe in my book Man Made Meals.)

But best of all, candied bacon makes my wife happy, and that’s the dandiest of all!

Note: In addition to the brown sugar, some people like to add black pepper, cayenne, or their favorite barbecue rub. Just saying!