Caramelized Bacon—Make that Caramelized Steak Bacon

Make this! Don’t fret about it. Just do it. And don’t be a racist or a COVID-19 prick!.

Bacon is a beautiful cut of meat, which is essentially thin-sliced, cured and sometimes smoked pork belly. Caramelize it, and it’s like being in a pig’s dreamland.

Nothing matters more for this recipe than the type of bacon you use. If you use that crappy, thin, fatty prepackaged bacon, it’s not really going to turn out like you want. Instead, use a thick-sliced bacon, usually sold by the pound at the butcher counter.

So what is steak bacon? Good question. I noticed it at a local butcher a couple of years ago. I’d never seen it before, and I’ve never seen it anywhere else. What’s steak about it? Take a look at it when uncooked, and your question will be answered. I guess they could also call it Crazy-thick Bacon or Rediculo-thick Bacon, but Steak Bacon works better from a marketing perspective. I guess there’s always Stake Bacon, as an alternative if you’re hunting vampires.

Anyway, we use this at home for lots of dishes, including adding to scrambled eggs or grilled cheese, or even cutting up into small pieces for fried rice. Cutting this into one-inch squares and using disposable skewers for serving makes a good appetizer at a buffet.

What you’ll need:

• However many pieces of bacon you want to make
• Enough brown sugar to cover them
• Enough maple syrup to cover them 
• Ground pepper—coarse- or fine-ground

What to do:

Heat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Put racks onto a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spray cooking oil on the racks—you’ll regret not doing this. Lay the bacon slices on a single layer across the rack(s).

Mix equal amounts of brown sugar and maple syrup until well blended. If the mixture is too thick, heat it up a bit or add more syrup.

Now gently spoon the mixture over the bacon and spread it across the entire bacon surface. Just for this step of the process, alone, you’ll want thicker bacon. Sprinkle some pepper over the bacon (you can do this before adding the sugar/syrup) and bake it for about 15 minutes or so, until the bacon begins to look somewhat cooked and the sugar/syrup begins to darken. It may take longer, depending on how thick your bacon is.

Now flip over the pieces with a fork (good) or tongs (better) and add the sugar/syrup mixture to the other side. Completely cover the surface. Return the bacon to the oven and bake for about 15 more minutes or so. You’ll know when it’s done.

Let it cool before serving or using in a recipe.