Bacon, How-to, by Alton Brown

Authentic & Award Winning BBQ Catered Cuisine. Buffet Style Catering to Southern California
We Cater Specifically to Weddings, Wedding Receptions, Private Parties, & Corporate Events

Recipes, BBQ & Other

Scrap Iron Chef's Bacon

FoodTV Recipe - Scrap Iron Chef's Bacon
Saw this recipe on-air on 01/23/2002 at 1:00 PM

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

1	cup sugar
1	cup salt
8	ounces molasses
1/2	gallon (2 quarts) water
1/2	gallon (2 quarts) apple cider
2	tablespoons course ground black pepper
1	(5 pound) piece raw pork belly from the lion end

Make a brine in a large non-reactive pot. Bring 1 quart of water, 1 cup of sugar, salt, and 8 ounces molasses to a boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Pour into a large container the remaining 1 quart of water, and the apple cider. Place in the refrigerator and cool to 40 degrees F.

Press the black pepper into the pork belly. Once the brine has cooled place the peppered pork belly into the mixture until completely submerged. Refrigerate for three days.

After three days have passed, remove the pork from the brine and pat dry with paper towels. Lay on a rack over a sheet pan and place in front of a fan for 1 hour to form a pellicle.

Hang, or put somehow, the pork bellies in the cooking section of a cold smoker and smoke for 4 to 6 hours. Alton pulled his when the Polder hit 80 degrees which happened to coincide at 6 hours. He indicated do not go above 80 degrees. He also basically made a smoker out of three adjacent cloths type lockers. The locker on the extreme right had an upside iron with a tin pan of wood chips sitting on it. The iron plugged in created enough heat to cause the chips to smoke. He then had from the bottom of
the locker a 5 inch hole. From the middle locker he had Cloths dryer type venting tube connected to that hole and twisted and doubled, like spaghetti, with a length of probably 10 - 12 feet, all shoe-horned into the middle locker. He then had a hole in the middle locker, in the middle, that exited to the locker on the left. The one containing the hanging bacon slabs. He then from the left locker mounted a battery operated fan over the hole from the middle locker and pulled through the it the smoke from the right locker, or the smoker, into the left locker, the meat chamber. The reason for all of this is that the smoke had to be COLD. Passing through all the dryer ducting in the middle locker allowed smoke that entered hot to exit cold into the meat chamber.

Chill the meat in the freezer for 1 hour to stiffen for easy slicing into strips of bacon. Slice what you need and keep the remainder in a freezer safe bag in the refrigerator or
freezer.

Place the strips of bacon onto a sheet pan fitted with a rack and place into a cold oven. Turn the oven to 400 degrees and cook for about 12 to 15 minutes, depending on
how crispy you like your bacon. Remove from rack and drain on paper towels. Enjoy.

Yield: approximately 4 pounds of bacon
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 6 hours
Difficulty: Expert

     BBQ, barbecue, barbeque, Bar-B-Q, Bar-B-Cue, bar b q, bbq, BBQ sauce, BBQ glaze, glaze, BBQ rub, smoked BBQ, smoking meats, smoking meat, smoked meats
     Catering, caterers, cater, catering company, catering companies, California catering, on site catering, Southern California catering, So. Calif. catering, Southern, California BBQ catering, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, Southern California, San Fernando Valley, Encino, Santa Clarita, Valencia, Canyon Country, Acton, Agua Dulce, Lancaster, Palmdale, Woodland Hills, Chatsworth, Van Nuys, the Valley, Magic Mountain, Mojave, Saugus, Burbank, Santa Clarita, Simi Valley, Antelope Valley
     BBQ, birthday parties, wedding parties, vending events, super bowl, memorial get together, send off party, superbowl party, new years party, new years parties, charitable events, Twentynine Palms, Camp Pendleton, Marines, Q-Fest, on site, on-site
     Award winning meats, smoked, beef tritip, chicken, baby back ribs, St. Louis cut pork ribs, pork spare ribs, pulled pork, pulled pork shoulder butt, pork butt, pulled pork sandwiches, shredded, sliced, pulled beef brisket, brisket, ribs, pork, Italian sausage, hot sausage, mild sausage, links, sausage, turkey, skirt
     Award winning BBQ sides, BBQ beans, dirty rice, Spanish rice, garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, potato salad, macaroni salad, garlic bread, smoked corn on the cob or niblet, Asian sesame nutty coleslaw
      Recipes, BBQ recipes, Smoking recipes, BBQ smoking recipes, barbecue recipes, barbeque recipes, recipe, Peoples choice, 5 Star, Fancy Glaze, BBQbyDan Rub, BBQ Sauce, Barbecue Sauce, Barbeque Sauce, Glaze, marinade, baste, basting, brine, season, dry rub, BBQ rub, barbecue rub, barbeque rub, wet ribs, dry ribs, sweet sauce, vinegar, sour and sour sauce
     Out of this World BBQ seasonings, Out of this World BBQ Sauce, where the sauce is the boss, Todd Eves, OTW, Out of this World BBQ rub, seasonings, rubs, sauces, purchase, Out of this World BBQ products
     Award winning, world championship, cooking classes, smoking, slow cooking, slow smoking, low and slow, water smoker, how to
     Weber Bullet, Weber Smokey Mountain, Weber Kettle, Dave Klose Smoker, Klose Pit, Ole Hickory Smoker, New Braunsfel, black diamond, heating element, tuning plates, vertical smoker, horizontal smoker, rotisserie, smoking trailer, catering trailer, KCBS, Kansas City BBQ Society, California BBQ Association, CBBQA, Southern California BBQ Association, SCBBQA, BBQ Smoker, BBQ Contest, BBQ Cook-Off, American Royal, Invitational, Open, Jack Daniel's, Memphis in May, Go for the Gold, Surf and Turf, Imperial Beach, Follows Camp, Azusa, sanctioned
     Smoking wood, hardwood, oak, hickory, pecan, mesquite, lemon, charcoal, Kingsford, apple hardwood, lump charcoal
     The best barbecue in Los Angeles, the best barbecue in Southern California, the best barbecue in So. Calif., the best barbecue in California the best barbecue in the world, the best BBQ catering in California, the best BBQ in Los Angeles, the best BBQ in Southern California, the best BBQ in So. Calif., the best BBQ in California the Best BBQ in the world, the best Barbeque in Los Angeles, the best barbeque in Southern California, the best barbeque in So. Calif., the best barbeque in California, the best barbeque in the world, the best barbecue sauce in the world, the best bbq sauce in Los Angeles, the best BBQ sauce in California
     Coyote Road Kill, CRK, BBQbyDan, BBQDan, BBQ competition cooking team "Grand Champions" (1st place overall) in California, 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place tritip, chicken, pulled Pork, Brisket, and Sausage (BBQbyDan recipe). Reserve Champions in Arizona. BBQDan, Dan Cannon, Dan and Barbara Cannon, www.BBQDan.com, www.BBQbyDan.com
     Fine Dining, Low Carb, lo carb, Atkins friendly, low carb BBQ, lo carb BBQ, lo carb barbeque, low carb barbeque, lo carb barbecue, low carb barbecue, fine dining in Los Angeles
12-July-2004 17:56:10

" 'BBQbyDan' / BBQbyDan.com / BBQDan.com / CRK Specialty 'Q' / 'Team Coyote Road Kill' " Copyright © 2003 by [Dan Cannon]. All rights reserved. Revised: 12 Dec 2007 12:53 .

" 'BBQbyDan' / BBQbyDan.com / BBQDan.com
/ CRK Specialty 'Q' / 'Team Coyote Road Kill' "
Copyright © 2003 by [Dan Cannon]. All rights reserved.
Revised: 12 Dec 2007 12:53 .