How about cherry smoked bacon?
Yo to all, I posted this recipe/technique about 20 years ago on Ray Basso's BBQ Forum. That was also about the last time I ever fried bacon as well. Here is the recipe and cooking instructions:
First thing is set up the kettle properly for indirect cooking. If you look at the vents at the bottom of the kettle you want the V to face the wind. This assures even air flow so both sides of the coals burn at the same rate. I use two-thirds of a Weber charcoal chimneys worth of charcoal for the cook. You will want to make two rows of coals so that they are running the same direction of the wind. I don't use a waterpan inside the kettle, but I would suggest you line the ash catcher with aluminum foil to catch the grease.
While the coals are getting started, clean the cooking grate and get the bacon prepped. I cut the fatty ends off the bacon strips and freeze them for mixing with venison for grinding burger when deer season is over. I prefer thick cut bacon and lay out individual strips perpendicular to the rods on the grates. (Of course if you go the other way the bacon will fall through.....) You should be able to get one pound of bacon on a 22" kettle.
Once the fire is ready, and coals have been placed in two parallel rows on the outer edges of the kettle, add some wood chunks of your favorite smoking wood on top of the coals. My wood of choice for this is cherry. Place the cooking grate on the kettle and make sure that no part of the bacon is directly over the coals. Otherwise, you will have a grease fire. Make sure that the lid to the kettle is secured and sealed. If it pops open the bacon will cook too quickly and not get the smoke flavor or possibly worse - burn!
Wait about 12-15 minutes and check the bacon to see if it has started to color from the smoke. If it looks like it is, go ahead and flip each piece. I find it is easier to do this by removing the cooking grate and placing it on a work table. If it looks like some pieces are cooking faster than others, I rearrange their placement on the grill. Before returning the grate to the kettle, I may add a couple more wood chunks to the coals. Place the lid on the kettle and in ten minutes check the bacon and see how close it is to being done. Some pieces maybe ready and just take them off. The ones that are still not done will be done soon, so keep and eye on them closely. There is a short time frame between done and over cooked. Generally, cooking time is anywhere from 25 to 35 minutes. You should have enough charcoal burning to do another batch if you want and after trying this once, you probably will because this stuff is GOOD!
One other trick you can do with this recipe is use a double cooking grate. This allows you to cook two pounds of bacon at one time. Place the bottom cooking grate with bacon so the handles are over the coals as you would usually do. Take another cooking grate and turn it upside down so the the handles are on the bottom. These handles will be running 90 degrees from the handles the bottom cooking grate. The bacon will be placed on the top grill so that there are two rows of four strips on each side of the middle support rod for the cooking grate. (I wish I could post pictures to make this easier to relate to the folks reading this.)
Cooking time is just a little longer with this method of using a double grill. The double grill works great for cooking burgers, and chicken parts if you have a large crowd. Except for grilling steaks, I always use the indirect cooking method when I use the kettle.
The beauty of this recipe is that the cooked bacon will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks, if it lasts that long. It takes about 20 seconds to reheat it in the microwave. I have even reheated it in the skillet. When my ex and I split up 20 years ago, she called me one night and complained about this recipe. Apparently she had fried some bacon for the boys that morning and they refused to eat it. They all said it did not tasted like daddy's bacon.
Lager,
Juggy
