Kevin Cooks: Bacon Fried Rice

Fried rice is as versatile as pasta.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I believe that the concept of fried rice in most people’s imagination is a simple Chinese blend of a light brown rice dish with peas, carrots, eggs and onion - like the one you can find at Panda Express. So maybe you would be surprised by the sheer amount of variations this iconic dish has gone through in our world. China itself has many famous variations. Yangzhou fried rice may be the most similar to the one you might be imagining or Fujian fried rice which looks vastly different. Outside of China, Thai fried rice variations, like khao pad sapparod, takes on a sweeter flavor profile and utilizing fish sauce, aromatic thai basil leaves, thai curry pastes, and jasmine rice. Indonesia made nasi goreng - their rendition of fried rice made with sambal a chili sauce that gives it its unique profile - their national dish. And then there’s Japanese omurice, Indian biryani, and even Spanish paella (up for debate).

As you can see, fried rice has undergone several cultural adaptations, creating such vastly different flavor profiles that it’s not even fair to compare them to one another anymore. They’re practically different dishes and nobody would argue against that. But what makes them so unique is also what makes it so hard to perfect.

If you looked up “fried rice” recipe on Google, you’ll find many recipes for it. Without it even, you’ll get the main ingredients down. Make sure you get some day old rice (I learned that the hard way), maybe add some protein, some vegetables, and toss it up in a pan. On its most basic level, you should add some soy sauce. But your end product tastes no where near what you wanted. And if you haven’t tried making it at home like this, trust me, it’s not even close. Recipes don’t make it any easier because each of them tell you to put different sauces in it. Some want soy sauce, others want dark soy sauce, and some want even more. And in my attempt to use these recipes to create it for myself, I always found it leaving more to be wanted.

So, I went on my own long journey of learning new recipes, making several bowls of wasted carbs I still ate because it was my grocery budget for the week, and trying combinations of ingredients that gives it the “restaurant” punch I craved… I think I found the combination that works perfectly for me.

Bacon Fried Rice

Ingredients

  • 4 strips of thick cut bacon

  • 2 cups of day old short grain rice

  • 1 carrot

  • 1/2 onion

  • 1 green onion

  • 1/2 cup of corn

  • 1 tbsp of butter

  • 2 tbsp soy sauce

  • 1 tbsp of oyster sauce

  • 1 tbsp sesame oil

Directions:

Start by cutting up your pieces of bacon and heating them in a pan.

  • The goal here is to let the fat of the bacon seep out into the pan. Once they are thoroughly cooked, set the bacon aside and drain some of the bacon fat (or not).

Dice your onions and chop up your carrot into small cubes. Begin to saute these vegetables in the rendered bacon fat of the pan.

Once the onions begin to become translucent, add your day old rice and butter. Break the rice apart in the pan if its stuck together and let it cook on medium heat. Stir the rice around so that it gets coated in the bacon grease and butter.

  • I think the secret to a good fried rice is adding butter.

Chop your green onion up and only add the white part of it to the pan along with your corn. Continue to periodically stir on medium heat.

Add your soy sauce, oyster sauce, and then sesame oil and stir it all together. Add the rest of your green onion in and then turn the heat off.

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Kevin Cooks: Hainanese Chicken Rice

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Kevin Cooks: Jjimdak (Korean Soy Braised Chicken)