Cornflake-Coated Crispy Bacon

June 2022. Memphis summer, 63 years old, and the heat wraps around Orange Mound like a wet blanket that nobody asked for but everybody wears because that is the deal you make when you live in the South. The smoker calls louder in summer — something about the heat amplifying the smoke, the way humidity amplifies everything in Memphis — and I answer, because answering is what pitmasters do.

Tyrone came over for dominoes, bringing his competitive spirit and his inability to play without cheating, and the evening was full of the brotherly banter that is our love language.

I made cornbread in the cast iron skillet — buttermilk, cornmeal, bacon drippings, the recipe that goes back to Mama and before Mama to her mama and before that to wherever the tradition began. Baked at 425 until golden and crusty, the edges dark and lacy, the center soft and crumbling. Some weeks cornbread is enough. Some weeks the simplest food is the most profound.

The week ended on the porch with Rosetta, the evening settling over Orange Mound, the smoker cooling in the backyard. The fire was banked but not out — it's never out, just resting between cooks, holding the heat the way I hold the tradition: carefully, permanently, with the understanding that what Uncle Clyde gave me is not mine to keep but mine to pass, and the passing is the purpose.

That week — the dominoes, the cornbread, the porch with Rosetta, the smoker resting in the backyard — reminded me that the recipes worth passing down are never the complicated ones. They’re the ones with crunch and warmth and a little bit of audacity, the ones that make people lean over the plate and ask, “Now what did you do to that?” Cornflake-coated crispy bacon is exactly that kind of recipe: bacon dressed up just enough to feel like an occasion, simple enough that Mama would have approved. It’s the perfect thing to lay out on the table when the people you love come through the door.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

12 strips thick-cut bacon
1 cup cornflakes, finely crushed
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (optional, for coating adhesion)

Instructions

Preheat oven. Heat your oven to 400°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil and set a wire rack on top. Lightly grease the rack.
Mix the coating. In a shallow bowl, combine the crushed cornflakes, brown sugar, black pepper, and smoked paprika. Stir until evenly mixed.
Coat the bacon. If using mustard, lightly brush one side of each bacon strip. Press each strip — mustard side down — into the cornflake mixture, coating firmly so the crumbs adhere. Lay coated side up on the prepared rack.
Bake until crispy. Bake for 18–22 minutes, until the bacon is deeply golden and the coating is crunchy. Keep an eye on it after the 15-minute mark; thick-cut bacon varies. Do not flip.
Rest and serve. Let the bacon rest on the rack for 3–5 minutes before serving — the coating firms up as it cools. Serve warm alongside eggs, cornbread, or anything that deserves good company.

Nutrition (per serving)

Cornflake-Coated Crispy Bacon — The Kind of Simple That Says Everything