To make up for the kinda surreal-looking, tho’ still mighty tasty, if you ask me, mango chutney upside down cake experiment; I had also planned a guaranteed favorite for dinner – BLTs.
Well, Rich can have his BLT, I like mine BLOT – with a healthy slice of onion added to the mix (tho’ I’ll leave the sprinkling of sugar on the onion to my grandfather).
I’d scored some surprisingly good tomatoes at Target, romaine is just about always in the crisper, and there was that beeyootiful loaf of pepperjack soufflé bread sitting in the breadbox, just waiting…
All that was needed was the bacon, and it just so happened that I had pulled a nice packet of uncured bacon out of the freezer the night before – how convenient!
I am more than happy to pan-fry bacon when it’s called for – think bacon jam, and I will admit that you would be hard pressed to beat the ease and convenience of ‘waving your bit o’ pork belly on paper toweling; but my all time favorite way to prepare bacon is to sprinkle it with stuff and then roast it in a hot oven for a bit, brushing it with some Oh! so good maple syrup at the last.
I could so very easily eat the entire batch standing over the pan fresh out of the oven…
The original recipe, from the barefoot contessa, is simplicity itself; made even simpler when I use my huge anodized roasting pan, a bit of foil, and some cooking spray.
INGREDIENTS:
•1 packet bacon – Ina says 16 slices
•2 tbsp maple syrup – we picked up our latest finestkind jug o’ Vermont gold at Trader Joe’s at what we thought a very fair price
ermmm, and that’s ALL that Ina calls for, but I like to add a good sprinkling of Gateway to the North Maple Seasoning and a dash o’ granulated garlic, plus mebbe a dash of paprika as well. You do what you like.
Let’s DO this!
Heat your oven to 400º.
Line a rimmed pan (trust me – a big roaster works a treat) with foil and add a baking rack coated with a light dusting of cooking spray.
Lay the bacon slices out flat on the rack, sprinkle (or don’t) with the seasoning(s) of your choice, and pop that sucker into the 
oven for fifteen to twenty minutes, until the bacon is getting nicely browned.
Take the pan out of the oven, being careful of spattering bacon grease – see, this is where that huge honkin’ roasting pan more than proves its worth – and brush the bacon with the maple syrup.
Back into the oven for another five minutes and you’ve got yerself some pretty decent bacon, my friend. Transfer the bacon to a platter to drain – you could put it on paper 
towels, but let the bacon cool just a bit first, or the caramelized maple syrup will stick to the toweling as it hardens.
Mmmm, bacon!
SO, I will admit that I DID nibble on one piece fresh out of the oven, but the rest went for BL(O)Ts on toasted soufflé bread.
And it was good.
I did make one, last, teensy, tiny adjustment to the classic BL(O)T formula – I substituted my new favorite thousand island dressing for the mayonnaise.
And it was gooder…