I sense that Chris is a little uneasy about my lack of posts celebrating the pig. Rest easy buddy, everything is ok. This one’s for you.
What you need:
- 1/4 pound of home-cured bacon (or as much as you can fit into your skillet).
- Some good, thick-sliced homemade bread.
- Organic Garlic Scapes (optional unless you want this sandwich HeartSmart™ certified).
What you do:
- Cook the bacon over medium-low heat until all of the delicious fat renders out and the bacon starts to crisp up (20 minutes).
- Just before the bacon is ready, add the trimmed garlic scapes, season with a bit of salt, and continue to cook in the rendered fat. Set aside.
- If you happen to have any bacon fat left over, consider yourself blessed, and then strain and refrigerate it for future use.
- Grill the slices of bread in a little of the remaining bacon fat.
- Assemble the sandwich: Layer the bacon on your grilled bread and top with the garlic scapes (if using).
- Take your sandwich to a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed.
Paul, this looks absolutely delicious. To bring in the healthy counterpoint to this, what would you say to straining the bacon fat, putting a thin layer back in the frying pan and ‘frying the bread’ in bacon fat. The English do this thing called ‘fried bread’ where the fry bread in bacon fat. It (like the bacon explosion) is the most disgusting and beautiful thing you can do. Maybe a follow up blog posting with fried bread?
You will be happy to know that the bread for this sandwich was indeed fried up in some of the bacon fat. I didn’t strain it first though – this is a good suggestion, and I will take the time to do it next time.
I did not know that frying bread in bacon fat was an important part of the culinary tradition of England. I have a new respect for the Brits. I would be happy to devote a future post to the wonders of frying bread, biscuits, rolls, cornbread, muffins, tortillas, etc. in bacon fat.