Inspired by Bob Morano’s Candied Pecan and Black Pepper Glazed Bacon
Developed in the kitchen by Eben, Kristi, Armin and Siegmar
The Story Behind This Recipe
This recipe has two lives separated by several centuries and an ocean.
The original belongs to Bob Morano, professional chef, Culinary Institute of America graduate, and creator of Every Day Is Feast Day. His recipe is straightforward American in character: thick-cut bacon glazed mid-roast with a dry crumble of brown sugar, chopped pecans, and black pepper. Watch Bob make it here: Original recipe video on Facebook.
The fusion version grew out of a family kitchen question: what would this look like if it had never left Europe? The answer led us to Styria.
Styria (Steiermark) is the green heart of Austria, its food culture sitting at the crossroads of Austrian, Slovenian, and Hungarian influence. Styrian cuisine is built on smoked pork, alpine herbs, and two defining regional ingredients: honey and Kürbiskernöl, the cold-pressed pumpkin seed oil known locally as das grüne Gold, the green gold.
The sweet-spiced treatment of roasting pork has deep Central European roots. Medieval and Renaissance Alpine kitchen records document the practice of finishing roasted pork with honey, sugar, and pepper for both flavour and preservation purposes [1]. The use of nuts alongside honey in roasted pork preparations appears in Habsburg-era kitchen records [2]. Styrian pumpkin seed oil is documented from 1735, though the seeds had been used in regional cooking well before oil pressing became established [3]. The combination of smoked pork fat with pumpkin seed products is anchored in the Styrian tradition of Verhackert, a TSG-protected regional specialty of cold-smoked bacon hand-chopped with garlic, salt, and pumpkin seed oil, originating in the Sulmtal and Laßnitzthal valleys [4].
The substitutions we make are historically defensible: brown sugar becomes honey, pecans become roasted Styrian pumpkin seeds (Kürbiskerne), and the black pepper stays, at home in Alpine pork cookery since the medieval spice trade. Cold-pressed pumpkin seed oil is added as a finishing drizzle after cooking, as heating it destroys its essential fatty acids [5]. It belongs at the end, not the beginning.
The result carries the same caramelised, glazed character as Bob’s original, but with a darker, earthier flavour profile. The honey caramelises differently to brown sugar, the pumpkin seeds bring a distinctly Styrian toasted nuttiness, and the finishing oil adds a depth the American version does not have. Armin and Siegmar remain the most reliable judges of whether it has worked.
Yield: Variable
Oven Temperature: 190°C (375°F)
Bacon Specification: Thick-cut, 6 mm slices
Ingredients
Bacon
- Thick-cut bacon, sliced at 6 mm, as required
Styrian Honey and Pumpkin Seed Glaze
- 3 parts dark floral honey (Styrian forest honey or linden honey preferred)
- 1 part Styrian pumpkin seeds (Kürbiskerne), coarsely chopped or lightly crushed
- ½ part black pepper, freshly ground coarse
Combine honey, pepper and half the pumpkin seeds into a thick paste. Reserve the remaining seeds for pressing into the surface. A small amount of warm water can be used to loosen the paste if needed.
To Finish
- Cold-pressed Styrian pumpkin seed oil (Kürbiskernöl), for drizzling
Method
- Preheat oven to 190°C.
- Arrange 6 mm thick-cut bacon slices on a wire rack set over a baking tray. Slices must not touch.
- Roast until 85 to 90% cooked, fat mostly rendered, bacon beginning to colour but still slightly pliable.
- Remove from oven. Spread the honey, pepper and pumpkin seed paste evenly over the top surface of each slice. Press the reserved pumpkin seeds lightly into the surface so they adhere.
- Return to oven for a further 10 minutes, or until the honey glaze has caramelised and set and the pumpkin seeds are toasted deep gold.
- Remove from oven and allow to rest for 2 to 3 minutes. The glaze will firm as it cools.
- Just before serving, drizzle sparingly with cold-pressed Styrian pumpkin seed oil.
Notes:
The honey glaze will caramelise faster than a sugar-based glaze, so watch the bacon closely in the final minutes. Dark honey with strong floral character holds up better against the smoke than mild varieties. Styrian pumpkin seeds have a higher moisture content than pecans and will toast rather than crisp, producing a different but equally satisfying texture. The finishing oil should be used with restraint; a few drops per slice is sufficient.
References
- Muusers, C. Coquinaria: Medieval and Renaissance Recipe Reconstructions. coquinaria.nl
- Wex, M. Rhapsody in Schmaltz: Yiddish Food and Why We Can’t Stop Eating It. St. Martin’s Press, 2016.
- Piccantino Magazine. “Styrian Pumpkin Seed Oil: Healthy and Tasty.” piccantino.com
- Grokipedia. “Verhackert: Traditional Austrian Spread.” grokipedia.com
- Wikipedia. “Pumpkin Seed Oil.” en.wikipedia.org
Original inspiration: Bob Morano at Every Day Is Feast Day
Fusion development featured at: Earthworm Express