MadCityJim
Knows what a fatty is.
Almost two weeks ago, on the Friday after the Bacon Throwdown was announced, I stopped by the Asian grocery and picked up a slab of pork belly.
I got it into a maple & brown sugar cure.
I pulled it out the following Thursday and rinsed it and set it back in the fridge to dry overnight.
I took advantage of some unusually cool weather and smoked it at 150 degrees for 5 hours last Friday.
Next I had to decide what to make with my slab of bacon. Tomatoes are just at their peek here in Wisconsin, so I immediately thought of a BLT. But I knew I had to kick it up a couple of notches. I headed off the farmers' market and picked up some sour dough bread, beefsteak tomatoes, and leafy green lettuce.
So I guess you need 5 things to make a BLT: Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, Bread, and mayonnaise. I've got everything covered except the mayonnaise. What is mayonnaise? It's just a fat emulsified with an acidic liquid via an egg yolk. Well I look in the panty and I've got vinegar; several types actually. And I have eggs of course. For the fat... wait a minute. I have that jar of bacon fat in the fridge... It's almost liquid at room temp. Maybe if I warm it to 80 or 90 degrees it will be liquid enough to make mayonnaise... Not Mayo... BACONNAISE! Yeah that's the ticket. Which vinegar? How about malt vinegar? Yeah, that will go perfect with the smoky flavor of the bacon fat.
So here we go. I use the stick blender to whip up the baconnaise. I fire up the ProQ to grill the bacon. You really need at least 2 stackers to grill bacon and keep it above the flare-ups.
I fire up the kettle to grill the tomatoes.
After the bacon is done, I butter the bread and then toast it on the ProQ.
I also wrap some bacon on dowels to make bacon straws for the Bloody Marys.
(Actually I did this while the bacon was grilling earlier)
And throw some bacon chunks, cherry tomatoes, and lettuce together onto toothpicks to make “BLT Bites” to put next to the Big Bad BLT.
Here’s everything together to make the “BIG BAD BLT PLATTER”
To make the BLT: spread the baconnaise on the bottom of the bun;
add a layer of leafy green lettuce;
and some lightly grilled tomatoes.
Then pile on the BACON!
Test fit the bun. (actually we paused after this picture to cut the bad boy in half. I held one side with one hand, my wife held the other (two hands) and I used the electric carving knife with my remaining hand…)
Top with another drizzle of baconnaise and then top with the top of the bun.
Put it on the plate with the BLT Bites and serve with a Bloody Mary garnished with Bacon Straws and Lettuce (the BLT theme again)
Here it is all put together:
Here I am taking a bite:
I hope you all enjoyed my photos. If you did, you really need to check out the BBQ Brethren “Bacon” Throwdown Thread:
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=91917
and vote for one of the entries.
Thanks,
Jim
I got it into a maple & brown sugar cure.
I pulled it out the following Thursday and rinsed it and set it back in the fridge to dry overnight.
I took advantage of some unusually cool weather and smoked it at 150 degrees for 5 hours last Friday.
Next I had to decide what to make with my slab of bacon. Tomatoes are just at their peek here in Wisconsin, so I immediately thought of a BLT. But I knew I had to kick it up a couple of notches. I headed off the farmers' market and picked up some sour dough bread, beefsteak tomatoes, and leafy green lettuce.
So I guess you need 5 things to make a BLT: Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, Bread, and mayonnaise. I've got everything covered except the mayonnaise. What is mayonnaise? It's just a fat emulsified with an acidic liquid via an egg yolk. Well I look in the panty and I've got vinegar; several types actually. And I have eggs of course. For the fat... wait a minute. I have that jar of bacon fat in the fridge... It's almost liquid at room temp. Maybe if I warm it to 80 or 90 degrees it will be liquid enough to make mayonnaise... Not Mayo... BACONNAISE! Yeah that's the ticket. Which vinegar? How about malt vinegar? Yeah, that will go perfect with the smoky flavor of the bacon fat.
So here we go. I use the stick blender to whip up the baconnaise. I fire up the ProQ to grill the bacon. You really need at least 2 stackers to grill bacon and keep it above the flare-ups.
I fire up the kettle to grill the tomatoes.
After the bacon is done, I butter the bread and then toast it on the ProQ.
I also wrap some bacon on dowels to make bacon straws for the Bloody Marys.
(Actually I did this while the bacon was grilling earlier)
And throw some bacon chunks, cherry tomatoes, and lettuce together onto toothpicks to make “BLT Bites” to put next to the Big Bad BLT.
Here’s everything together to make the “BIG BAD BLT PLATTER”
To make the BLT: spread the baconnaise on the bottom of the bun;
add a layer of leafy green lettuce;
and some lightly grilled tomatoes.
Then pile on the BACON!
Test fit the bun. (actually we paused after this picture to cut the bad boy in half. I held one side with one hand, my wife held the other (two hands) and I used the electric carving knife with my remaining hand…)
Top with another drizzle of baconnaise and then top with the top of the bun.
Put it on the plate with the BLT Bites and serve with a Bloody Mary garnished with Bacon Straws and Lettuce (the BLT theme again)
Here it is all put together:
Here I am taking a bite:
I hope you all enjoyed my photos. If you did, you really need to check out the BBQ Brethren “Bacon” Throwdown Thread:
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=91917
and vote for one of the entries.
Thanks,
Jim
