Posts Tagged ‘bacon’

Bacon + Whiskey + Maple = Awesome Combination.

The possibilities are endless after you make this. Eat it straight up, in ice cream, cakes, cookies, bacon brownies, garnish for a cocktail & so much more….

I tried a few versions to get to this point of whiskey/bacon happiness. This was the easiest most impactful version where the whiskey was not diminished after smoking or baking.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound thinly sliced bacon

1 cup Crown Royal Maple Whiskey

1 cup light brown sugar

1 -3 tsp cayenne pepper (adjust for your heat preference)

1/4 tsp finely ground black pepper

In a plastic container or glass bowl pour the whiskey over the bacon. Make sure the bacon is fully submerged and place in the fridge overnight.

The following day in a small bowl mix the brown sugar, cayenne and black pepper.

Preheat your oven to 350F or your grill to 250F/300F (Indirect)

If using an oven : Line a baking sheet with foil and place a baking rack over the tray. Spray baking rack with non stick spray. Place the bacon strips on the baking tray and sprinkle on the brown sugar/pepper mixture.

If using a BBQ or grill indirect- try frogmats. Or you can still use the baking sheet & foil combo as above.

Times will vary – in the oven approx 20-30 minutes or on the grill indirect approx 45 minutes to an hour until the brown sugar has been thoroughly absorbed and the bacon crisps

When you remove from the oven or grill let the bacon rest for 1 hour to dry out. Fantastic in so many things or on its own.

MMMMM Bacon

Smoked Bacon Wrapped Meatball Tree

I thought it would be a nice idea to try a new presentation for my bacon wrapped meatballs.

I have made many traditional Crockenbouche for past Christmas events and I thought the design would be super festive for meatballs. This worked really well and it was fun and easy to make.

This was fun to do and everyone at our annual Christmas party.

I started with an 8” foam core tree shape and wrapped it in foil.

I used extra-long “Clubhouse sandwich” toothpicks. The meat balls were 2 boxes (almost 3 lbs) of Angus Beef Meatballs from Sobeys that are pre-cooked. I wrapped them each with 1/3 slice of bacon each then sprinkled with Smoky Mountain Smokers Chipotle rub.  They were smoked on my Traeger for just over an hour at 225F. I used Hickory & Oak pellets. When I removed them I glazed them with Garland Jack’s Secret Six Hickory Spice BBQ Sauce.

Pretty simple after that point  just poke them in tightly until the tree is full. I also made a bacon star that took me a few tries to get right btw a super cute when done. The star bacon shape was baked on a silpat sheet to keep it flat. I did the star at 225F and it took 3 strips of bacon to make.

All of the bacon I used was 18/22 slice size.

The tree was simply garnished with the last sprigs of rosemary from my garden. It was a great appetizer for my Christmas party guests who have a serious love for all things bacon & BBQ.

Bacon apple chestnut stuffed pork loin

Ingredients

3lb pork loin
10 slices bacon

For the stuffing

3 c large seasoned croutons
2 ½ c diced apple
1 c reduced sodium chicken stock
1/3 c chopped parsley
¾ c chopped roasted chestnuts
6 slices bacon chopped
2 onions diced
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp dried thyme
¼ tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp black pepper

In a medium sized pan on medium level heat fry bacon until crisp. Using a slotted spoon or bamboo strainer remove the bacon and set aside.

Add chopped onion, thyme, salt, pepper and garlic to the residual bacon fat. Stir often scraping any bacon residue from the bottom of the pan. Sauté until the onion has softened. Add the diced apples and reduced sodium chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and add the croutons. Mix thoroughly cover and remove from heat.

Butterfly the pork loin using 3 cuts to open like a book. See this video for instructions -

Cover the pork loin with plastic wrap. Pound the pork with a mallet to make it a uniform thickness. Remove cover from the stuffing and fluff with fork. Add parsley to the stuffing mixture.

Spoon the stuffing mixture onto the pork loin leaving a 1 inch frame around all of the edges.
Starting at one end – roll the pork and stuffing together to make a tight roll.
Wrap pork with bacon lightly overlapping each layer. Secure with butchers twine.

Grill indirect at 275F until a digital thermometer reads 155F. I used oak and hickory wood pellets. Rest for 10 minutes then slice. Feeds a crowd.

Pig Candy is a truly versatile ingredient in recipes. You can serve it up whole, add it to cookies, cakes, ice creams and everything in between.

This time I decided to make a fun pretzel with it.

Super simple easy and absolutely bad for you deliciousness.  You can make it as spicy as you would like. This time I traded the chipotle powder for 1/2 cup Piri Piri hot sauce. It was a good change and I really liked the results.

Recipe

• 2 lbs pig candy (finely chopped)
• 2 cups Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips  (or substitute dark chocolate) melted
• 1 bag Great Value Honey twist pretzels 283gr

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler or microwave.

We have lots of birthday parties at our house. Devilled eggs are always a favorite.  This time a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce caught my attention at the store.

I usually buy a couple cans of these every time I see them. Terrific as a flavor booster and as an addition to BBQ sauces they are super convenient.

I personally prefer super creamy devilled eggs. These are very creamy – if you prefer your eggs less creamy cut the mayo in half.

Recipe

• 1 dozen hardboiled eggs
• 2/3  cup Hellman’s Mayo ( don’t even think about substituting)
• 3 thick slices Willowgrove Hill Farms Bacon cooked (cut into 24 pcs.)
• 2 tablespoons very finely minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• 2 tsp dried mustard
• 1 tsp granulated onion
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• kosher salt & white pepper to taste
• chives for garnish

Slice hard boiled eggs in half. Remove yolks to a small food processor. To the yolks add mayo, smoked paprika, dried mustard, salt, white pepper, and granulated onion. Pulse until very smooth. Stir in chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.  Spoon mixture into a ziploc bag or piping bag. Fill white cavities of eggs. Garnish with bacon & chives.  FYI Leftover yolk filling is excellent on crackers too!

Pulled pork also makes an excellent topping on devilled eggs. Try it. Trust me on this.

The last time I made this was 2009 and we will be doing one again in the near future for the big game. This is a party sized appetizer of enormous proportions – deliciously decadent…Absolutely this is one of my all time favorites from the grill…

Ingredients:
4 lbs sausage (3 regular 1 hot)
2 lbs bacon
3-5 jalapeños (cored membrane removed and sliced in half)
2 tablespoons Smoky Mountain Smokers Spicy BBQ Rub

Filling:
5 tbsp garlic tobasco sauce
5 green onions chopped
2 packages cream cheese
4 tbsp 3eyz BBQ rub
3/4 c Strodes Cherry BBQ sauce
5 tbsp garlic powder
3 tbsp onion powder
2 tbsp Chipotle powder

Mix all the filling ingredients together in a bowl and set aside in a piping bag with large nozzle.
Lay 3 feet of saran wrap on kitchen counter
Spread out sausage (no casings) on the plastic wrap evenly spreading the mixture to approx 1/2″ thick and forming a rectangular shape that is 21/2 feet long.
place the jalapeños in a line down the center of the sausage mixture
Pipe the cheese mixture onto the jalapeños going the entire length of the sausage.
Using the plastic wrap to aid you bring the sides of the sausage mixture up and around the jalapeños and cheese forming a cylindrical tube.
Place on a large tray and chill in fridge or if room allows the freezer for 30 minutes.

Lay 3 feet of saran wrap on the counter. Arrange the strips of bacon to slightly overlap each other. Depending on the thickness of your bacon you will need between 2 – 3 lbs of bacon . (Please see picture above)

Remove the sausage from the fridge. Roll the sausage out of the saran wrap onto the bacon layers.
Bring the pieces of the bacon at the ends up first then continue to bring the bacon slices up onto the sausage until fully enclosed in bacon.

Sprinkle the entire fatty with the Smoky Mountain Smokers Spicy BBQ rub.

Prepare your grill for indirect cooking medium heat (275-300F).

******* Big Caution here… its a LOT of bacon. Bacon grease fires are serious business. Ensure your grill if using charcoal or propane or gas – utilizes a pan (with about 2 inches of water) under the fatty to capture the bacon grease. Always be prepared with a fire extinguisher and baking soda in case of a grease fire. Stay put and stay close. YOu don’t ever want to be far from a grill that has bacon on it.  *******

Place the fatty on your grill in a horseshoe shape. BBQ your fatty until the internal temperature in many locations when probed reaches 165F (approx 2-3hours) and the bacon is crsipy. Glaze in the last few moments of cooking with the Strodes Cherry BBQ sauce. Remove from heat and rest at least 15 minutes. Slice and serve with additional BBQ sauce and hot sauces.

This past weekend after our brisket class I had various briskets in stages of completion. I also have had a case of bacon and I felt like doing a bit of playing …..

I took a fully smoked flat of brisket (at room temperature) and cut it into 11/2 inch cubes. It was already moist and delicious but I wanted to take it up a notch.

I wrapped each brisket cube with slices of bacon to form a bacon wrapped brisket bomb. Then I placed the brisket bombs in my Traeger on a frogmat for 1 hour at 225F then I turned them and smoked them for another hour at 225 F. I used Oak and hickory pellets.

I glazed them with a homemade BBQ sauce that I use for competition.  Oh my flip. These things are awesome. Seriously awesome.

**Please note they are not nearly as dark as the picture shows. Thats just my horrible picture taking.

Juicy moist smoked brisket wrapped in a layer of crispy double smoked bacon and topped with a sweet and spicy BBQ sauce.  They are cubes of awesome yummy goodness.

The brisket was re-seasoned with Smoky Mountain Smokers Chipotle BBQ Rub, & Plowboys Bovine Bold for a power packed flavor combination. It was injected using Butchers BBQ Brisket Marinade.  There were a few other ingredients as well…. but those are some competition secrets I would rather not share :0)

I make thousands of ABT’s each year. Yes thousands for demonstrations family parties and well I just love them.
There are countless recipes for ABT’s all over the net. Everyone has their own variety whether they have lil smokies in them or leftover pulled pork. One of my favorite varieties is roasted garlic 3 cheese ABT’s.

I make roasted smoked garlic in batches of 36-48 at a time. I prep lots of them at a time to make it more convenient for myself later on. BBQ buddies from ALCAN work great for this. Their perforations allow lots of the smoke flavor to come through. Simply slice the top off sprinkle on some salt & pepper and drizzle with EVOO. I then use one of my Traegers or Charcoal grills and keep the temp at an even 350F (I do these indirect) for about an hour. I prefer to use hickory pellets or wood chunks for flavoring.  The garlic bulbs are done when the color turns a nice caramel and they can be easily squeezed out.

For more specific instructions check out this great tutorial on HOW to Roast Garlic.

Roasted Garlic bulbs freeze well. I freeze them individually for a multitude of uses from pasta to ABT’s and everything in between.

200 Roasted Garlic Cheesy ABT’s you will need:

• 2 onions finely minced
• 1/2 cup BBQ rub (use whichever is your favorite)
• 1 cup grated parmesan
• 1 cup grated romano
• 1/4 cup dried chives
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh savory
• 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs) cream cheese
• 100 jalapeños cleaned & seeded cut in half lengthwise
• 4 large bulbs of roasted garlic

I use a food processor to do this in two batches. Its really easy. Just dump half of everything in and pulse away until everything has mixed well. Pour into a large ziploc bag and then repeat with the other half of the ingredients. Please note you should taste test each batch to ensure the spice mixture is flavorful enough. As with all BBQ rubs the sodium levels vary greatly as does the sodium level in Parmesan cheese so adjust wherever necessary.

Then set up a station in the order you make them. For the jalapeños I always lay them cut side down while I prep the other ingredients. This helps to get as much water out of them prior to assembly.

I buy cases of bacon- not packages.  I buy Petit Goret Maple Smoked Bacon in a 5 kg (11lb) box.  If I can’t get this brand I look for any other food service box of bacon that has an 18/22 (slice count per pound) on it. I prefer using thinner bacon to wrap ABT’s.  For other applications I prefer my butchers bacon.

I do this whole procedure in batches of 50. I lay 50 jalapeños cut side up and fill with my cream cheese mixture using a ziploc bag with the corner cut off.

Then its just a matter of wrapping them and stacking them snugly into pans.

It takes me about an hour and a half to make 200.  I freeze them for up to one month. I don’t advise going over one month as I don’t like the texture of the cream cheese after that. The less time in the freezer the better. If you are doing a party or heading to a competition pot luck etc its really nice to have these ready well ahead of when you need them.

The long awaited BBQ book featuring the Bacon Explosion is going to be available May 4, 2010  on Amazon !

The grill geeks Jason Day and Aaron Chronister became friends over the flames of the grill – they have been teammates on the award winning competitive BBQ team, Burnt Finger BBQ for years. Barbecuing and competing together, they realized they were a match made in hog heaven.

I have had the chance to review the book and it covers so much. The cover with its shot of a Bacon Explosion will get your mouth watering. It only gets better and better. While I believe that there could have been more pictures the content is solid.

Something that is really unique is a section that states that included with the book is a password necessary for accessing the members only area of the companion website run by the authors. BBQAddicts.com is full of additional recipes and ideas that coincide with the recipes and information within the book. (my password was on page 223) Thats even more value for the price of the book!

I also appreciate the beer and wine pairing recommendations with many of the recipes. Its a great idea.

Here are the Chapters in the book:

Chapter 1- Equipment Methods and Techniques

Chapter 2- Bacon

Chapter 3- Parties and Tailgates

Chapter 4- Burger Heaven

Chapter 5- Fatties for every occasion

Chapter 6- The Liquor Shelf

Chapter 7- International Barbecue

Chapter 8- Leftovers

Chapter 9- Wives Girlfriends and mistresses

Chapter 10-Desserts

There are lots of recipes and fun anecdotes to review. What a great book to own or to give as a gift.  I HIGHLY recommend this book for the recipes. It is not just some glossy book that will sit on the shelf and look pretty. The recipes are clear easy to understand and adaptable to any grill.

A while back I had the opportunity to interview Jason about the book and the whole phenomenon that is the Bacon Explosion:

Ill be posting that interview on the day the book is available for sale in May. It was a great interview.

Just a reminder this weekend i’ll be here for 3 demonstrations daily in the Traeger Grill ZONE!

Ill be doing demonstrations on:

• Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs stuffed with cream cheese, pimento, onions, garlic, & spices all wrapped in Bacon!
• MOINK Balls (Bacon wrapped meatballs rubbed & sauced!)
• Cajun & Pineapple juice injected pork loin sandwich with caramelized onions and grilled pineapple

Hope to see you there!