I made some bacon toffee this Sunday, just to see what it was like. The recipe was pretty easy: measure, dump, stir, stir, stir, stir, stir, dump.

The flavor wasn't bad; sugar, butter and bacon is essentially what happens on the plate next to pancakes. But the texture was totally wrong. Toffee should be smooth and sticky, not crunchy and gritty like the salt crust on a beach. I guess my sugar didn't dissolve well enough, or crystallized on its way out of the pan, or something. A little postmortem research tells me that making toffee requires things like a consistent stove, a candy thermometer, and lots of practice. I stirred when I should've stayed, or vice versa, or there wasn't enough butter, or too much water, or something. Bah. That's why I prefer stove-top cooking to baking or candy-making; you can taste as you go and aren't depending on finicky chemical interactions and sensitive temperature regulation.

Foo.