Cooking Bacon?

James

I have some pre-sliced bacon from Costco that I was using to wrap filet mignons with.[p]Would also like to use them with Hamburgers, but don't know how to cook them in the egg. Is there a way to smoke/cook it to get them crispy, or is that best done in a pan? I have some Applewood and would like to get some Applewood smoke into them.[p]Thanks!

RRP

James,My email just came back...you tick off Daemon?
Anyway here's my eggperience about bacon.
Since you asked me I'll tell you what I have learned about smoking bacon. I think it is merely common sense and I doubt I'll teach you much, but here goes. I've done 8 pounds so far in the last 15 months I guess. Except for the last time when I did 2 pounds at once I've always had just done
one pound at a time. Bacon being thin goes quickly and absorbs smoke easily so plan to pay attention during the cook to avoid a disaster. I have learned that much! [p]First of all don't bother with thin sliced bacon. I found some on sale once that looked beautiful, but found I could read through it when I got home. It's a bother and was my most frustrating effort. Get the "thicker" cut and the more the meat the better as the smoke can make too much fat rather bitter and dark. In fact I end up cutting much of the fat off (the smoked bacon, not pre-smoked!) before it goes on the pizza if I can't eat some and enjoy the taste.. BTW I have also used it on Mr Toad's pork roast and that was great. The strips take on the smoke readily and you don't want to over do it, but also need to make it worth the effort! [p]First I spread each piece flat on racks or drape on some roast racks we have. I make sure there is space between each piece and not touching. I get a fire stabilized between 240 and 250 and then dump in wet hickory chips and then put the bacon on direct. The temp has dropped to 200 and that's fine. Smoke for 10-15 minutes and then remove racks and turn all strips over and put them back on the BGE for a few minutes and check and keep checking. Now I guess the lesson I learned here which differs from other cooks is that I start sampling the bacon for taste. The appearance is
different though from pan fried or micro waved bacon as it stays flat and doesn't curl and should be limp vs crisp. In fact if it gets crisp ya went too far IMHO and the smoke taste will make it inedible.
It takes on a smoked color and you'll have to wing it by the taste tests. I think I normally sample the strips around the grates and keep an eye out for hot spots. I have lost some to getting overdone or too heavily smoked so my best word of advice is to pay attention. [p]As for packaging I merely cut waxed paper strips and stack the slices individually and then wrap with wax paper and two rubber bands. Then into a Ziploc and the freezer. I guess you could put 2 together but I like cutting them individually while still frozen and eliminating some of the fat if necessary. Two pieces per pizza works for us. Is this a lot of effort for so little? I suppose so, but I can taste the smoked bacon on my pizza and I love it. [p]

MAC

James,
Yes get thick sliced. Cut the 2 or 3 LB package n half and leave a two chunks. Smoke over a drip pan of ice for about 1 hour. Wrap and freeze. It is wonderfull.