Free Cooking Recipes

Served hot or cold, baked bacon accompanied by creamed or sauteed potatoes and broccoli or green beans, makes a delicious and satisfying main course for lunch or dinner. The bacon should be soaked in tepid water for 2 hours before boiling to remove excess salt.

4 SERVINGS
3 lb. bacon gammon, collar or hock
5 fl. oz. [5/8 cup] vinegar
1 bay leaf
6 tablespoons brown sugar
grated rind of 1 orange
juice of 1 orange
teaspoon mace
20 cloves
5 fl. oz. [ 5/8 cup] cider

Directions:

1. After soaking the bacon, place it in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Add the vinegar, hay leaf and 1 tablespoon of sugar and bring to the boil. Remove the scum from the surface of the water and reduce heat to low.
2. Simmer very gently, partly covering the saucepan, for 1 hour and 10 minutes, removing the scum from the surface of the water from time to time. Remove the bacon from ‘the water, peel off the thick skin and put the bacon in a medium- sized, ovenproof serving dish, the fat side up.
3. Preheat the oven to moderate 350 °F (Gas Mark 4, 180 °C).
   In a small bowl, mix the remaining brown sugar, grated orange rind, orange juice and mace together. Push the cloves into the fat of the bacon. Pour the brown sugar-and-orange mixture over the bacon and pour the cider round it.
4. Place in the center of the oven and bake for 40 minutes, basting from time to time, or until the sugar is brown and crisp. Serve the bacon hot in the dish in which it has been cooked.