re: SUBMISSION Thread for F&DB Bacon Challenge August 17, 2021

Applewood Bacon, Maple-Bourbon Caramel, Butter Pecan Popcorn


Popcorn
Bacon
Bourbon
Brown sugar
Maple syrup
Baking Powder
Vanilla Extract
Pecans
Butter
Salt
Ancho chili powder
Cayenne


Coat Pecans with melted butter, sprinkle liberally with salt and roast @ 350°F until toasted. Remove, sprinkle with ancho & cayenne, allow to cool, and reserve for future use.


Meanwhile, cut the bacon and render it over medium high heat until lightly crispy. Reserve the oil for popping the corn.


Heat the reserved bacon fat and pop the corn in batches. Sprinkle with salt immediately after removing from heat.


Meanwhile, Melt butter over medium heat. Mix in brown sugar, corn syrup and salt and then stir until boiling at the edges. Lower the heat slightly and let boil until the caramel is 250°F. Remove from heat and add the baking soda and bourbon. Once fully incorporated, stir in the bacon and pecans.

Divide the popcorn into two very lightly greased roasting pans and coat with the caramel. Mix well and then put the popcorn into the preheated oven for about 45 minutes to an hour, mixing every 10-15 minutes so the kernels of popped corn are coated in caramel. Once done, pour onto either parchment paper or wax paper to cool.


Bowl it up and enjoy!

quote:

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Benton's Smoky Mountain Hams

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I order from them annually. The best bacon for cooking vegetables with.

csb. My last order, I thought the shipping price was sorta high at $30. I shrugged and thought, oh well, COVID. When my order arrived it had a hand written personal check signed by Allen Benton for over payment of shipping. The check smells like hickory smoke. Not many honest businessmen out there as there used to be these days. I'll be his customer for life.

I could see myself making that.

There are some heavy hitters in this challenge.

The thread starts out solid,


Gets a little creative,


Then very technical,


A little obscene!


No challenge is complete without at least one beverage!


Guilty pleasures!


And finally a creative dessert!!!


Another great showing by all who entered!

Cuban Sandwich, Bacon Croquettes & Daquiri

Obviously going with a Cuban theme here. Decided to make a cuban sandwich, except added some pork belly. Purchased a pork shoulder from the store and a small slab of pork belly. Marinated in what's called a mojo.

Mojo
zest & juice of 2 oranges
zest & juice of 4 limes
8 cloves garlic
1/4c fresh oregano
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp black pepper
1/4c evoo
kosher salt


Get that mixed all together. Trimmed most of the fat off the pork to get as much of that mojo touching the flesh. Vacuumed sealed the shoulder and pork belly. Reserve 1/3 of the mojo for later. Wife said it smelled amazing, but we'll never really know. I let this go overnight.





The next day around 10:00am I put them both in the oven @ 250. Was having guests over to eat so I was aiming for 6:00 eat time. Once they both hit 200 internal I pulled them, It didn't take as long as I thought. I shredded the pork and mixed in the reserved mojo. Added chopped cilantro and 1/4c mint.


As a side I went with one of my favorite dishes, a croquette. Traditionally with jamon, I substituted bacon. Kirklands finest of course.

4tbsp butter (I used my rendered bacon fat)
1/4c evoo
1 "scant" cup flour
1med onion
1/4gal milk, room temp
1 pinch nutmeg
1/2lb bacon, diced small
flour, egg, panko for breading

Started by crisping that bacon. After removing some of the bacon fat I sautéed the onions. When done I added the nutmeg and bacon back into the pan. Started mixing in the flour little by little. Yall know the drill, it's like a roux. Once it's all incorporated, start mixing in the milk slowly. This is where your arm will get tired, it takes about 20 min and gets pretty thick. The final consistency will be like pizza dough. Once done let cool to room temperature. Place in a buttered bowl and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.





When the batter has had plenty of time to cool and you're ready to cook. Get your flour, egg and panko ready. Honestly this part takes a while and if I did it over again would have started earlier. Anyway roll them in little logs and start frying. Let me tell you these things were incredible, but in hindsight used more bacon or maybe a different kind or smoked some.






Time to assemble our sandwiches. Sliced some bread in half, dijon mustard on both sides, layered some thin sliced Boars Head, then pickles, pulled pork, pork belly and finally swiss cheese. I gave it a good press on the blackstone for some crunch.



Not the best money shot though


Finally, and not to be considered in voting we had to make some Daquiri's to go with it all.

Incredibly talented group on the FDB. Thanks for all your hard work.

Late entry and I haven’t even looked at the thread yet but I don’t expect to win...

My entry: Bacon wrapped Anaheim peppers stuffed with bacon/pimento cheese



Eta: I missed the last challenge so I decided to double down and use peppers within the bacon challenge

I ran out of time again, but here is a dish I made for a pork themed dinner. It’s Chicken fried bacon over a jalapeño cheddar waffle with a crystal hot sauce and maple syrup reduction. It was quite good.