Bacon is one of the most popular foods in the world and has managed to infiltrate almost every aspect of popular foodie culture thanks to its versatility.
When you consider how delicious it is, it’s hardly surprising. Bacon can be used to add flavour, depth and texture to your dishes, plus it can be eaten at any mealtime or as a snack.
If you love it, you will be happy to hear that South African brand Eskort has recently launched a brand-new bacon offering – braai bacon – a complete game-changer.
This is the first product of its kind in the South African bacon market and it will transform the way you experience bacon.
In addition, they have also re-designed and packaged their remaining eight bacon products including back, streaky, shoulder, round, minced, diced, cuts, and lean diced bacon.
Below they have shared recipes that you can make at home using the products.
Bacon and sage shortbread
Serves: 4
Ingredients
200g Eskort minced bacon
125g butter
55g castor sugar
180g flour
1t salt
1 tsp vanilla
¼ cups sage
Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C.
Heat a frying pan over moderate heat and fry the bacon until crispy.
Remove the bacon from the pan and allow it to cool down.
Place the butter, castor sugar, flour, salt, and vanilla into a food processor and blend until a soft dough forms.
Line a baking tray with baking paper and press the dough into the pan.
The dough needs to be 1cm thick.
Add the bacon and sage to the top and press it into the dough slightly.
Bake the shortbread for 20 minutes.
Serve
Remove the shortbread from the oven and let it cool down.
Serve this shortbread with your favourite selection of cheeses and of course some premium sliced hams.
Cheesy bacon corn dogs
Serves: 4
Ingredients
500g Eskort streaky bacon
250g mozzarella cheese cut into 3cm cubes
250g cheddar cheese cut into 3cm cubes
½ cups Eskort braai spice
2 cups flour
2 cups buttermilk
Oil for deep frying
Serving
¼ cup Sriracha sauce
1 cup mayonnaise
Zest and juice from one lemon
1 cup mixed herbs chopped
Method
Heat your oil in a large pot over high heat.
Start by putting one end of the streaky bacon on the skewer.
Add a block of mozzarella and fold the bacon back over the skewer and mozzarella.
Do the same with the cheddar until you get to four cubes of cheese on one skewer.
Combine the braai spice with the flour.
Dip the skewers into the flour then the buttermilk and back into the flour.
Do this with all your skewers.
Fry the bacon “dogs” until golden.
Remove from the oil and drain the oil on some kitchen towel.
Serve
Swirl the Sriracha sauce into the mayo with the lemon juice and the zest.
Serve the mayo on the bacon “dogs” and serve with the sauce and herbs.
Kale and spinach pesto tagliatelle
Serves: 4
Ingredients
200g Eskort diced bacon
2 cup kale leaves
2 cup spinach leaves
1 cup basil
2 garlic cloves chopped
Zest and juice from 1 lemon
½ cup olive oil
Basil for serving
400g tagliatelle pasta (cooked)
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Fry the bacon in a frying pan over moderate heat until crispy.
Pour the bacon with its fat from the pan over the cooked pasta in a large bowl.
Place the rest of the ingredients into a food processor to make the pesto.
Mix the pesto through the bacon and pasta to coat the pasta well.
To serve
Serve the pasta with some extra basil and lemons.