Pig Candy

You have seen it before.  You have the smoker fired up and friends over.  But, good BBQ takes time and your guests, no matter how hard they try, cannot live on beer alone.  What is a host to do to keep the hungry masses at bay?  I give you Pig Candy.

Pig Candy is the pitmasters term for candied bacon.  It is easy to make and loved by all.

So, what do you need?

Bacon
Brown Sugar
BBQ Rub

As for choosing your bacon, a thick cut is better.  It increases the meat to sweet ratio, is easier to handle, and doesn't fall apart during the kneading stage (more on that later).  We buy our bacon from our butcher, Dave's Country Meats.  the bacon is leaner than most, not too salty, not too sweet, and kissed lightly with hickory smoke.  This bacon has a nice thicker slice, between 1/8 and 1/4 of an inch.

I took about a 1/2-3/4 of a pound of this beautiful pork product and placed into a plastic bag with 1/2 cup of brown sugar mixed with three tablespoons of Oakridge Beef and Pork rub.  I like this rub because it has a bit of a kick, but you can use whatever you have on hand.  Pig candy is actually a good way to get rid of that last little bit of rub in the jar.

At this point, I seal the bag with a lot of air inside.  Then, I shake it up to distribute the sugar and rub mix evenly across the bacon.  Then, I just put it on the counter and walk away for about 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, the sugar and rub mix has started to pull the moisture from the meat, creating a gooey mess.  This is when you let the air out of the bag, seal tight, and start to knead.  You have to knead the bacon for about 10 minutes to ensure that the sugar rub mix is evenly coating the bacon.

Then, head out to the smoker and spread your bacon out on a rack to cook.  Cook times vary with the temperature that you are smoking at and the thickness of the bacon.  I was smoking at 225 F.  So this batch took about 1 hour.  At 250 F, it takes about 45 minutes and about 30 minutes at 300 F.

Pull the bacon from the smoker, put on a plate, and get out of the way before you get trampled in the stampede.

I have seen certified health nuts polish off half of a plate once they get a bite.  Slightly crisp bacon, sweet and savory, what is not to like.  Don't have a smoker?  Don't worry.  You can make this in your oven on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  You don't even need the parchment paper.  But, you will have the scrape the melted sugar off of the sheet at the end.  Maybe that is not so bad.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

Spicy and Nutty Pig Candy

For those of you in the BBQ world, Pig Candy is a nice treat.  It is something you throw on your smoker while your ribs or brisket is cooking as an appetizer to keep the hungry masses at bay.  Basically, you just take 1/2 cup of brown sugar with 1-2 Tbsp of your favorite BBQ rub, and throw it in a bag with a pound of bacon.  Then, you kneed the bag until it becomes a big sticky mess.  Then, you place the bacon on your smoker until cooked.  I have seen certified health nuts devour a half of a plate at one time.  It is that addictive.

So, imagine what I thought when I saw this recipe for Bacon Bark on Pinterest.  Off to the R&D smoker we go...

I have heavily modified this recipe to fit the tastes of a BBQ addict and to fit being cooked in a smoker.  But, the essence is there.

First, I took the six strips of bacon and cut into one inch pieces.  To that I added 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 2 tsp of Oakridge BBQ Secret Weapon Pork and Chicken Rub, and a pinch of cayenne pepper.  I put it in a bowl, mixed it up, and set it aside to get gooey.  Once gooey, I spread into a single layer on a foil lined cookie sheet.

I placed my cookie sheet in my smoker at 350 F for 15 minutes with hickory wood in the ash pan for smoke flavor.  While this was cooking, I made the nut mixture.

I placed 1 cup of gently chopped pecan halves and 1 cup of slivered almonds into a bowl and mixed with:

2 Tbsp maple syrup
3 tsp of Oakridge BBQ Secret Weapon Pork and Chicken Rub
1 heavy pinch of cayenne pepper

I then thoroughly mixed until uniform.

Then, I brought my bacon from the smoker inside and mixed with the nuts.  Here is what the bacon looked like after 15 minutes on the smoker.

Then I spread the bacon nut mix back onto the cookie sheet and back into the smoker for 20 minutes at 350 F with more hickory wood in the ash pan.

Then, I brought it inside and let cool.  Hope was gracious enough (and patient enough), to separate the candied mix from the foil.

What we ended up with was a beautiful tasty treat.  Savory, sweet, and salty mixed perfectly with nutty bacon goodness.  This is a great snack for the holidays.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

Pig Candy with Vanilla Hot Fudge Sundae

Pig Candy?  On ice cream?  Why not!  What is Pig Candy?  Let me show you...  ;)

First, you take bacon and place it in a plastic bag with brown sugar and the rub of your choice.  Then, you toss it around and massage the bacon until it becomes a big sticky mess.  Usually, it is about 1/2 cup or sugar to 1 tbsp of rub.  This time, I used some of my homemade bacon and for the rub, I used Dizzy Pig Pineapple Head rub as I thought it would go well with the vanilla ice cream...

On to the smoker at 250 F...

30-40 minutes later you have Pig Candy...

It is basically crispy, candied bacon.  It works as a good appetizer to keep the natives happy until dinner is ready.  This stuff was chopped and used as a topping on ice cream...

A little bit a caramel, a little bit of fudge, a little bit of piggy sprinkles...  It was great.  The pineapple taste from the rub was perfect.  I won't do this often, but I will be doing it again for sure.

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill