5 Strips of Bacon Inspiration
No other type of meat inspires quite the same devotion as bacon. The aroma of frying strips of pork never fails to bring food-lovers running. And while there’s nothing wrong with just serving up a few pieces as a side dish, students in online culinary courses can also get a little more creative. Here are five ideas for dishes featuring bacon for you to try:
1. Assemble a delicious sandwich
Bacon is a surefire way to improve almost any sandwich. Food & Wine suggested combining time-tested flavors with a fried green tomato BLT. As you cook the bacon to a crisp, prepare separate bowls with flour, cornmeal and a mixture of egg and water. Dip tomato slices in flour, egg, and then the cornmeal, giving each an ample dusting.
Fry the tomatoes for about five minutes, and then put the sandwiches together. Spread mayonnaise on toast before adding the tomatoes and bacon. Top it off with a piece of arugula for a delicious and satisfying lunch.
2. Add flavor to salad
Salads become a lot more fun when you toss some bacon into the mix. Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food offered directions for a frisee salad topped by a bacon vinaigrette. Prepare the dressing by frying bacon and draining all but two tablespoons of fat from the pan. Deglaze the pan with white wine vinegar. Combine the resulting mixture with greens and bacon for a simple and irresistibly tasty salad.
3. Perfect your pizza
While not as common a choice as pepperoni or sausage, bacon is fantastic on homemade pizza. Popsugar provided a recipe with toppings that will perfectly complement the salty slices of pork. This pie also features mozzarella, blue cheese, onion and a tart apple like a Honeycrisp. Allow both the onions and apples to caramelize and you’ll have a truly exceptional assortment of flavors in every slice.
4. Step up your pasta
An otherwise average pasta dish becomes something special with a few strips of bacon. Real Simple advised making the pork a part of your sauce. Cook the bacon and then add onion, garlic, salt and pepper to the skillet. Cook this mixture for about six to eight minutes before throwing in tomatoes.
Throw in peas as well and cook for another few minutes. Then, the bacon-enhanced sauce will be set to top off your favorite noodles. Don’t forget to conserve some of the water you cooked the pasta in so it can help form a coating of sauce.
5. Make a fantastic soup
A bowl of soothing broth can also benefit from a salty, crispy addition, as Ree Drummond of “The Pioneer Woman” made clear with her bean and bacon soup. She recommended preparing in advance by soaking white beans overnight. Then, cook the beans in a pot of chicken stock. In the meantime, prepare bacon along with carrots, onions and celery. Add some garlic and tomato paste before mixing it all together. The beans will need to cook about an hour and a half to reach the proper tenderness.
Bacon enhances all kinds of dishes with its unmistakable flavor and texture. Anyone attending culinary academy will benefit from finding numerous ways to employ this beloved ingredient.
