Bacon is meat candy, especially this bacon!

Alton Brown gets me.  His food is dreamy.

Lacquered Bacon

SOFTWARE

1 pound thick-cut bacon
1 tablespoon black pepper, coarsely ground
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar, preferably muscovado or demerara
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more if you’re up to it)

PROCEDURE

1. Set the oven temperature to 400 degrees F.

2. Lay the bacon in a single layer so that there’s little or no space between the pieces on a cooling rack set in a parchment paper-lined half sheet pan.

3. Liberally sprinkle one side of the bacon slices with the black pepper, sugar and red pepper flakes.

4. Set the sheet pan in the oven and roast for 15 minutes. Remove the pan and use the back of a spoon, spread the dissolved sugar/pepper mixture evenly across the slices of bacon.

5. Flip the bacon over and liberally sprinkle the other side of the bacon with black pepper and remaining sugar.

5. Return the sheet pan to the oven and roast until desired doneness: 15 minutes for chewy, 18 minutes for crisp. Cool completely before devouring.