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Barbecue Bacon

Barbecue Bacon is bacon coated in a brown sugar and spice mixture, baked until crisp.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cumin and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,382 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓

Barbecue Bacon

Oven350°C
Time40 to 50 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat oven to 350°C.

  2. Stir together brown sugar, chili powder, cumin, and ground red pepper.

Coat and bake

  1. Dredge bacon slices in sugar mixture, pressing to adhere.

  2. Arrange bacon in a single layer on a wire rack coated with cooking spray; place in an aluminum foil-lined jelly-roll pan.

  3. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crisp.

Serve

  1. Serve hot and plain or with other dishes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

228Calories
4 gProtein
18 gFat
15 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Vegetable1 tbsp (14g)120
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cumin + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,382 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  2. Sugar + cumintop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,140 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,401 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Light brown sugar
Forms a sweet crust that caramelizes and darkens as the bacon bakes.
Bacon
Provides the fat and savory base; baking renders it crisp.
Chili powder
Adds warm, earthy heat and color to the sugar coating.
Ground cumin
Adds a smoky, earthy aroma that complements the bacon.

The step that matters

Bake until crisp. Bacon can stay chewy if underbaked, while sugar in the coating can scorch if the oven runs too hot. Watch color and texture near the end of the time range.

Swap the cumin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, pepper):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Cuminthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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