- Mar 27, 2014
- 23
- 11
Seen some inquires about smoking store bought packaged bacon, the non pre-smoked bacon.
I went ahead and smoked some bacon today to just see how it would turn out..
Product: I used Hormel Black Label Thick Cut Bacon.
Smoker: I have a Masterbuilt 30" Electric Smoker with the A-MAZE-N Pellet Smoker Tray set up in a mailbox with duct work to my smoker as my setup. Best purchase ever..
Smoker set to: 225 deg.
Time: 3-4 hrs
Pellets Used: Apple and Maple combined. Filled one row of the smoker tray.
Accessories: Eco-Foil Broiler pans measuring 8 1/2 X 11 1/2 X 1 1/8, these fit perfectly on the shelves of my smoker and come in a 4 pack for about $3. They have ribs in the bottom of the trays so the bacon did not sit in its own grease as the ribs keep the bacon elevated.. Really pleased at how this worked..
Being this is a 30" smoker and has 4 trays, I didn't want a mess of grease so I placed the bacon in the Aluminum disposable trays. I had to cut the bacon in half and was able to fit about 7 pieces or half pieces of bacon in each tray. 5 pieces side by side and 2 across the top..
I had 3 total trays and wanted to experiment so
Tray 1 I placed plain bacon nothing added..
Tray 2 bacon with brown sugar
Tray 3 bacon rubbed with brown sugar and bbq rub mixed together..
I rubbed a fair amount to each piece and each side of bacon, whatever would stick basically..
Tray 1 was placed at the 2nd level of the smoker.
Tray 2 was placed at the 3rd level of the smoker
Tray 3 was placed at the 4th level of the smoker
The top shelf was left empty.
After about 1 1/2 -2 hours I flipped each piece of bacon.
The bacon with the brown sugar and brown sugar and bbq rub were essentially done at the 3 hour mark.
The plain bacon I let cook for an additional hour because it wasn't quite done which I contribute to being higher in the smoker and thus temp might be slightly cooler, or the sugar causes the bacon to cook faster. Will reverse the order next time to see if that is true..
Conclusion: FANTASTIC. Being its thick bacon it is more chewier then it was crispy, the bacon with sugar with or without the bbq rub was like candy, almost had a carmel taste to it. The plain bacon was closer to being crispy..My neighbor said it was the best tasting bacon he ever had, suggested I stand out at my mailbox and sell it..lol
I put a bunch of string cheese in my mailbox set up to take advantage of the smoke, can't put in with the bacon as it would melt. So normally I put my pellets in the mailbox and put the cheese in the smoker and leave the smoker off.. I never have to worry about too much heat and the cheese melting..
I was able to shut off the smoker and smoke the cheese for an additional hour. Each row of pellets in the smoker tray gives roughly 4 hours of smoke time...
The pic of my smoker had a bacon wrapped meatloaf in it., Just not to confuse anyone..
Plain on the left, Brown Sugar middle, Brown Sugar BBQ Rub Right..
I went ahead and smoked some bacon today to just see how it would turn out..
Product: I used Hormel Black Label Thick Cut Bacon.
Smoker: I have a Masterbuilt 30" Electric Smoker with the A-MAZE-N Pellet Smoker Tray set up in a mailbox with duct work to my smoker as my setup. Best purchase ever..
Smoker set to: 225 deg.
Time: 3-4 hrs
Pellets Used: Apple and Maple combined. Filled one row of the smoker tray.
Accessories: Eco-Foil Broiler pans measuring 8 1/2 X 11 1/2 X 1 1/8, these fit perfectly on the shelves of my smoker and come in a 4 pack for about $3. They have ribs in the bottom of the trays so the bacon did not sit in its own grease as the ribs keep the bacon elevated.. Really pleased at how this worked..
Being this is a 30" smoker and has 4 trays, I didn't want a mess of grease so I placed the bacon in the Aluminum disposable trays. I had to cut the bacon in half and was able to fit about 7 pieces or half pieces of bacon in each tray. 5 pieces side by side and 2 across the top..
I had 3 total trays and wanted to experiment so
Tray 1 I placed plain bacon nothing added..
Tray 2 bacon with brown sugar
Tray 3 bacon rubbed with brown sugar and bbq rub mixed together..
I rubbed a fair amount to each piece and each side of bacon, whatever would stick basically..
Tray 1 was placed at the 2nd level of the smoker.
Tray 2 was placed at the 3rd level of the smoker
Tray 3 was placed at the 4th level of the smoker
The top shelf was left empty.
After about 1 1/2 -2 hours I flipped each piece of bacon.
The bacon with the brown sugar and brown sugar and bbq rub were essentially done at the 3 hour mark.
The plain bacon I let cook for an additional hour because it wasn't quite done which I contribute to being higher in the smoker and thus temp might be slightly cooler, or the sugar causes the bacon to cook faster. Will reverse the order next time to see if that is true..
Conclusion: FANTASTIC. Being its thick bacon it is more chewier then it was crispy, the bacon with sugar with or without the bbq rub was like candy, almost had a carmel taste to it. The plain bacon was closer to being crispy..My neighbor said it was the best tasting bacon he ever had, suggested I stand out at my mailbox and sell it..lol
I put a bunch of string cheese in my mailbox set up to take advantage of the smoke, can't put in with the bacon as it would melt. So normally I put my pellets in the mailbox and put the cheese in the smoker and leave the smoker off.. I never have to worry about too much heat and the cheese melting..
I was able to shut off the smoker and smoke the cheese for an additional hour. Each row of pellets in the smoker tray gives roughly 4 hours of smoke time...
The pic of my smoker had a bacon wrapped meatloaf in it., Just not to confuse anyone..
Plain on the left, Brown Sugar middle, Brown Sugar BBQ Rub Right..
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