Our first competition this year is at the Roc City Rib Fest in Rochester, NY. On Saturday, the NEBS Competition is themed this year. This will be the home of the World Bacon Championship. Giddy Up boys and girls. Lots of pork going on here. Just imagine the smell that will be coming from Rochester when around 100 teams are cooking bacon at the same time. Mmmmm...
Anyway, there are four categories:
1. Plain Bacon in a Box. No rub, no sauce, no seasoning. Just your bacon, cooked, in a box. A mano a mano bacon throw down of porkilicious proportions. It boggles the mind. Doesn't it?
2. Wrapped in Bacon. Anything you want, wrapped in bacon.
3. Savory Bacon Dish.
4. Bacon Dessert.
Today, we will focus on category one, Plain Bacon...
I bought 2 pounds of uncooked heaven from our butcher, Dave's Country Meats this weekend for this R&D session of porktastic proportions...
Dave's bacon is the best in our opinion: not too salty, not too sweet, and just the right amount of smoke. It is the perfect canvas for our turn in box.
I fired up the smoker and brought it to a temperature of 375 F. Then, I added a few slices and cooked for 10 minutes, then flipped and cooked 10 more minutes. These slices came out the way that I like them: crispy.
Then it was time to experiment and taste as I went along. It is a tough job, but someone has to do it... ;)
A couple of slices here...
A couple of slices there...
A taste from every batch...
Just flipped...
Cooked to perfection, just before pulling...
Samples anyone?
What is the verdict? At 375 F, the best bacon was that which had 16 minutes of total cooking time with a flip halfway through. Flexible, but not limp. Some crisp, some chew. Bacon in this style had more taste than the totally crisp rashers.
Stay tuned for part two: Something Wrapped in Bacon...
Thanks for stopping by...
Bill
Anyway, there are four categories:
1. Plain Bacon in a Box. No rub, no sauce, no seasoning. Just your bacon, cooked, in a box. A mano a mano bacon throw down of porkilicious proportions. It boggles the mind. Doesn't it?
2. Wrapped in Bacon. Anything you want, wrapped in bacon.
3. Savory Bacon Dish.
4. Bacon Dessert.
Today, we will focus on category one, Plain Bacon...
I bought 2 pounds of uncooked heaven from our butcher, Dave's Country Meats this weekend for this R&D session of porktastic proportions...
Dave's bacon is the best in our opinion: not too salty, not too sweet, and just the right amount of smoke. It is the perfect canvas for our turn in box.
I fired up the smoker and brought it to a temperature of 375 F. Then, I added a few slices and cooked for 10 minutes, then flipped and cooked 10 more minutes. These slices came out the way that I like them: crispy.
Then it was time to experiment and taste as I went along. It is a tough job, but someone has to do it... ;)
A couple of slices here...
A couple of slices there...
A taste from every batch...
Just flipped...
Cooked to perfection, just before pulling...
Samples anyone?
What is the verdict? At 375 F, the best bacon was that which had 16 minutes of total cooking time with a flip halfway through. Flexible, but not limp. Some crisp, some chew. Bacon in this style had more taste than the totally crisp rashers.
Stay tuned for part two: Something Wrapped in Bacon...
Thanks for stopping by...
Bill
I put my nose to the screen and it smelled wonderful. Did I ever tell you that I like bacon.
ReplyDeleteI think the picture of the bacon socks gave it away...
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