Have you ever been to a dinner where the pork roast was bundled into woven bacon? The visual impact alone is amazing (not to mention the amazing aroma). Once you learn how to make a bacon weave you can use creatively it in all kinds of recipes. Cover your next meatloaf, sausage, corn on the cob, or hamburgers with strips of bacon. The addition of fat improves the flavor profile of any dish.
What exactly is a bacon weave? It’s just like it sounds, a latticework of your favorite bacon. The weave goes onto your food before cooking, maintaining tenderness. You can also cook it up by itself and use the resulting weave as a serving platter.
Bacon Weaving 101
Have you ever been to a dinner where the pork roast was bundled into woven bacon? The visual impact alone is amazing (not to mention the amazing aroma). Once you learn how to make a bacon weave you can use creatively it in all kinds of recipes. Cover your next meatloaf, sausage, corn on the cob, or hamburgers with strips of bacon. The addition of fat improves the flavor profile of any dish. What exactly is a bacon weave? It’s just like it sounds, a latticework of your favorite bacon. The weave goes onto your food before cooking, maintaining tenderness. You can also cook it up by itself and use the resulting weave as a serving platter.
Ingredients
- 16 slices bacon (the meatier the better )
- parchment paper
Instructions
- Keep the bacon in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it.
- Put the parchment paper onto a cooking tray.
- Lay 8 slices of bacon next to each other on the paper (fatty side going in the same direction) At this point, the length and width of the bacon looks roughly even.
- Fold ¼” of every OTHER bacon strip upward.
- Lay one of the other 8 strips perpendicular across the folds.
- Unfold the original ¼”, then turn the other 4 strips upward in the same way.
- Put down the 2nd piece of the remaining bacon in place.
- Repeat until you’ve used all your bacon.
- Wrap the weave around your chosen food, using toothpicks to keep it firmly in place.
- If you’re planning to use the weave as a tray, cook it for 15 minutes at 400 degrees F, until the meat tightens and looks crispy brown. Pat the oil off the square.
- Otherwise, follow the cooking directions for whatever meal you’re putting together. If you want the bacon crisper, turn up the oven for a few minutes and watch it carefully.
Notes
Tip: Match the flavor of your bacon to whatever you’re cooking. For example, applewood is great for pork.
To boost flavor, sprinkle some suitable seasonings on the weave before you secure it to your meat (or whatever).