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Sweets could use a drizzle of meat. Think cookies, candy, chocolate
By Sue Kidd
McClatchy Newspapers
Published on Wednesday, Nov 05, 2008
Chocolate-dipped bacon, maple-bacon ice cream, peanut-butter-bacon cookies. Mueller has served a bacon wonderland of pork-filled desserts to his customers at Babblin' Babs Bistro in Tacoma, Wash., in recent weeks. Their verdict? Bacon looooooooove.
When customers sampled Mueller's peanut-butter-bacon cookies, diners were surprised but intrigued.
''They thought it was pure genius to incorporate bacon into a cookie,'' said Mueller, chef of Babblin' Babs and co-owner with wife, Shannon. He added about the choco bacon, ''I didn't tell a lot of people it was bacon underneath. They said, 'This is great! It has a smoky taste and chewy texture, what is it?' ''
''Everything with bacon tastes better, and now we have dessert to prove it,'' Mueller said. ''It's great wrapped around anything from scallops, pineapple to jalapeno poppers. Bacon can be on salads, desserts, entrees and anything else you can come up with . . . what (other ingredient) can make that claim?'' he asked.
If you're not a fan of bacon, well, our apologies. You can scratch your head while you read this. If you are a fan, yet still cringe or shrug at the idea of bacon dessert, bear with us for a brief segue into flavor mapping.
Consider waffles. What goes with waffles? Maple syrup and bacon, of course. What's next to the bacon and the waffles? Try eggs. Add a glass of milk on the side. Sure, it sounds like breakfast, right? But what else can you create from the same ingredients and flavor pairings? Bacon-maple ice cream in a waffle cone (insert Homer Simpson drooling noises here).
In the words of flavor diva Karen Page, co-author of the newly published The Flavor Bible, with Andrew Dornenburg: ''It may seem odd for a meat to pair well with sweet flavors at first, but meats such as duck, venison and pork have long paired well with fruit,'' Page said.
Page's flavor map:
• Bacon plus pancakes equals bacon cupcakes, bacon cookies, bacon corn bread.
• Bacon plus waffles equals bacon souffles.
• Bacon plus French toast equals bacon custards, bacon bread pudding.
• Bacon and sweet is a flavor match Page has seen chefs embrace across the country.
''It's funny how chefs will get on a bandwagon and using bacon as an accent to desserts is definitely one,'' Page said.
Evidence of the national palate embrace of sweet, sweet bacon? Try bacon baklava at Louisville's Brown hotel. Or bacon and egg ice cream with pain perdu (caramelized French toast) at the Michelin three-star-rated Fat Duck restaurant near London. And in New York City, Page said, Gramercy Tavern serves a milk chocolate tart with creme fraiche and bacon. And the Dovetail Restaurant in New York? Brioche bread pudding with bananas and bacon brittle.
Some diners don a crazed look or mumble complete confusion when presented with the possibility of bacon sweets on a dessert menu. It does sound weird, we'll be the first to accept that, but there is a growing pile of evidence about flavor pairings that identify why smoky, sweet bacon goodness might seem so right.
Page explained, ''Do we love bacon and maple syrup because we grew up with it for so many years at breakfast that it's become a comfort pairing? Or is there something deeper at play?''
Indeed, the pairing of bacon and sweet could very well make sense because of their botanical relationships, Page said. ''When you think about maple syrup, it is the reduced sap of maple trees. Bacon is often smoked with wood from trees. So nature surely has something to do with it, too.''
Science aside, it's true that some pairings just don't seem to work for an American palate. Even the curious might cringe at the thought of bacon lemon bars or chugging down a bacon banana milkshake. Ewww.
Familiar flavors are much more acceptable.
''The key for coming up with bacon desserts, since there is not a large and/or long tradition of them, is to reference flavor pairings that are familiar to the diner,'' Page said. ''That involves deconstructing the familiar and then reconstructing flavors into the unfamiliar that manages to seem familiar.''
That means obvious comfort foods such as peanut-butter-bacon cookies or maple-bacon ice cream to Mueller. When creating his bacon treats, Mueller let his mind wander to the comfortable and familiar things already on the menu of his bistro, like creme brulee and bread pudding. The addition of bacon just seemed a natural for his house desserts. ''I just started with the thing that seemed to make sense,'' Mueller said. ''You can let your palate roam from there.''
Mueller has advice for the curious wanting to try bacon desserts at home. Start with bacon that is thick, very meaty, but lean. Pick a bacon that is smoky. Use bacon that is hickory smoked for rich desserts that seem a natural pairing with salty notes. For sweeter desserts, think maple flavoring.
Want to start easy? Consider the Southern treat Pig Candy. The recipe is very basic. Slice strips of bacon, roll in dark brown sugar (and use black pepper or cayenne to give it kick). Place the strips of bacon on a cookie rack placed on top of a deep pan to catch the drippings, and bake at 325 for 20 minutes or so, turning once to ensure even cooking. That's it. You have yourself a very basic bacon dessert.
Want to get deep with bacon sweet treats? Try these recipes from chef Mueller.
PRALINE OF BACON
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. butter, melted
1/8 tsp. red pepper
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 lb. cooked and diced bacon
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray sheet pan. In a mixing bowl, add the sugar, Worcestershire sauce, butter, red pepper and cinnamon. Whisk well.
Pour mixture on sheet pan, and toss cooked bacon in to evenly coat. Bake turning every 5 minutes for 20-25 minutes total.
LOVE ME TENDER PEANUT BUTTER, BACON & BANANA COOKIES
1/2 cup organic butter
1/2 cup organic peanut butter
1 whole organic egg
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. organic vanilla extract
11/4 cups organic flour
1/4 cup organic banana chips crushed
1/4 cup Praline of Bacon (see recipe above)
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, beat butter, peanut butter and egg with a mixer. Add sugar, brown sugar, baking powder and baking soda and vanilla. Mix until all is incorporated and continue to scrape sides.
Slowly, at a low speed, add flour until all is incorporated into dough. Finish your cookies with banana chips and bacon (really add as much or as little, even throw some chocolate chips in). Place in a bowl, covered, and chill so dough will be easier to work with.
Make 1-inch balls with dough or larger if desired. Place on a baking sheet with parchment paper 2 inches apart. Flatten with palm of your hand. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 7-9 minutes or until bottoms are browned.
Makes about 3 dozen.
CHOCOLATE COVERED RUM BACON
1/2 lb. natural thick cut, lean bacon
2 tbsp. organic maple syrup
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Gosling's Bermuda Black Rum (or your favorite rum)
4 oz. good quality dark chocolate
1 tbsp. toasted coconut (optional)
2 tbsp. chopped walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet pan with parchment paper, and then place strips of bacon on pan. Spread 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon maple syrup on each slice of bacon, rubbing it into the meat. Lightly dust bacon with cinnamon.
Bake at 400 degrees, watching bacon to make sure it does not burn. As soon as it starts taking on a crispy character, pull out of the oven, sprinkle with rum generously and turn pieces over and repeat with maple and cinnamon. Place back into oven and continue cooking until crispy and firm. Pull out of oven, and sprinkle with more rum.
Remove from pan and completely cool on a plate with a light spray of canola oil (Warning: Leaving it to cool in the pan may cause it to stick).
In a small pan on low, slowly melt chocolate stirring very sparingly or chocolate may seize up. Spread chocolate only on one side of bacon, covering completely.
Have fun and add coconut, walnuts, peanuts, potato chips or even banana chips. Make it your own.
MAPLE BOURBON WITH BACON PRALINE ICE CREAM
6 large egg yolks
1 cup maple syrup
2 tsp. organic flour
1 cup half-and-half
1 tsp. vanilla extract
11/2 cups cream
1 cup Praline of Bacon (see recipe)
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with the maple syrup, and flour. Set aside.
Bring half-and-half to a simmer in a heavy saucepan. Slowly beat the hot half-and-half into the eggs. Pour the entire amount back into a clean saucepan and place on low heat.
Stir with a wooden or rubber spatula until the custard thickens slightly. Remove from heat and pour through a strainer into a bowl. Allow custard to cool, and then stir in cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until cold.
Stir the chilled custard, and then freeze in your ice cream maker, following the manufacturer's directions.
Add Praline of Bacon when ice cream is semifrozen. Allow the machine to mix in bacon and continue until finished.
MAPLE-BACON BREAD PUDDING
2 cups milk
2 cups half-and-half
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup orange marmalade
3 egg yolks
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 whole eggs
8 cups bread, cubed
6 to 8 oz. cooked bacon
1 cup melted butter
1/2 cup organic maple syrup
3/4 cups walnuts
Preheat oven to 325 degrees, and spray a 9-inch square baking pan. Combine milk, half-and-half, brown sugar, marmalade, egg yolks, cinnamon and whole eggs. Whisk until blended and set aside.
Place cubed bread in a large bowl, and add cooked bacon, butter and maple syrup. Toss until evenly distributed then transfer to baking pan. Pour egg mixture over the top, not quite filling the pan, then stir.
Crumble 3/4 cup of walnuts over the top. Place a plate over cubes, and set aside for 20 minutes.
Wrap the baking pan with foil tightly. Poke 2 holes on opposite sides. Place on a pre-heated sheet pan.
Bake 1 hour 15 minutes, then uncover and continue another 15 minutes. Remove and cool on a wire rack.
Get the full article here.
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