Steal This Famous Tennessee Café's Bacon Technique For Mouthwatering Apple Pie

There are dozens of variations on the classic apple pie, but for the most part, a standard recipe calls for apples, sugar, cinnamon, some flour, and butter that's all tucked away and baked in a pastry crust. Of course, this American favorite has been jazzed up over time to include things like bourbon, salted caramel, and crumble toppings, but leave it to a Southern city to altogether replace the top crust of an apple pie with bacon. And we're not talking little crumbled bits of bacon, but full slices of the breakfast meat, interlaced and latticed to make a pretty-looking top, and baked right along with the pie so that it turns out browned and crisp. This is the creation of the famed Loveless Cafe located outside of Nashville, Tennessee. 

The Loveless Cafe first opened in 1951 by Lon and Annie Loveless, who saw an opportunity to feed hungry travelers on their way from Nashville to Memphis. Out of their own home, they served country ham, fried chicken, homemade biscuits and jam, and that was about it. Their food became so popular that the couple eventually converted their house into a full restaurant and later built a 14-room motel for overnight guests right next to the eatery.

The biscuits are legendary, but if guests come for those, they stay for the pie — and bacon apple pie is certainly a unique, sweet, and savory addition to the menu. It's unclear when it was added, but it wasn't featured in the first version of the Loveless Cafe cookbook, published in 2005, suggesting the establishment hadn't created the pie yet or wasn't willing to share the recipe. However, it is included in the latest edition, giving readers the chance to recreate it at home.

Because the apples are tart and sharp and sweetened with sugar, you are already hitting a lot of flavor buttons with apple pie. However, the fruit pairs well with savory elements, which is why adding a bacon lattice top "crust" works so well here. If you're a novice at making latticed anything, including pie dough or bacon tops, that's okay. There are numerous tutorials available that provide step-by-step instructions on how to accomplish this. Perhaps the best thing about interlacing bacon is that you can do it on a cutting board or piece of parchment, then transfer the top to your apple pie, and trim the edges to make it fit your pie tin. Unlike weaving pie dough strips, you don't have to rush the process (lest the dough warm up and fall apart); raw bacon is much more user-friendly and pliable.

A latticed bacon topper can go so much further than an apple pie. Consider using the savory topper for any quiche or pot pie, potato tart, or tomato pie. You can also use interweaved bacon to make a pretty and tasty topping for roasted chicken or turkey, as well as meatloaf. Weaving bacon can be a creative way to make BLT sandwiches, club sandwiches, or place a square of it on a grilled cheese sandwich. Unlike the pie, however, you'll want to bake or fry the bacon before adding it to sandwiches.