I was thrilled to be invited to make the salad for Talk of the Town on Monday that I wrote about last week – Watermelon and Grilled Corn Salad. Everyone at the station is so incredibly friendly and it was no time at all before we were chatting about summer cooking, specifically ice cream. Of course I couldn’t resist mentioning my favorite newest creation.
We are ice cream pigs, almost to an embarrassing degree at my house, and constantly experiment with new versions. Some are a huge success and others, well when the bassets won’t even try it, it’s just not meant to be. (Rosemary really didn’t work.) Fortunately this is not the case with our newest family favorite – Salty Caramel with Jack Daniels and Sweet Bacon. I know it sounds completely weird, but somehow it works. What doesn’t work as well is the long name. I was calling it The Three B’s because it has 3 of my favorite ingredients, bacon, butter, and bourbon, but my husband pointed out that technically Jack Daniels is whiskey. Damn. Maybe just Caramel, Jack Daniels, and Bacon….I don’t know.
Here was the family response when I suggested my recipe idea for the first time:
Sammy, “Use something cheaper than Jack Daniels till you know if it works.”
Me, “No.” (Slightly bored tone used with husbands who know better than to tell wives what to do – particularly in the kitchen.)
Richard, “Have fun with that, I’m not trying it.”
Me, “We’ll see.” (Very sarcastic tone reserved for mothers who know they are right.)
So I sallied forth (love that term) with my idea.
First step was an easy caramel flavor made with butter, brown sugar and ½ & ½ . Egg yolks make the custard and viola – a simple ice cream base. While that cooled down, I coated bacon with brown sugar and baked it until it was crisp and caramelized. We do that all the time, it’s ridiculously yummy.
The ice cream base went into the ice cream maker, the bacon got crumbled into tiny pieces, the Jack Daniels was ready for a pour and I watched and waited! When it was almost frozen the bacon went in. A minute later a shot of JD followed. The ice cream was put in the freezer to set up, but not without a quick taste. It wasn’t just successful – such a boring word – it was Marvelous. Who ate it? Well not the bassets that for sure. My guys loved it and you will too. Plus it’s fun to say, who could ask for anything more?
Caramel Ice Cream with Bacon and Jack Daniels
Ingredients
½ stick (4 Tbsp) butter
1 ¼ cup brown sugar, reserve ¼ for bacon
3 cups ½ & ½
5 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
6 slices of bacon
1 generous Tbsp Jack Daniels
Directions
Melt butter in a medium sized saucepan.
Add brown sugar and stir to combine and slightly melt.
Add half of the cream, stir to combine and remove from heat.
In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks lightly.
Stir in a little of the warm cream mixture into the eggs.
Add egg mixture into the warm cream in the saucepan stirring constantly.
Put saucepan back on medium heat and cook, stirring constantly until custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon.
Add remaining cream, vanilla, and salt and place the custard in the refrigerator or freezer to cool down.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and add bacon.
Lightly pat remaining ¼ cup of brown sugar onto each bacon strip.
Bake for 8 minutes and turn each piece over. Bake an additional 6 minutes, checking to make sure it doesn’t burn.
Remove from oven and place bacon on a metal cooling rack if you have one or another piece of foil if you don’t!
When bacon is cool enough, crumble into little pieces.
When custard mix is cool enough, add it to an ice cream freezer and process according to manufacturer’s directions.
When the ice cream is processed add bacon and mix for a minute more.
Add Jack Daniels and mix for another minute.
Put ice cream in a container and see how long it takes to disappear!
