World Food Championships 2015- PART 2: It's all about the BACON, AND my brunch recipe for a Dutch Apple Baby with Blackberry Hoisin Bacon.
It was all about the bacon when Janet Tharpe, host for the Just A Pinch® online community, and her Kitchen Crew picked my Dutch Apple Baby with Blackberry Hoisin Bacon recipe, as a Blue Ribbon winner and my Golden Ticket to represent their company at the 2015 World Food Championships, Bacon Category. Blessed to be a part of the competition, I was honored to represent them.
Creating bacon recipes for the competition was a three month process. Luckily, I already had a winning recipe for the Signature Dish Round; all I had to do was prefect the execution.
SIGNATURE DISH:
"The Signature Dish is the competitor’s choice, although it needs to fit the general “theme” of the competition category to be able to receive maximum points in execution. The Signature Dish is intended to allow the cook to put their best culinary foot forward. Show the judges what you do best. It’s your Signature Dish. " Source: WFC 2015 Competitor Handbook
Dutch Apple baby with Blackberry Hoisin Bacon
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb thick slice Wright Brand Applewood Smoked divided
- 1 ¼ cups blackberry jam divided
- ½ cup hoisin sauce divided
- 2 tablespoon dijon mustard
- ¾ cup brown sugar divided
- ½ cup organic apple cider divided
- 2 ½ cups diced apples skins on
- ¼ cup granulated sugar divided
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg divided
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ cup unsalted butter divided
- ¾ c flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 c milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups fresh blackberries divided
- ¼ cup powder sugar for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven 400 degrees F.
- You will need parchment paper to line baking sheet
For the Hoisin Marinade
- In a small bowl combine, 2 tablespoon mustard, 1 cup blackberry
- jam, ¼ cup hoisin sauce and 2 tablespoon brown sugar, stir to
- combine
Blackberry Maple and Hoisin Syrup
- In a small saucepan, heat 1 teaspoon hoisin, ½ cup apple cider, ¼ cup blackberry jam, 1 cup fresh blackberries.
- Cook over medium heat until thickened
- Strain through fine sieve. Keep warm until ready to plate.
- Transfer to little syrup mugs during plating
Method for The Hoisin Bacon
- In a small bowl combine,
- 2 tablespoons mustard, ¾ cup blackberry jam, ¼ cup hoisin and 2 tablespoons brown sugar. Mix well
- Place 18 slices bacon on parchment lined paper, brush about 1 tablespoon of mixture over each slice and turn and repeat.
- Sprinkle brown sugar over all bacon
- Cook 400 degrees F. for 2o min.
- Cool bacon, reserve out 5 slices for garnish.
- Chop remaining bacon into small pieces, reserve ½ cup for garnish
Method For the Apple Filling
- Cut apples into small dice
- In a medium sauté pan, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat
- Combine 2 tablespoons sugar, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg and ¼ teaspoon ginger
- Add diced apples and 1 tablespoon apple cider to pan
- Stir in sugar mixture
- Cook apples until tender but not soft. Remove from heat and set aside.
Prepare cast iron skillet
- Cut butter into chunks and place in cast iron skillet. Heat the skillet at 400 degree F. oven for 3-4 minutes, while making pancake batter.
- Method for The Batter
- Whisk flour, salt, sugar, and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl
- Gradually add milk, whisking constantly to avoid lumps
- When batter is smooth, beat in vanilla and eggs, one by one, Beat pancake batter, 1-2 minutes with whisk. Let batter rest for 5 minutes
- While batter is resting, prepare cast iron skillets.
- Place skillets in 400 degree F. oven on parchment lined tray. Heat for 5 minutes
- In a small microwave safe bowl, melt butter
- Remove skillets from oven and pour butter evenly into each skillet.
- Add even amounts of crumbled bacon to skillet bottom
- Pour batter over bacon, leaving ¼ inch headspace
- Add cooked apples to middle of skillets
- Bake at 400 degrees F. for 15 minutes. Remove small skillets, bake larger for 5-7 minutes longer
- Garnish with strip of bacon and fresh blackberries, powdered sugar and mint leaves.
- The pancake will puff dramatically while baking but begin to fall within a few minutes after baking.
Garnish
- powder sugar
- blackberry hoisin syrup
- fresh blackberries
- strips of hoisin bacon
Notes
Winner Top Ten World Food Championships 2015 Category: Bacon
I felt so blessed to be chosen to compete in the 2015 World Food Championships, and then doubly blessed as a fellow competitor Kim Banick, an award winning home cook, owner of The Prize of Cooking, and seasoned World Food Champion, offered to be my sous chef for the opening round. I was moved to tears when I read her message, what an answer to prayer! God knew I needed help competing in such a prestigious event for the very first time. Kim shared her wisdom as a competitive cook as well as, her sweet spirit and gracious attitude. She also, brought with her a team of sous, Mark Banick and Kasey Brown. We cooked together, we prayed together, and we took TOP TEN in the Bacon Category!
The Banick Team spent the following day winning People's Choice for their Tex-Mex Chili Sundae Split-2015 WFC Chili competition entry. I'm forever grateful for their generosity, hearts for Christ, and shared talent in my kitchen!
The opportunity to stay with my eldest son, his wife and family while in Orlando, was the icing on the cake. Their support and love gave me strength to carry on each day not to mention, the special morning hugs and kisses from my grand girls.
By the third day of competition I didn't know which side was up, even calling my friend Lisa Keys by the wrong name for an entire day! As a fellow competitor, and food blogger, Lisa understood my memory lapse and graciously forgave me! The 10 day experience was overwhelming, exciting, exhausting, and one of the best experiences in my life.
With the help of family and friends, I moved on to compete in the Top Ten and took home 4th in the World in the Bacon Category!
Some of the perks for winning a place at #WFC2015...sponsorship from Hammer Stahl Cutlery, with a awesome set of chefs knives, backpack and carrying case. More about them in my final blog post and filleting American Red Snapper with their stellar filet knife.
Below is a Holiday video with Chef Kevin Gillespie featuring Wright Brand Bacon and several WFC Bacon competitors and....ME! 
Lisa
You can call me anything you want as long as you call me friend
athomewithrebecka
Haha! You're my friend for life Lisa Keys! xoxo