What's better than bacon? Bacon that's been kissed with sweet, sweet maple syrup. It's salty, sweet, satisfying and goes with just about everything.
How do you make maple bacon? We asked Reynold Poernomo (from MasterChef 2015), head chef at KOI, a dessert bar in Sydney.
First off, get some bacon. But not ordinary bacon.
"Grab a nice piece of bacon -- I wouldn't go for the typical rasher bacon as it has a bit too much water content," Poernomo told HuffPost Australia.
"Let's say speck, thinly sliced. It's a bit more firm and, of course, much tastier."
Then it's time to coat the bacon in the maple syrup mixture.
"Next I'd go for a 70:30 mix of maple syrup (get the 100 percent pure) to brown sugar, and then go for a nice brush onto the speck," Poernomo said.
"Bake it at 170°C for 10-15 minutes or until caramelly, and you'll be set. Crispy, nutty and tasty."
Now that you've got your succulent maple bacon, here are five ways to use it (apart from eating it as is, obviously).
1. Make a maple bacon and cheese toasted sanga
Just like you would with ham, put that maple bacon right into your next toasted sanga. To make this extra fancy and tasty, use cinnamon bread as the base and sprinkle on some candied pecans. The crunch makes all the difference.
Try Foodie Crush's recipe for brown sugar pecans and sweet bacon with Havarti grilled cheese.
2. Whip up cheesy bacon guacamole
Take your nachos up a notch by sprinkling crispy maple bacon on top of your guac. The salty-sweetness and crunch adds depth and texture to plain guac, and the cheese... well, because cheese.
Try How Sweet Eat's recipe for cheesy bacon guacamole.
3. Stir it through mac and cheese
The next time you're making a bowl of mac and cheese, do yourself a favour and mix through maple bacon bits. And add more on top. It cuts through the creaminess and imparts its salty-yet-sweet flavour.
Try The Cooking Jar's recipe for bacon jalapeno mac and cheese.
4. Make mini maple bacon doughnuts
Yes, bacon and desserts go well together. Swimmingly, in fact. These fluffy doughnuts are covered in a maple, bacon and vanilla glaze and topped with crispy bacon crumbs.
Here's the recipe from How Sweet Eats.
5. Use it on pizza with blue cheese and apple
You know how well cheese and fruit go together? Well, imagine that on hot carbs, with crispy maple bacon bits. It's a marvellous creation.
Try Foodie Crush's recipe for maple apples, blue cheese and bacon pizza.
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