Name: Bacon Crackers
Yield: Makes 48 Crackers, Serves 12
Ingredients: 12 bacon slices (not thick-cut); 48 saltines or buttery crackers, such as Club brand; 48 fresh rosemary tips (for Herbed Bacon Crackers); 6 teaspoons dark brown sugar (for Brown Sugar Bacon Crackers)

Photo by Peter Frank Edwards

These dangerously addictive little bites fueled countless 1950s and '60s bridge parties from Greenwood Mississippi, to Greenville, South Carolina, before being rescued from recipe-box oblivion by modern Southern cooks like Martha Hall Foose. And thank goodness. Magic happens when a cracker slowly sops up the fat from smoky, crisping bacon; it transforms into something more akin to piecrust. Unadorned, bacon crackers are pure pork perfection. The addition of a tine bundle of rosemary needles makes for a fancified version, while topping the "belt" of bacon with a bit of brown sugar adds a hint of sweet to the smoke.

Recipe information

Yield
Makes 48 Crackers, Serves 12

Ingredients

12 bacon slices (not thick-cut)

48 saltines or buttery crackers, such as Club brand

48 fresh rosemary tips (for Herbed Bacon Crackers)

6 teaspoons dark brown sugar (for Brown Sugar Bacon Crackers)

Preparation

Step 1
Preheat the oven to 250°F. Line the bottom of a broiler pan with foil for easy cleanup.
Step 2
Cut the bacon slices in half lengthwise and then crosswire to create 4 long strips.
Step 3
Arrange the crackers on a work surface and wrap a bacon strip around each cracker, overlapping the ends on top.
Step 4
If making Herbed Bacon Crackers, tuck a base of rosemary tips under overlapping ends of bacon. If making Brown Sugar Bacon Crackers, carefully sprinkle 1/8 teaspoon brown sugar on the top side of each cracker, pressing to help it adhere (avoid getting sugar on the cracker or it will burn.)
Step 5
Set a perforated rack on top of the foil-lined broiler pan and arrange the crackers seam-side down 1/2 apart in a single layer and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until the bacon is at your desired level of crispness. Transfer the crackers to a cooling rack and cool completely before serving.

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Buy the full book from HarperCollins or from Amazon. Recipe from The Southerner's Cookbook, by Editors of Garden & Gun. Copyright © 2015 by Editors of Garden & Gun. Reprinted by permission of Harper Wave, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.