Ingredients

• 4 large butter croissantsday-old; fresh ones tear rather than split
• 8 rashers smoked streaky bacon
• 180 g Brieripe enough to yield to a thumb, and out of the fridge twenty minutes first
• 2 medium onionsthinly sliced
• 20 g butter
• 10 ml olive oil
• 1 tsp soft brown sugar
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. 01

   Caramelise the onions

   Cook the sliced onions in the butter and olive oil in a frying pan over medium-low heat for 20-25 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until deep brown and jammy. There is no shortcut: on higher heat they scorch at the edges while staying raw and harsh in the middle.

   2 medium onions · 20 g butter · 10 ml olive oil

   Onions take the time they takeTwenty-five minutes on medium-low. Dark in ten means too much heat, and you taste it.

2. 02

   Sharpen them

   Take the pan off the heat and stir in the balsamic vinegar, scraping the base. Adding it now rather than at the start means the acidity stays bright and cuts through the brie.

   1 tsp balsamic vinegar

   Balsamic off the heatAdded early it boils away, and with it the sharpness that stops this being flat.

3. 03

   Crisp the bacon

   Cook the bacon rashers in a dry frying pan over medium heat, or on a tray at 200 C, for 8-10 minutes until crisp. It needs to stay crunchy against soft cheese and onions.

   8 rashers smoked streaky bacon

4. 04

   Warm and split the croissants

   Warm the croissants at 180C / 160C fan for 4-5 minutes, until the outside is crisp and the layers have loosened but the inside is still soft. Split each one horizontally with a serrated knife, cutting about three-quarters of the way through so the hinge stays intact and the filling cannot slide out. Warming first matters. A cold croissant tears rather than splits.

5. 05

   Assemble and melt

   Layer the sliced brie into the warm croissants, add the onions and bacon, grind over the black pepper, and return them to the oven for 3-4 minutes, just until the brie is beginning to run at the edges. Any longer and the cheese splits and the pastry dries out.

   180 g Brie · 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

6. 06

   Serve warm

   Eat while the brie is molten. It firms again within a few minutes of leaving the oven.