Sweet Pork Love

If you've ever attended a get-together with me, chances are you ate something involving pork.  I can't get enough of that swiny goodness nor can most of my friends.  I spent the holiday season cooking up a storm (didn't blog about it, but posted plenty of pics to Facebook) and much of it involved trying pork on pork.  One particular recipe, courtesy of Pinterest, was a recipe for cocktail wienies wrapped in bacon and baked in a butter/brown sugar mixture.

Take #1 resulted in a "soup" of pork fat, butter, and sugar that was a bit watery for my taste.  Judging by the empty casserole, it was still quite tasty!  I decided to modify the recipe by pre-cooking the bacon a bit and omitting the butter, figuring the pork fat would sufficiently blend with the sugar.  Success!  It glazed the pork nicely without creating a soup (shown below).  A little more work, but well worth it for a dish that everyone will consume with abandon.  The chorus of "oh my" and "oh mah gawd" that I heard told me the recipe was a winner.  There was almost a fight for the last few at the tamalada where it was served.  Thanks to Tasty Kitchen for the original idea.  Here's my version, perfect for your Superbowl fiesta.  Happy eating!

Oh mah gawd, these are good!

Sweet Pork Love

(Serves 2 - 10, depending on level of pork addiction)
1 package of bacon (1 lb) (regular, not thick cut and do NOT use turkey bacon)
1 package of cocktail wienies (1 lb)
1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 tsp cayenne (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil and place a cooling rack inside.  Cut each strip of bacon into three pieces and place the pieces onto the cooling rack (ok to overlap them).  Bake for 8-10 minutes in the oven until the fat starts to render.  Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes.  Open the cocktail wienie package and reserve the juices. Wrap each cocktail wienie in a piece of bacon and place seam-side down in a 9x13 glass baking dish.  Sprinkle the porky love pieces with the brown sugar and press down gently.  Pour over the reserved wienie juice.  Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and baste the love with the sugar/pork juice mixture.  Increase oven temp to 400 degrees and bake 5 minutes more or until bacon has crisped a bit.

*If you want a spicier version, mix the brown sugar with cayenne pepper before adding to the bacon.