I bring you all briskets, pork butts, sauces, seasonings, internationally-inspired recipes… but it’s the bacon. It’s always the bacon. I’m pretty sure we’re somewhere around 100 recipes on this site by now, but always… the bacon. Hey, I love that y’all enjoy it. I hate the cleanup that’s involved in making it.. but we’re going to showcase it again here. And for good reason.
The recipe is the same as it was: The Candy Bacon. Years have gone by, presidents have changed – this recipe hasn’t. Get it over here, but we’re not reinventing the wheel. I’m just going to show you what 3 pounds of it looks like. I’m going to maintain that the marinade is important. Sure, those bottom slices are going to get beat up by the syrup, but the American Heart Association isn’t monitoring this site.
We’re layering it up. Bacon, Syrup, Rub, repeat. Keep stacking the bacon until yer done. The layering lets the rub/syrup penetrate doubly on both sides, and you’re getting a sugary, diabetic nightmare. Heart will hurt, your future cut short – but you’re eating bacon and you knew the consequences.
The next day, let’s fire up the RecTeq at 225. Bacon is easy, 225F for two hours with a flip halfway. Line them flavor sticks up, and brush with a little more syrup. Sprinkle on some brown sugar and we’ll see you in an hour.
Hour has passed, flip it on over and a syrup brush and a brown sugar sprinkle. Nowhere did I say this was healthy, I just said it was damn delicious. And it is.
I leave a block of text in between pictures to comment on the previous – but just take in that last picture. Enjoy it. And when you think you know what it tastes like, I welcome you to the next one.
The backstory: We had a monster limb come down in our yard. Big ol’ bastard. MrsForensicBBQ’s boss had a chainsaw and let us use it. That kind of neighborly kindness deserves an unrequested gift. As I posted on the Twitters some time ago, we don’t do cryptocurrencies, we barter in bacon in this household. MrsForensicBBQ said the candy bacon would be well received, so I shall gift. (Spoiler: It was well received).
Three pounds of brown sugar/syrup/bacon – what a disaster. This thing was sticky, thick, the drip tray was wrecked, the spout was caked.. what a mess. I spent a solid couple hours scrubbing, spraying, scraping, rubbing – name the technique, I did it. It was absolutely worth it to have generous friends to lend a hand when needed.
My clean method is the dry scrape, then the 450F burn. Let it cool, do another scrape – maybe a CitruSafe spray and rub (I did in this case) – scrape again, and another high temp burn. Once cooled, a third scrape and your next cook is the cleanest cook you’ve had. I’ve had this RecTeq Bull for going on a decade maybe? (You can tell by the emblems) Treat her right, it’ll treat you right.
Love for our FurensicBBQ contributors – We lost ’em both yesterday.
Here’s the recipe if you didn’t want to go click and search. Oh, before you scroll down and steal the recipe. Do yourselves a favor and sign up for the emails!
The Candy Bacon
Ingredients
- 1 Lb Bacon Smithfield Cherrywood
- BBQ Rub
- Maple Syrup
- Brown Sugar
Instructions
Marinade (Optional, Preferred)
- Take a long Tupperware container, put bacon strips on bottom. Brush with syrup, sprinkle with a little bit of BBQ rub. Repeat steps, stacking the bacon strips on one another. Put in fridge overnight or until ready to smoke.
Bacon Smoke
- Preheat smoker to 225 with Apple/Cherry wood
- Lay bacon out on frogmats or jerky racks and sprinkle some more BBQ rub and add some brown sugar to each.
- Place into smoker for 1 hour.
- Flip bacon, brush more syrup, add more brown sugar and smoke for another hour.
- Remove from smoker, and eat!