Bacon toffee
That, my friends, is bacon toffee. It’s the third batch I’ve made in a week. All three batches are gone.
I’m not really sure how to make it sound more appealing than that – the speed with which it disappears should be all the advertisement it needs. The novelty value of the concept gets the first piece in people’s mouths, but the balance and complexity keep you eating. It’s got salt and sweetness, smoke and caramel, and this intriguing combination of crisp and chewy – try finding this sort of bacon chewiness in another dessert.
I first saw this on An Obsession With Food, a spare and lovely blog which you should read if you like wine, and especially if you like Riesling. Derrick has extensive commentary on the variations and versions he tried – essentially concluding that the original recipe, posted here, was the most successful. He was going for complexity and earthiness with molasses and brown sugar, and wound up instead with several batches of a too-homogenous candy. I might take it in a different direction, drizzling really dark, almost burnt caramel into it instead of molasses – the crisp, burnt notes might give it the additional depth while remaining distinct from the bacon.
The ingenious bacon-toffee mounting system in the photo, by the way, was Derrick’s idea.
This is probably the simplest candy recipe I’ve ever seen.
1. Line a baking tray with a silpat, or oil it very well.
2. Crisp 5 pieces of bacon in a skillet or a broiler and drain on paper towels. Break or chop them into 1/4” bits and set aside. Don’t go too small, because you want them to have personality in your mouth. Use a smoky bacon, ideally lightly cured. Mine had Niman Ranch bacon in it.
3. Place in a heavy saucepan, in this order: 1/4 cup (63g) water, 1 stick (115g) butter, a large pinch of salt, and 1 cup (200g) sugar.
4. Over medium-high heat, cook till the mixture reaches 285F, stirring often. In practice, this means that you cook it until it’s a good toffee colour, about the same colour as the old tan m&ms. I’m not kidding about the stirring, though.
5. Pull it off heat, mix in the bacon bits, and pour onto the baking sheet. Spread quickly to about 1/4” thick, and let cool for 2 hours.
6. Using a hammer or the handle of a large knife, break the toffee into shards. This is best accomplished by whacking it through a folded paper towel.
22 comments so far
"Bacon toffee" was written on 15 Mar 2007 and filed in General, Techniques / Recipes, Modern Man
I worship at the alter of your bacon toffee. I love bacon!!!! Vosges Haut-Chocolat (www.vosgeschocolate.com) has a bacon chocolate truffle.
16 Mar 2007 @ 0100
And isn’t it just amazingly good?
I should note that Melissa actually came up with the toffee-in-butter idea, which made for a very nice photo.
16 Mar 2007 @ 1213
Crikey. I know what Loki will be doing this weekend…. What can be better than sugar and pig fat?
21 Mar 2007 @ 2102
[…] I am a bit peeved at the fellow behind Off the Bone, because up until about a week ago, he lived just a few blocks away from me, and now he does not. I had to go help kick him out of Brooklyn last Saturday so he could move back to Boston to rejoin his wife, who spent the past year in Siberia. I can’t fault his priorities, but I do miss him a lot. After all, who else would invite me over to eat spare homemade Bacon Toffee? Who else would give me the cookie dough from out his freezer when he realized it would never survive the long trip to Boston? I think the moral of this story is that I need more friends who live within a 10 block radius of my apartment. That, and bacon toffee is really remarkably delicious. It has salt, it has sugar, it has umami - what’s not to like? […]
08 Apr 2007 @ 0812
I just made some of my own bacon and it will DEFINITELY be made into this!
09 Apr 2007 @ 1353
bacon+butter+sugar= something i could fall in love with
06 May 2007 @ 0736
[…] Also welcome to the world of bacon toffee. Mmm, I like my pig fat nice and sweet. Really. […]
21 May 2007 @ 0058
hello, i found you thru jumbo empanadas. you are a genius! i can’t wait to make these.
11 Jun 2007 @ 1723
[…] Courtesy of Off The Bone. June 17, 2007 | | Recipies | by admin. Comments […]
17 Jun 2007 @ 1242
Holy gods.
I’ve got this… ok, it’s an obsession… with using bacon in sweets, or in place of butter, and so on. I’ve been working on bacon ice cream, and almost killed myself with glee making bacon brittle for Xmas presents, and am definitely gonna try the toffee recipe.
But… bacon and chocolate. I’m afraid to try that. My husband might never see me again. Maybe I should go the safer route and go straight to heroin. I’ve gotta order some. And before it gets here, *make* some… oh man, I had a thought: bacon pecan fudge?!?
05 Jul 2007 @ 1801
yes, beautiful!!! the very idea gives me goosebumps… yesterday I found the vosges chocolate bar with bacon which was surprisingly subtle. The pieces of bacon are tiny and crunchy so the texture of the candybar is similar to a crunch bar, but chewy too and salty… but this toffee I’ve got to try
11 Jul 2007 @ 1525
Steamy Kitchen just commented about this recipe on our Dark Chocolate Sorbet Bacon Crunch post. I’m totally into bacon desserts. I need to try bacon toffee.
07 Nov 2007 @ 1151
[…] Tonight I’m going to use more blood oranges for a tart for the s c a g s. And maybe try a half-recipe of this (don’t have much bacon in the fridge). […]
02 Feb 2008 @ 1204
But… bacon and chocolate. I’m afraid to try that.
Vosges makes an awesome bacon chocolate bar.
it’s fantastic.
13 Feb 2008 @ 2144
I think you just added an activity to my weekend plans. . . .
22 Feb 2008 @ 1150
Try bacon toffee with smoked paprika or with szechuan peppercorns. I have been making bacon toffee for 15 years now and I never get tired of it. And lately I love it love it with piment d’esplette.
05 Apr 2008 @ 1355
How long do you have to cook it to get it to turn tan? I don’t have a thermometer, but I have it on med/high and it bubbles like mad but doesn’t change from the color of melted butter. The ingredient amounts are correct above, right?
Thanks
23 Jun 2008 @ 1634
Matt - that’s odd. I use this set of ingredient quantities every time, and have not had problems. It will bubble like mad before turning tan, though, so maybe you just need to cook it longer.
25 Jun 2008 @ 1602
I figured out that I didn’t cook it long enough. I was on an electric stove, also, and I turned up the heat a little higher. It really requires a lot of stirring while it’s bubbling.
29 Jun 2008 @ 1603
How long will this keep? I want to send some to family and friends for the holidays - and keep a bit for myself.
09 Dec 2008 @ 2204
Jenna - it keeps pretty well. Certainly if you send it priority mail it should arrive in fine shape. For best results, make it on a dry day rather than a humid one.
11 Dec 2008 @ 1734
Could it be brown sugar, or pure cane sugar, or does it have to be regular old white sugar?
05 May 2009 @ 1932