Smoking bacon

Joel Ferman

The quantity of bacon I consume is ghastly, so I figured i'd mess around and see if I could cold smoke some bacon. Any tips/techniques? [p]I was thinking about putting 1/2 slabs or 1/4 slabs of whole bacon on the egg with a temp of like 100 degrees or so with a TON of hickory chunks and let it ride for around 20-30 minutes, then basting it with honey and some spices on the outside (using the honey as a glue) then pulling it off, cutting it up, and throwing it in the fridge. Then when I wanted some smoked bacon, I could just fry some up on a skillet or break out the George Foreman grill.
-Joel

Painter

Joel Ferman,
Check out the three brine methods for bacon. Something might trip you taste buds.
Bob

[ul][li] Alton Brown's Bacon[/ul]

Unknown

Joel Ferman, I have been cooking bacon on my kettle for years. What is between the lines describes that technique. This was cut and pasted from a post I made on thebbqforum.com.
____________________________________________________________[p]Yo to all, I posted this several years ago, but I guess I should post it again. This is my technique for "smoking"/grilling bacon on the kettle. This is NOT a cold smoking method for flavoring bacon to be cooked later. This bacon is ready to eat off the grill and the leftovers can be saved and used for breakfast, or used in other recipes. It does make the best BLT you will ever eat (as long as you have homegrown tomatos to go with the bacon). My kids are so spoiled on this stuff that they won't eat fried bacon any more.[p]I cook bacon on the kettle @ 275F or LESS. I use the indirect method, that is a row of 10 to 12 coals on each side of the kettle with the sliced bacon down the middle. I use the cheap sliced bacon and lay out each strip individually down the middle of the grill. I can get one pound of bacon on 22" kettle if each piece of bacon overlaps a little. (Once the bacon starts cooking it will shrink.) Be sure that no part of any bacon strip is directly over a coal or you will have a grease fire. [p]I use cherry wood for smoke flavor and I use more smoke than what we normally associate with a proper amount of smoke for BBQing. I have also used hickory, apple, and pecan (each variety of wood by itself) but I have found cherry gives sliced bacon the best flavor. I have tried using a waterpan to catch the grease, but IMHO the added moisture from the boiling water does not allow the bacon to get as crisp as it does without the waterpan.[p]At a cooking temperature of 275F the bacon slices are ready to be turned in about ten to fifteen minutes. The slices will have some color to them when they are ready to turn. Once turned, check them again in five to ten minutes, depending on how hot your fire is. When the second side is good and colored, flip the slices again. At this point in time it maybe be necessary to rearrange the slices on the grill as the pieces in the middle maybe cooking faster than the others. Once the slices have been cooked on each side, you MUST keep a close eye on them as there is a very fine line between cooked, crispy and BURNT. Because you are using more smoke than you normally would for cooking, you can get away with checking the bacon more often that you would cooking something else, but it is important to check it very often especially once it has been turned.[p]I usually cook two batches of bacon when I do this. One word of warning, cooking bacon like this WILL leave a greasey mess in your kettle. Once I am done cooking, I will remove the cooking grate and move the coals over the area where the bacon was cooked to purposely catch the grease on fire. I have found if I don't clean the kettle by burning the grease out, it will catch on fire the next time I use it.[p]As for reheating the leftover slices, I use the microwave and nuke two or three slices for about 22 seconds. The people who have tried this technique have all given rave reviews on it.
____________________________________________________________[p]Since I reposted that recipe earlier this year, I have been cooking bacon on my WSM. Yes, I realize that kettles and WSMs are not Eggs, but several people on this forum have used this recipe on their Egg with great success. (The link below will take you to Puj's thread where he describes his method for cooking bacon on the Egg.) The only difference I have found between using the WSM and the kettle is due to the kettle having more radiant heat, the cooking time is greater on the WSM. You can cook the bacon up to 300F cooking temperature, but any higher than that will give you crispy bacon with little smoke flavor.[p]Once again I cannot stress how important it is to collect the bacon grease so that it does not fall on the coals. If you do not collect the grease it will start a grease fire inside your cooker. Another tip is when you reheat this bacon, use the microwave or the oven. You will ruin it if you try to reheat it by frying it.[p]If anyone has questions on this, post them here or feel free to e-mail me.[p]Beers to all,[p]JDB - Juggy D Beerman[p]

[ul][li]Puj's post [/ul]

BlueSmoke

Painter,
Thanks. I have a friend who's a major bacon fanatic: now I know what to make him for Christmas. That molasses/black pepper cure sounds just right.[p]Ken

Puj

Joel Ferman,[p]I highly endorse Juggy's smoked bacon technique. This technique won me over earlier this year.[p]As a matter of fact, I had some of this tasty bacon for breakfast this morning. [p]Puj

Unknown

Puj, Sounds like I got you hooked on that stuff too! My ex told me that one thing she will never forgive me for is getting the boys hooked on "smoked" bacon. They won't eat her fried bacon. Thanks for the kudos.[p]Beers to you,[p]Juggy

Puj

Juggy,[p]Oh yeh, I'm hooked. I'll smoke a 3 pound thick slice pack, eat some and freeze the rest for a later day ... like yesterday.[p]Beers ... this early in the morning,
Puj