Chicken Fried Bacon Drizzled with a Rich Caramel Sauce


Chicken Fried Bacon
Ingredients:
6 cups flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 quart buttermilk
2 pounds bacon
Vegetable or canola oil for frying
Caramel dipping sauce, optional
Creamy ranch dipping sauce, optional

  1. Directions:

  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Place half of this mixture in a large, flat baking dish.

  3. Pour half of the buttermilk in a separate large baking dish.

  4. Dip each bacon strip first in the buttermilk, then in the seasoned flour. Set the bacon aside on a rack for a few minutes to allow the flour to absorb some of the buttermilk to form a good coating. For an extra crispy coating, dredge the bacon once more in just the flour mixture.
  5. Heat a good inch of vegetable oil in a large frying pan (or in a deep fryer) until a thermometer inserted reads 350 degrees.

  6. Fry the bacon, a few strips at a time (you don't want to crowd the pan or fryer), until the strips are golden brown on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Drain the bacon on a rack. Continue until all of the bacon is fried.

  7. Serve the bacon warm (allow to cool for a few minutes) with a drizzling of the caramel sauce or with the cold dipping sauce.

Caramel Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

1 cup  of sugar
6 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:

First, before you begin, make sure you have everything ready to go - the cream and the butter next to the pan, ready to put in. Making caramel is a fast process that cannot wait for hunting around for ingredients. If you don't work fast, the sugar will burn. Safety first - make sure there are no children under foot and you may want to wear oven mitts; the caramelized sugar will be much hotter than boiling water.

Heat sugar on moderately high heat in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart or 3-quart saucepan. As the sugar begins to melt, stir vigorously with a whisk or wooden spoon. As soon as the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring. You can swirl the pan a bit if you want, from this point on. Note that this recipe works best if you are using a thick-bottomed pan. If you find that you end up burning some of the sugar before the rest of it is melted, the next time you attempt it, add a half cup of water to the sugar at the beginning of the process, this will help the sugar to cook more evenly, though it will take longer as the water will need to evaporate before the sugar will caramelize.


As soon as all of the sugar crystals have melted (the liquid sugar should be dark amber in color), immediately add the butter to the pan. Whisk until the butter has melted.
Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat. Count to three, then slowly add the cream to the pan and continue to whisk to incorporate. Note than when you add the butter and the cream, the mixture will foam up considerably. This is why you must use a pan that is at least 2-quarts (preferably 3-quarts) big.

Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then pour into a glass mason jar and let sit to cool to room temperature. (Remember to use pot holders when handling the jar filled with hot caramel sauce.) Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Warm before serving.


Ranch Dipping Sauce
Ingredients:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
16 ounces sour cream
8 ounces mayonnaise
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/4 cup minced red onion
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon chopped chives
2 tablespoons chopped dill
2 tablespoons chopped tarragon
Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated or chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper
Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions:
In a large bowl, whisk together the cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise until very smooth. Whisk in the garlic, onion, parsley, chives, dill, tarragon, lemon zest, vinegar, salt and chipotle pepper. Season to taste with additional salt, vinegar and black pepper. Cover and chill until needed. The dip tastes best if the flavors are allowed to develop 2 to 3 hours before serving, and will keep for up to 3 days, refrigerated.
Recipe shared from: www.latimesblogs.latimes.com