Ok, so I've been making my own bacon on and off for a few years now. Easier said than done in an apartment in Japan, but I've got some pink salt cure, followed a couple of basic "dry" ziploc cure recipes, and used locally available "smoke wood" sawdust blocks for cold smoking in my ECB.
But I've just gotten into the whole bacon candy thing. If you're not familiar with it, the recipes I've found have involved a pound or so of bacon, a quarter cup of brown sugar, some spices, and an oven at 350-400 (depending on the recipe) for 25-40 minutes (again, depending on who's talking).
Now, I don't want to offend anyone, so I'm leaving the links off, but I'm on my fifth batch of candied bacon, and while I'm getting better at hitting the sweet spot for caramelization, the one thing I've noticed consistently is that the spice flavor, except for the very hottest (habenero) peppers, has just disappeared in the oven. The original recipe I used called for (IIRC) cayenne, cinammon, and ginger, and I used it with a bacon that was cured with Chinese five spice. The second one was Sriracha, on a Sriracha-cured bacon, the third was Chinese five spice on a five spice cured bacon, the fourth was curry powder (a lot of it) and habenero on the five spice bacon, and I missed one in there somewhere, but the common thing is that when it comes out of the oven and cools all crispy and crunchy, the spice flavor, except for the heat, is gone.
Any suggestions?
But I've just gotten into the whole bacon candy thing. If you're not familiar with it, the recipes I've found have involved a pound or so of bacon, a quarter cup of brown sugar, some spices, and an oven at 350-400 (depending on the recipe) for 25-40 minutes (again, depending on who's talking).
Now, I don't want to offend anyone, so I'm leaving the links off, but I'm on my fifth batch of candied bacon, and while I'm getting better at hitting the sweet spot for caramelization, the one thing I've noticed consistently is that the spice flavor, except for the very hottest (habenero) peppers, has just disappeared in the oven. The original recipe I used called for (IIRC) cayenne, cinammon, and ginger, and I used it with a bacon that was cured with Chinese five spice. The second one was Sriracha, on a Sriracha-cured bacon, the third was Chinese five spice on a five spice cured bacon, the fourth was curry powder (a lot of it) and habenero on the five spice bacon, and I missed one in there somewhere, but the common thing is that when it comes out of the oven and cools all crispy and crunchy, the spice flavor, except for the heat, is gone.
Any suggestions?
