Bakin’ with Bacon and King Teddy

Hello Bacon Buddies!

Time for our weekly get together where I share some occasionally weird or strange bacon recipe (on the other hand it might be something terribly FABULOUS too) with all of you.    It’s up to you to see if it tickles your “bacon fancy” or not and this one could go either way.    It’s a rather unusual recipe but guess what – even though apparently this started out as a JOKE many years ago, it caught on eventually and is somewhat of a gourmet item now.    WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT???

Bacon Ice Cream that’s what!

Actually this recipe is for Maple Bacon Ice Cream which just happens to be even better than the original recipe.    This is kind of a complicated recipe I grant you AND it needs some special equipment like a candy thermometer and an ice cream maker but then again – both of those things are available at most stores for relatively cheap these days.    And WHO doesn’t love homemade ice cream of ANY kind????    So anyway, here’s the recipe in case you are UP FOR IT.

Ingredients

1 cup grade B maple syrup

4 cups half-and-half

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided

5 egg yolks

1/2 pound thick-cut bacon (about 6 slices)

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan over moderate heat, reduce the maple syrup to 1/2 cup. Set aside.
2. Over moderate heat in a medium saucepan, heat the half-and-half with 1/2 cup sugar until hot and just bubbling around the edges.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the yolks with 1/2 cup sugar, then add 1 cup hot half-and-half mixture in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Pour the whole egg mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture coats the back of the spoon and registers 170 degrees F on a thermometer. Do not let boil. Pour the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a medium bowl and whisk in the maple syrup. Cover with parchment paper letting the paper touch the surface of the mixture, to prevent a skin from forming. Chill the mixture until very cold, at least 6 hours and up to overnight.
4. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
5. Cook the bacon – bake in oven OR fry in fry pan – whatever you want – just make sure it’s crispy, let it cool, then finely chop.
6. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside. Place the remaining 1/2 cup sugar in the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring with a fork, until the sugar starts to melt. Stop stirring and cook until the sugar is a golden caramel color, about 10 minutes. Add the bacon and stir to coat. Pour onto prepared baking sheet and let harden. Chop the candied bacon into small pieces.
7. Freeze the custard in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions, 20 to 30 minutes and at the last minute, add the candied bacon and let churn until just combined. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze.
8. BYOC: Try adding some cayenne pepper to your chopped bacon before you stir it into the melted sugar.
9. Special equipment: candy thermometer, ice cream maker.

 

I have to tell you that there are a lot of recipes out there for bacon ice cream (believe it or not) and some of them are less complicated than this one but this is the one we tried (that’s the ROYAL WE).    It was delicious but then we are fans of anything bacon around here.

There’s no denying it!   It’s true!

Bon Appetit!    Your King…………………….