bacon truffle report: preliminary

I'm behind schedule on this, but what's new, right?

About an hour ago, I used two slices of thick-cut bacon to determine whether they could be microwaved to appropriate crispiness. With standard-cut bacon, you normally need about a minute or so per slice to achieve desired crisposity; I rolled up two thick slices around a bamboo skewer and set the 'wave for 2:30. This proved inadequate: the bacon was done (and edible-- mmmm), but not nearly crispy enough. Later tonight, once I'm home from work, I'll try again, perhaps going for 3:30. I'm hoping that an extra minute of 'waving will be perfect and won't carbonize the pig. We'll see. If I succeed, the next step will be to let the bacon sit, then drench it in a maple/butter combination, then let it sit again before finally covering it in chocolate and perhaps adding some sort of topping.

Another thing I learned is that, while the bacon does shrink on the skewer and does retain its spiral shape (I had worried about sizzle-induced partial unspooling; my fears proved groundless), it ends up looking like a football-- a pigskin, if you will. This may actually be a good thing: from now on, I'll be slicing the cooked bacon in half (assuming crispy bacon can slice; I may need to slice earlier in the cooking process) in order to have truffles with the proper dimensions. Slicing will also serve to open the spirals by offering a cross-section view; the maple/butter mixture will have no trouble draining into that.

More later. Possibly with pictures.


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