Bacon Pie!

[asciikitty]

So this started as an idea from the D&D table, which should give you some idea of the frame of mind. My darling husband says "sweetie! bacon Pie!" and we were off and running.

We made two - one was bacon apple brie, and one was bacon sweet potato goat cheese.

oh ghod.

So. To start, one needs way too much bacon. Two 12 oz packages. I cooked one package, and the other we saved for the top of the pies. While the bacon cooked, I cut up and boiled two biggish sweet potatoes, and cut up three medium braeburn apples. And we cut up a biggish hunk of brie, removing the white bits. And my partner in food crimes ("G") made a really good pie crust, using Earth Balance shortening.

Ok, so that was the prep. We rolled out the pie crust and patted it into two nine inch pie plates (maybe eight inch? I feel like they're nine inch) and waited for the bacon to be done. And waited. We ate some crackers, and nibbled at the apples, and drank some coffee. And waited.

Played a little scrabble. Waited. Drained and mashed the sweet potatoes, and thought about adding things. Ended up adding about a teaspoon of mixed nutmeg and brown sugar, left over from the cookies one makes out of leftover pie crust.

Bacon is mostly done! I layered about half the cooked bacon into the bottom of each pie. I layered all the mashed sweet potatoes into my pie, and G layered most of the sliced apples into hers. I topped the sweet potatoes with a small log of goat cheese, crumbled. She put in a layer of brie, and then another small layer of apples. Then, more bacon! I just sort of wound mine around into a circle, but G created a bacon lattice, as if from pie crust. They were very pretty pies.

We baked them at 400 degrees F for around an hour, adding a tablespoon of so maple syrup to the top five minutes before cooking time was up.

Some failures? It turns out that the flour that you put into apple pie is REALLY important, and prevents the pie from being too juicy to hold together.  And the bacon fat that cooked out of the bacon on top sort of... deep fried the pie crust. And of course, bacon shrinks a lot when it's cooked, so they weren't as pretty when they were done.

Next time, we're thinking that the sweet potato one needs less bacon, maybe none at all. And the apple and cheese one... Perhaps Canadian bacon on the bottom, and some sort of clever thickener in the apples (or maybe cook them a bit first?) and then cheddar cheese rather than brie. When our arteries unclog, we'll try this experiment again.

(My husband will eat anything. It's kind of useful)

[txanne]

I love you.

_{has anyone alerted Scalzi?}

[asciikitty]

I have not yet alerted Scalzi.

We need to refine this. And our goal was to avoid quiche. So we didn't want egg as a filling, and we wanted to be careful about what kinds of cheese. I think that brie doesn't work with bacon as well as we wanted it to.

[txanne]

I wonder what havarti would do. Horseradish and bacon are gorgeous, FWIW.

We don't need to alert Scalzi ourselves. His name has been spoken three times now, so he should be appearing soon.

[MadGastronomer]

Did you par-bake your pie crusts?  I recommend that for starters.
Also, you definitely want flour or cornstarch as a thickener with the apples.  And I suggest that you chop up the bacon and mix it into the filling, if you're determined to have it in the filling.  Other bacon-apple pie recipes I've seen have the bacon just on top as a lattice.  And any bacon that goes in the filling should be fully cooked to ensure that the maximum amount of fat has rendered out, as opposed to the bacon on top, which should be parcooked.
How did you cook the bacon?

[asciikitty]

Did you par-bake your pie crusts?  I recommend that for starters.
Also, you definitely want flour or cornstarch as a thickener with the apples.  And I suggest that you chop up the bacon and mix it into the filling, if you're determined to have it in the filling.  Other bacon-apple pie recipes I've seen have the bacon just on top as a lattice.  And any bacon that goes in the filling should be fully cooked to ensure that the maximum amount of fat has rendered out, as opposed to the bacon on top, which should be parcooked.
How did you cook the bacon?

Oh, that was the other thing. par-baking. How does one par-baked? Oh! Partially bake? is that what that is?

Tom was really determined to have layers. I'm less convinced, and I really think that he's right, and that the internal bacon needs to be Canadian Bacon. Because otherwise there's too much fat and not enough... bacon.

Um. the cooked bacon, I cooked in a pan on the stove. Which I am admittedly notoriously bad at. I get impatient, and turn the heat up, and then it burns. And this time I didn't, but it did involve a LOT of waiting for the bacon to be cooked. The other bacon, I think it wanted to be cooked a little too. Par-cooked, it means cooked a bit beforehand? How would you do that?

But man, as much as the pies were sort of deep-fried in their own juices, they were GOOD.

[MadGastronomer]

Oh, that was the other thing. par-baking. How does one par-baked? Oh! Partially bake? is that what that is?

Yes, precisely.  Bake it at a lower temperature (300F or so) until it's set firm but shows no browning (maybe 10 or 15 minutes, but maybe longer; sorry, don't have by favorite baking book handy).  Make sure you dock (poke holes in) the crust on the bottom so it doesn't get air bubbles.  Setting a second pie plate on top of it can also help with this.

Tom was really determined to have layers. I'm less convinced, and I really think that he's right, and that the internal bacon needs to be Canadian Bacon. Because otherwise there's too much fat and not enough... bacon.

Why layers?  But yeah, if he's determined, then go with Canadian bacon.

Um. the cooked bacon, I cooked in a pan on the stove. Which I am admittedly notoriously bad at. I get impatient, and turn the heat up, and then it burns. And this time I didn't, but it did involve a LOT of waiting for the bacon to be cooked. The other bacon, I think it wanted to be cooked a little too. Par-cooked, it means cooked a bit beforehand? How would you do that?

Yes, "par" means "partially".
I suggest cooking your bacon in the oven.  You can get more of it done at a time, the results are more consistent, and if you use a broiling pan or a rack, so that the bacon is up off the surface of the pan, then the grease can drain.  Bake at 400, anywhere from 12 to 25 minutes, depending on how thick it is and how crispy you want it.  For parcooking, just cook it long enough that some of the fat renders out, and the lean part gets rather pink.

[kayjayoh]

_{has anyone alerted Scalzi?}

I think Scalzi is tiring of the constant bacon heads-ups on the internet. You tape bacon to your cat once and post it on the net, and from then on, you are bacon man.

[MadGastronomer]

Bacon Man?

[VCorvidae]

Bacon Man?

WHERE did you find that?!?

Hubby needs a Mssr. Tofu for his desk at work.

[MadGastronomer]

WHERE did you find that?!?

Hubby needs a Mssr. Tofu for his desk at work.

Archie McPhee, of course!
I have a set of my own.

[VCorvidae]

WHERE did you find that?!?

Hubby needs a Mssr. Tofu for his desk at work.

Archie McPhee, of course!
I have a set of my own.

Thank you!!!

[Elizabeth Bear]

Tofu's pretty good if you fry it in bacon grease.

[glinda_w]

Tofu's pretty good if you fry it in bacon grease.

*peals of laughter*

[jeffy]

Has everyone here seen this totally awesome felted Bacon Scarf?