Philosophy of Food, Issue #003: Sweet-Tooth Mexican Fried Rice

This dish is an old favorite, and perhaps a Great Old One.  It is one of the few dishes I started making in undergrad that I haven't yet found a way to improve upon.  Being a product of my earliest forays into the culinary arts, of course, it is a little hard to reproduce in recipe form with accurate amounts for each ingredient.  But. . . in the name of Science (yes, with a capital 'S') I will make the attempt.

The Ingredients
-2 strips maple bacon.
-Cooked white rice.  I figure I used maybe 1-ish cups.
-Salsa or picante sauce, whatever strength you prefer.
-1 egg.

The Process
This dish is perhaps unique in my repertoire in that there is a very specific order in which the ingredients must be added.  It's not just "toss it in a pot/pan and let it cook."

The first step is to cook the bacon.  I prefer it slightly blackened, but you're free to cook it to whatever crispiness you prefer.  I've never tried this, but if you can't find maple bacon you might try adding a little dab of maple syrup to the bacon grease once the bacon is done cooking.  On that note, don't throw out the grease!

The next step is to fry up that white rice.  It is absolutely essential to the integrity of this dish that you do so in the maple bacon grease.  Once the rice is sizzling away, crumble the bacon and add it to the pan.

Now comes the salsa!  Add just enough that it saturates the rice once it's been mixed around.  This dish relies on the balance of flavor between the spiciness of the salsa and the sweetness of the maple bacon grease-saturated rice, so too much salsa can ruin it (well, as much as you can ruin anything involving bacon).

Now you add in the egg.  I prefer to just crack it right in and scramble it directly into the rice, but feel free to mix up the yolk and white before you add it.  Whatever floats your proverbial boat.

The Results

Pictured: the sins of my youth.

A little bit sweet.  A little bit spicy.  All delicious.  It's also relatively cheap to make.  I think the most expensive item that goes into it is the salsa or bacon, and one package of either will last you a couple weeks or longer, depending on how often you use them.  It's also worth noting that salsa keeps very well.

Now for a few little notes.  First off, this is really best with Black Label maple bacon.  Sadly, I haven't been able to find it up here in Indiana (Winn-Dixie carried it back in New Orleans) so I went with Oscar Meyer.  While Oscar Meyer bacon seems to produce more grease, which makes cooking the rice a little easier, it also doesn't cook out to having as strong of a maple taste.  I might have to pick up some name brand faux-maple syrup and try adding a dab to see how it affects the taste.  Also, back in New Orleans I used picante sauce rather than salsa.  I made the switch because I can't find picante sauce in the right sized container here.  Honestly though, there's no discernible difference in taste.

Anyhow, enjoy!