Bacon Toffee

Bacon what??

Here it is, mid-September and it occurs to me we have only had BLTs once this summer. Time's a-wastin'! Or maybe I should say waistin', because I indulged in more of the high-calorie madness that is the world of Paula Deen (insert maniacal Low-Country cackle here). I saw her sugar-encrusted bacon last week on TV, and thought that might just work well on a bacon, lettuce and tomato sammich. Especially if the tomatoes aren't quite as sweet. But we have had some stellar tomatoes this summer. Certainly not from our chokecherry tree-shaded garden. Roadside veggie stands and a green thumb coworker have provided us with plenty of sweet, wholesome bounty.

The bacon is awesome. I roasted it a little longer than 20 minutes because I did a whole pound at once. I'd like to try doing this with some really GOOD, thick-cut smoky stuff. For now, I settled for the big-name brand that was on sale at the grocery store. But what's just as good is the intriguing, deep brown bacon-dripping caramelized candy in the pan after you take it out of the oven and let it cool.



























I blotted as much grease off as I could. Did we harvest as much as possible off the parchment paper, pick incessantly at this stuff, and add additional shards to our sandwiches? Oh, hell yeah.




You could sprinkle this stuff on...well, just about anything. Ice cream, even, and melted chocolate to make a high-end confection store-worthy bacon bark. Look out, Vosges...