Pig Candy
- Thread starter Chris Allingham
- Start date
Steve_A (Tatoosh)
TVWBB Super Fan
This is a very old topic about a wonderful little taste treat. I made mine in the oven because I can control things a bit better there.
1. I use my own thick cut smoked bacon usually - my wife prefers thin cut bacon so sometimes I use my smoked bacon but slice it thin for her.
2. I mix dark brown sugar, cayenne, and pepper together. If I could get it easier, I'd try Tepin Chili powder which is not as hot as cayenne but still hot and more interesting to my taste buds.
3. I use a "jelly roll pan" with a cooling rack in it. Jelly roll pans are your basic 12 x 17 (or so) cooking sheet but with slightly higher sides, handy for dealing with the grease. Great for lots of other stuff too - see my "melty cheese slices" post in misc recipes. Just make sure they will fit your oven before buying!
4. I coat both sides of the bacon, the bottom lightly, the top fairly heavily. Grease drips down off the cooling rack into the pan. Works really well.
5. I cook at 400F or so. Since my oven is an European import (as most all ovens in the Philippines are) that uses propane, I only have gas marks but its pretty toasty in there. Well above the 225F the original poster describes.
Amounts are by eye and sometimes I'll end up mixing the "candy dust" a couple of times to get the right amount as I go. Making a rough guess I'd say I start with 1/4 cup of brown sugar or tad more, 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper and close to that of fresh ground black pepper. You can dial the cayenne down if you are not into it, to be sure.
Stay away from using Muscovado Sugar, as I learned the hard way. It contains so much molasses and other material since it is fairly unprocessed, that it burns in the oven very easy. Did I say very? I meant very, very, very easy! And is mess to clean up. Light or Dark Brown sugar should do nicely. I rub it into the bacon with the back of a spoon and then ladle a little extra onto the top side.
Last hint: I almost forgot to mention I "jaccard" the bacon prior to coating and cooking. "Jaccard?" you ask, "Whaz that?" While there are some wonderful little gadgets to do it, I use a kitchen fork. Prick the bacon all over to break the long strands of protein and it really helps keep the bacon from curling. I probably go a bit overboard and prick the dickens out of both sides. I'm retired, time is not a big factor to me. The flatter the bacon cooks, the more of the sugar that stays on. Nice to do for any bacon but it really is worth taking the time to do with pig candy.
Oink Oink!
Next time I will try Bryan S's recipe that backs the cayenne way down and adds cinnamon. That sounds really good!
1. I use my own thick cut smoked bacon usually - my wife prefers thin cut bacon so sometimes I use my smoked bacon but slice it thin for her.
2. I mix dark brown sugar, cayenne, and pepper together. If I could get it easier, I'd try Tepin Chili powder which is not as hot as cayenne but still hot and more interesting to my taste buds.
3. I use a "jelly roll pan" with a cooling rack in it. Jelly roll pans are your basic 12 x 17 (or so) cooking sheet but with slightly higher sides, handy for dealing with the grease. Great for lots of other stuff too - see my "melty cheese slices" post in misc recipes. Just make sure they will fit your oven before buying!
4. I coat both sides of the bacon, the bottom lightly, the top fairly heavily. Grease drips down off the cooling rack into the pan. Works really well.
5. I cook at 400F or so. Since my oven is an European import (as most all ovens in the Philippines are) that uses propane, I only have gas marks but its pretty toasty in there. Well above the 225F the original poster describes.
Amounts are by eye and sometimes I'll end up mixing the "candy dust" a couple of times to get the right amount as I go. Making a rough guess I'd say I start with 1/4 cup of brown sugar or tad more, 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper and close to that of fresh ground black pepper. You can dial the cayenne down if you are not into it, to be sure.
Stay away from using Muscovado Sugar, as I learned the hard way. It contains so much molasses and other material since it is fairly unprocessed, that it burns in the oven very easy. Did I say very? I meant very, very, very easy! And is mess to clean up. Light or Dark Brown sugar should do nicely. I rub it into the bacon with the back of a spoon and then ladle a little extra onto the top side.
Last hint: I almost forgot to mention I "jaccard" the bacon prior to coating and cooking. "Jaccard?" you ask, "Whaz that?" While there are some wonderful little gadgets to do it, I use a kitchen fork. Prick the bacon all over to break the long strands of protein and it really helps keep the bacon from curling. I probably go a bit overboard and prick the dickens out of both sides. I'm retired, time is not a big factor to me. The flatter the bacon cooks, the more of the sugar that stays on. Nice to do for any bacon but it really is worth taking the time to do with pig candy.
Oink Oink! Next time I will try Bryan S's recipe that backs the cayenne way down and adds cinnamon. That sounds really good!
Last edited:
Steve_A (Tatoosh)
TVWBB Super Fan
We did a second batch with Bryan S's recipe for the mix. Wonderful stuff! I love the touch of cinnamon, and I will adjust my cayenne down a bit, closer to his amount. I did some on my standard honey cured, hickory smoked bacon and a bit on some honey cured, pepper bacon. Both were good and my wife declared we'd be serving this next weekend when some of her friends and classmates come over. Lucky for me, I have six kilos of bacon due to smoke tomorrow or Wednesday.