Bacon fat popcorn (Revolution Brewing copycat)

Baked bacon: line a sheet pan with aluminum foil. I typically overlap two or three pieces. This foil is meant to help with cleanup. 

Remove the bacon from the package and lay as many slices as you can on the foil-lined baking sheet. You can place your bacon very close together but try not to overlap the pieces. If you can't get the whole package on there, put the remainder back in the fridge for later. 

Do not preheat your oven. When you have as much bacon as you can fit on your sheet pan, place it in a cold oven and set it to 400 degrees F (204 C). 

Set a timer for 20 minutes and start checking the bacon. Depending on the type of bacon and thickness, it could take another 5 or more minutes. 

I start checking at 20 minutes and if it's not fully done, I will flip the bacon and put it back in the oven for another 5 minutes or so, checking the doneness every so often. Once the bacon is done to your liking remove the slices to a paper towel-lined plate and store in the fridge if you're not using it immediately. 

Bacon grease: give the sheet pan 3 or 4 minutes to cool a little, but before the grease congeals on the sheet pan, carefully tilt the pan and pour the grease into a glass jar or sealed container to save the bacon grease. You can store this in a cool place and use it to cook eggs or saute green beans for extra flavor. We'll need about 4 tablespoons for the popcorn though. 

Fried sage leaves: pour 1/4 cup of vegetable oil into a small frying pan or pot over medium heat. 

After the pan and oil have preheated for about 4 minutes, touch one tip of a fresh sage leaf to the oil. Once a leaf touching the hot oil starts to spit water or sputter, the oil is hot enough to fry. 

Add several leaves and fry for 2 minutes or so until the leaves start to darken and then remove them from the oil to a paper towel-lined plate. Sprinkle salt on the leaves if you want. 

Stovetop popcorn: (see notes below if you want to use microwave popcorn) Strain off the oil from the small frying pan or pot into a medium-large heavy-bottomed pot. Leave the small frying pan on the stove or nearby because we will use it again. 

bring the heat up to medium and add three popcorn kernels to the oil leaving the lid off of the pot. Once the temperature is hot enough, those three kernels will pop. Remove each popped kernel and then add 1/2 cup of uncooked kernels. Cover the pot and carefully start shaking the pot over the hot eye of the stove. 

You are trying to move the kernels around in the oil while they pop so that none of them will burn. Popcorn is lighter than its kernel so the cooked pieces will rise to the top but you still need to keep it moving for about 3 or 4 minutes or until almost all of the kernels are popped

Once the popping sounds slow down and you start to hear only one pop per 2 seconds or so remove the pot from the heat, open the lid, and pour the popcorn into a large bowl.

Bacon fat and bacon pieces: get the small frying pan back over medium heat. 

Chop 4 to 6 pieces of bacon into small pieces. Add 4 tablespoons of reserved bacon fat to the small frying pan.

Once the bacon fat is back to liquid form, add the chopped bacon to the bacon fat and cook for 3 minutes or until things start to get a little foamy. 

Carefully and slowly drizzle the hot bacon fat and small pieces of bacon on top of the bowl of popcorn. 

Season the popcorn with salt, grate a lot of parmesan cheese on top, and stir and mix it all well. If any popcorn falls out of the bowl during the stirring process the chef gets to enjoy those. 

Serve: to serve, make sure you reach down to the bottom of the bowl when serving because the bacon bits and bacon-fat-coated popcorn tend to fall to the bottom. Pour popcorn into an individual-sized bowl and then top with 2 or 3 fried sage leaves and another small grating of parmesan cheese on the top. If you really want to go bacon crazy, you can add more small bacon pieces too.