Ingredients

• 1 stick butter - real butter - not that light crap
• 2/3 cup sugar - I use a 1/2 cup measure and heap it
• 1/2 cup maple syrup - REAL syrup, from Amish trees
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1 vanilla bean - not that extract crap
• 1 cup peanuts - dry roasted, unsalted
• 1 tsp. salt - use less/none if you use saltier bacon
• 1/3 cup bacon - very crispy, finely chopped, cold. The smokier/saltier, the better.

Kitchen Tools

• Large sauce pan - use highest heat the whole time
• Wooden spoon
• Cookie sheet, lined with foil and sprayed with Pam
• Cooling rack

Split the vanilla bean and scrape out the pods. Melt the butter, sugar, maple syrup, salt, vanilla pods and corn syrup together (you may want to nuke the corn syrup for 20 seconds so it pours into the pot easier). Heat to a bubbling boil. Add peanuts and stir. Keep stirring. Keep stirring. You’re doing great - keep stirring.

So, this is the part where everyone screws up the recipe. I’ve heard you’re supposed to heat it until a candy thermometer shows 290 degrees, but I don’t own and have never used one of those. Candy thermometers are for sissies. Instead, I judge doneness by color and consistency. After 5-10 minutes, the candy mixture will start to darken slightly, thicken and boil less. At that moment, add the bacon and stir it in. Over the next minute or two, the mixture will darken a little more, and at some point you need to pull it off the stove. It’s instinctive - burn a couple batches and you’ll learn (once you get it, you’ll never miss it again).

Quickly pour the mixture onto your baking sheet and spread it. If you think the mixture might be overdone, toss it immediately into the fridge to stop it from cooking any longer. If it’s still a lighter, carmel color, you can leave it out or fridge it, your choice. Let it cool until it’s, well, brittle. Bust it up, and enjoy!

Anyone who’s known me for a long time knows my two favorite genres of music are Classical and Hip Hop. Before I get to the meat of this post, allow me to put in a quick plug for ClassicalArchives.com, the single best resource for classical performances from all periods, of which I am proudly a paying member ($11/mo. for unlimited streaming).

With that out of the way, I’ll turn my attention to Hip Hop. Let me preface the rest of this post by saying this is purely my own opinions. They may look like facts, but this is just my observations and my own feelings on the subject. Hip Hop hit a golden age somewhere around 1995-2000. The 20 years prior, Hip Hop was still defining itself, and struggling to establish its credibility within the music industry. By the early 90s, Hip Hop was fully entrenched in mainstream music, and by the mid-90s, it had grown into a dominant force. More important, because Hip Hop was so new, almost everything artists brought to the table was innovative. Artists like Rakim, Wu Tang Clan group and individual projects (most notably Raekwon, RZA, Ghostface and Genius), CMW, NAS, Outkast, Mobb Deep, the reemergence of early pioneers like EPMD, Black Sheep and Q-Tip/Tribe and a slew of smaller artists (Pharcyde, Camp-Lo, Jeru, Skee-Lo, etc.) made the 90s golden for me.

In 1999, I made a most amazing discovery…Hip Hop was alive and well all over the world! Over the next couple years, my music collection featured artists like Iam, Faf Larage, Articolo, Molesta Ewenement, Muzion, Saian Supa Crew, Sans Pression, Diams, MC Solar, Arsenik, NTM, the list goes on and on. Most of my interest was in the Hip Hop culture of France and French Canada, for no particular reason except that it was most accessible to me.

Here’s the thing. Since the early-mid 2000s, U.S. Hip Hop has stagnated in my eyes. It’s just not all that interesting. Nothing new or interesting comes out of it. But I regularly listen to tracks from 5-10 years ago produced by foreign groups (as well as newer releases) and wish the U.S. scene could take a hint from them. Maybe it’s because foreign groups focus more on the music (which is my first love - lyrics are secondary for me) than U.S. groups do. Maybe it’s because they seem to have a lot more fun with the music and the whole scene in general. Maybe it’s because some of it has a throwback feel to that golden age I remember so fondly.

Whatever the reason, I would be remiss if I didn’t share a few choice tracks with the world, courtesy of my favorite Internet jukebox, YouTube. Enjoy!

• “Nikt i Nic” - Molesta Ewenement, 2008
• “Kto Jest Kto” - Molesta Ewenement, 1999
• “J Ai Dit” - Saian Supa Crew, 20??
• “Jeune Demoiselle Recherche” - Diams, 2006
• “Nouvelle Page” - Sans Pression, 2008?
• “Mon Clan” - Shurik’n, 2000
• “Avoir des Potes” - Oxmo Puccino, 2002
• “Sexcitations” - Pit Baccardi, 2004
• “Le Retour du Shit Squad” - Iam & Fonky Family, 20??
• “Ils Ne Savent Pas” - Starflam, 2003
• “Game Over” - 2 Faces, 2003
• “Pouki Sa” - San Pression, 1999?
• “Le Bilan” - Neg’Marrons, 2004 (orig. release ?)
• “Si Triste” - 3eme Oeil, 2002
• “La Fidanzata” - Articolo 31, 1998