Cook the Book: Apple (or Pear) Bacon Crisp
A few weeks back, I had a big dinner party at my house. The main attraction was a braised pork shoulder that had been brined and slow-roasted with a salt and sugar sugar crust, and dessert was a peach pie. It was sometime during dessert that my guests and I came to realize that crispy pork and dessert are not mutually exclusive.
Crisp salty pork plus sweet cinnamon and nutmeg scented pie? It has to be one of the best combinations ever. It's not really all that different than eating a plate of maple syrup-doused pancakes or waffles with sausage or bacon, but putting it together after dinner makes it seem positively decadent.
Ari Weinzweig is really onto something with this recipe for Apple (or Pear) Bacon Crisp from Zingerman's Guide to Better Bacon. It's a sweet and salty match made in heaven with extra points for caramelized bacony goodness. The last step recommends serving it with ice cream or gelato, and I concur. This crisp is dying to be paired with a scoop of salted caramel or dulce de leche flavored something.
Win 'Zingerman's Guide to Better Bacon'
As always with our Cook the Book feature, we have five (5) copies of Zingerman's Guide to Better Bacon to give away this week. Enter to win here »
Apple (or Pear) Bacon Crisp
- serves 6 to 8 -
Adapted from Zingerman's Guide to Better Bacon by Ari Weinzweig.
Ingredients
3/4 cup golden raisins
3 tablespoons boubon
6 ounces sliced Arkansas peppered or long pepper bacon (about 3 to 4 slices), diced
3/4 cup Muscovado (or any other natural dark) brown sugar
9 to 12 ripe apples or pears (about 2 1/2 pounds)
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter
For the streusel:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup Muscovado (or any other natural dark) brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Procedure
1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Pour the bourbon over the raisins, mix well and set aside to soak for a minimum of 15 minutes, on up to a couple of hours (longer is better in my taste, but if you forget to do it ahead the shorter time will work just fine).
3. Dredge the bacon in 3/4 cup of brown sugar and lay on a foil-lined baking sheet with a lip. Sprinkle any of the remaining brown sugar over the top. Bake for 20 minutes or until very dark brown, crisp and caramelized. Carefully remove from oven and allow to cool.
4. While bacon is cooking, slice the fruit (skin on) directly into a 9-inch round pan. After you've covered the bottom of the pan, sprinkle on some of the raisins, then add a bit of the bourbon and cinnamon. Add another layer of fruit, then the remaining raisins and cinnamon. Sprinkle the balance of the bourbon over the top and dot with the butter. (The sliced fruit may pile up over the lip of the pan, but it will settle while baking.) Sprinkle the candied bacon slices over the top.
5. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F.
6. Make the streusel by combining the butter, flour, salt, and sugars in a mixer or food processor. The mixture should be crumbly and somewhat dry. Sprinkle over the top of the apple mixture in the pan and pat down lightly. Go around the edges, pressing the streusel into the fruit to seal.
7. Place the dish in the oven uncovered and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the juices are bubbling up around the edges and the streusel is nicely browned. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes.
8. Serve warm, with optional ice cream or gelato.
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
6 Comments:
Is that really 1/4 cup salt for the streusel topping? Just checking -- seems excessive.
gbania at 2:00PM on 09/14/09
OOOh! You had me at bacon!! Sweet pears, butter, sugar and bacon then you talkin about some ice cream on top. Id be scared to get some on my face because my tongue might slap my brains out. Simple and sweet can't be beat. Nice recipe.
flavorkings at 4:10PM on 09/14/09
@gbania: Good catch, it's 1/4 teaspoon. Excessive indeed!
Caroline Russock at 4:21PM on 09/14/09
I've ordered this at Zingerman's Roadhouse in Ann Arbor. This was the only dish in the entire fantastic meal that didn't quite work. The main problem was that the bacon was thick, chewy, and in large (1") chunks; the textural difference with the rest of the dish was too great to overlook. I think if the bacon is cooked a little less chewy (or alternatively, more crispy) and diced finer, it would be pretty darned good.
DuncanHusky at 8:34AM on 09/15/09
I made this last night with local apples and my homemade bacon. It was amazing. It lasted less than an hour at the office. If you think this sounds good, make it. It rocks.
NCGourmet at 9:50AM on 09/15/09
I made this last night and I have a few complaints. 3/4 cups of dark brown sugar is way too much for that amount of bacon. I used less than 1/2 cup and most of it ended up as caramel on my silpat. The candied bacon turned out great, but baking it again along with all the apples made it tough. Also, not peeling the apples resulted in strings of skin throughout the dish.
A fun idea, but next time I'm going to have candied bacon on the side of the apple crisp.
LiveToEat at 11:54AM on 09/22/09