The EGGDAY

View Original

Chicken Bacon-No Seriously

Chicken Bacon
Q: What do you get if you take the skin off of some chicken thighs, season it heavily, sprinkle salt liberally, bake it between two sheets of parchment that is weighted down, blot it and brush something sweet over it?

A: Chicken Bacon

Not really bacon and certainly up there in the category of things not to each too much of this stuff is addicting. That is it's addicting until the fear of having a heart attack makes you back away.

It's crispy, sweet and salty. It's stuff food porn is made of.

I put this is the same realm as Bacon Marmalade. Which I made and thought it was delicious enough, but it didn't want me to give up crispy bacon or fruit marmalade.

Chicken Bacon won't supplant pig bacon in my book, but it's a fun use of chicken skin. I mean if you're going to eat a chicken you should eat as much of it as possible, right?

Chicken Bacon Recipe:

6 chicken thighs, skin removed. Reserve chicken for other recipes. 
some smoked seasoning like paprika, smoked salt, or hickory seasoning
black pepper
salt
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon molasses

Preheat oven 375 degrees.

On parchment on a cookie sheet stretch the chicken skin as far as possible. Don't allow the skins to overlap. Season only the top side. Cover well with paprika, black pepper and salt. I have hickory seasoning so I used a bit of that. Smoked paprika would do well too. Cover with a second piece of parchment. Top that with a second cookie sheet, then weigh the cookie sheet down with a heavy skillet or other oven safe item.
Bake 35-40 minutes. Cool slightly and remove top sheet of parchment. The chicken should have rendered all it's fat and should be crispy. Return it to the oven if it is still floppy.

Remove from the cookie sheet and blot on paper towels.
In a small bowl combine honey, syrup and molasses. Brush onto the the skin.

It's super indulgent. What's your indulgence?