Bacon Confit
Preparation info
Difficulty
Medium
Makes about
2¼ pounds
Appears in
The Bacon Bible
By Peter Sherman and Stephanie Banyas
Published 2019
Think of this as a low-temperature deep-fry. Cooking meat, in this case bacon, slowly in its own fat (what the French call confit) may sound intimidating, but it is actually quite easy and much faster than the classic duck confit. The result is a slab of bacon that is fork-tender and slices of meat that literally melt in your mouth. In a subtle way, it is almost like BBQ, where low temperature is applied to thick, fatty meat for long periods of time to tenderize the meat and make it more palatable. Confited bacon produces two unbelievable products: the most tender fall-apart bacon you can imagine and bacon stock. Cut super thick as it must be, this bacon can be grilled as is, breaded for Kentucky Fried Bacon, or glazed in any number of ways for any number of cuisines. Use with caution; it is very addictive.
Ingredients
3 pounds 1.4 kg 4 cups 960 ml
Method
Carefully remove the bacon from the fat and let cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Wrap the bacon in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours. The fat and any pan drippings can be cooled to room temperature, covered and refrigerated, and used again. Bacon stock will pool at the bottom of the jar you stored the fat in. Bacon confit can be stored, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap then foil, for up to 1 week in the refrigerator.
© 2019 All rights reserved. Published by Abrams Books.