Baconfest Chicago is coming up in April, and the festivities include an amateur bacon cookoff. I entered with a dish that takes bacon and makes it into barbecue: Bacon Burnt Ends. Slab bacon, coated with a barbecue rub, smoked for hours, and then tossed with a tangy glaze. Like brisket burnt ends, the end result is an intense experience, smoky and spicy, fatty and delicious. Unlike brisket burnt ends, Bacon Burnt Ends are made from bacon, and that makes all the difference in the world.
Before I get to the recipe, I have to beg a little bit: I could use your votes to get to the finals of the cookoff. Just look for my name, Chuck Falzone, in the poll at the bottom of this page: http://baconfestchicago.com/2012-nueskes-amateur-bacon-cookoff-please-vote (http://baconfestchicago.com/2012-nueskes-amateur-bacon-cookoff-please-vote). Thanks!
So here's the recipe:
1 lb. slab (i.e. unsliced) bacon, rind removed
Yellow mustard
For the spice rub:
20g kosher salt
10g black pepper
7g brown sugar
16g paprika
6g ground ancho pepper*
6g ground guajillo pepper*
pinch ground cayenne pepper (to taste, or leave it out; I put in less than a quarter tsp.)*
8 g coriander seeds, toasted briefly in a hot pan ('til you can begin to smell them), then ground
2 tsp. dried sage
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
(This makes quite a bit more rub than you'll need for this recipe; use the extra for other barbecuing. And I know, I'm mixing weight and volume measures. I prefer weights, but the last few ingredients are too light for my scale to deal with well.)
For the glaze:
2 oz. brown sugar
1 oz. bacon drippings
2 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. spicy brown mustard
2 tsp. fish sauce**
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. ground ancho pepper*
1 tsp. ground guajillo pepper*
pinch ground cayenne pepper (to taste, or leave it out)*
Combine all the spice rub ingredients and mix well. Cut the bacon into two half-pound pieces. Coat them with a thin layer of yellow mustard, then lay on a generous coating of spice rub on all sides of the bacon.
Place the bacon in a 200°F smoker, using hickory for the smoke, until the internal temperature of the bacon reaches 180°. (Around 4 hours).
While the bacon is smoking, prepare the glaze. Melt the bacon drippings in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the other glaze ingredients and whisk to combine. Cook, stirring now and then, until the sugar is completely dissolved, then turn off the heat. Heat it back up over low heat when the bacon is close to ready.
When the bacon hits 180°, remove it from the smoker and immediately cut it into one inch cubes. Toss the cubes with the glaze and serve right away.
*A note on chiles: I use ground chiles from http://www.thespicehouse.com/ (http://www.thespicehouse.com/). Their Ancho has no heat at all and their Guajillo is very mild, so all the heat is coming from the Cayenne. So leave it out or adjust the amount up or down as you like. As written, it's just a little tingle, but probably a bit much for kids.
**A note on fish sauce: this Southeast Asian condiment is easy to find around here, but may be less available in some places. A Thai restaurant might be willing to sell you some if you can't find it in stores. You can also buy it from Amazon, but it's more expensive there than it ought to be. There is really no suitable substitute.
Pics!
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LkCg97W-L9w/T0RHRIWzgWI/AAAAAAAAFCU/Qdm9RWU3ENg/s640/image)
Wow! What an amazing idea! Looks delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
This looks good. I have grilled fresh pork belly, but haven't though of grilling bacon like this. This board has some recipes so you can cure you own bacon, and you can take that wonderful recipe up another notch. :)
Voted, Looks good!!!
Looks great Chuck and welcome to the forum. 8)
Let's get voting everybody!
I just checked and Chuck is falling behind.
Vote!
Mike
Just voted! Thanks for sharing the recipe and posting the link for The Spice House. I just ordered a few things I was looking for!
Done!
Ditto
Done.
Thanks, guys! Re: the Spice House, their products are really high quality, and cheap compared to grocery store prices. Get all my herbs and spices there (I happen to live near one of their retail stores).
You got one
More!! DONE.
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nice !!!
2 of my favs. bacon and bbq
another vote in
That looks great! Voted for ya
Ya got my vote.
Voted for you ---good luck!
Yum and you got it!!
Jim
Holy cow! I made the finals!
http://baconfestchicago.com/the-5-nueskes-amateur-bacon-cook-off-finalists-for-2012-are (http://baconfestchicago.com/the-5-nueskes-amateur-bacon-cook-off-finalists-for-2012-are)
Thanks for all your votes!
That's great! Best of luck!!
Congrats!
Jim
Congratulations!