- 2 days ago
Get ready to spice up your next gathering with a treat that is impossible to resist! In this video, Chef John shows you how to make sweet and spicy cowboy bacon, a candied snack featuring thick-cut strips and fresh chili rings. This video demonstrates his technique for achieving the perfect balance of smoky BBQ flavor and heat.
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00:00Hello, this is Chef John from foodwishes.com with Cowboy Bacon.
00:08That's right, I'm going to show you my take on this spicy candied meat treat,
00:13which I thought was invented by food bloggers.
00:16But historically speaking, Cowboy Bacon was in Israel.
00:20It just wasn't candied and covered in pepper rings.
00:23And besides the bacon, I'm also going to show you the greatest Cowboy Belt Buckle ever.
00:28But first things first, and to get started, we'll go ahead and prep our pan,
00:32which means completely covering it with some heavy-duty foil,
00:35or I guess a couple strips of regular foil.
00:38And once that's been accomplished, we'll place over our baking rack,
00:42which is going to give our rendered fat a place to go.
00:44But if you don't have a rack, you can just use some crinkled-up foil,
00:48which will sort of serve the same purpose.
00:50But anyway, once that's prep, we'll start laying down our bacon strips,
00:54which should definitely be of the thick-cut variety.
00:56In fact, one of the original meanings of Cowboy Bacon was bacon-cut extra thick,
01:02which makes sense since they didn't have meat slicers.
01:04And they were probably slicing it up with honey knives.
01:08And if you do use something with a similar thickness,
01:11we'll be able to fit exactly one pound on this rack.
01:14And by the way, it's totally fine if a couple pieces are touching or slightly overlapping,
01:18since as you know, bacon shrinks when it cooks.
01:21And eventually, everything will be beautifully spaced.
01:24And that's it.
01:25Once our bacon's been laid out,
01:27we will transfer that into the upper center of a 375-degree oven for 10 minutes,
01:33at which point we'll pull it out,
01:36and we will flip that bacon over,
01:38and then we'll pop it back in for another 10 minutes,
01:40since one of the keys to a perfectly candied bacon
01:43is to cook it about halfway before we start brushing on our glaze.
01:48Right?
01:49That way, some of the fat's already been rendered out.
01:51And I really do think we end up with a much better texture
01:53than if we just started brushing on the glaze immediately.
01:57So once that bacon's flip,
01:58we'll go ahead and pop it back in for another 10 minutes.
02:01And while we're waiting,
02:02we can go ahead and mix up our glaze,
02:04which could not be any easier.
02:05And now we'll start with a packed quarter cup of brown sugar.
02:09And yes, I mean very well packed.
02:12All right, if the sugar doesn't hold the shape of the measuring cup,
02:14you didn't pack it hard enough.
02:16And then to that, we will add a little bit of barbecue sauce,
02:20or a dealer's choice,
02:22as well as some rice vinegar,
02:24or any vinegar.
02:25But rice is nice,
02:27since it's fairly neutral.
02:29And then we'll finish up with some freshly ground black pepper,
02:32as well as a little bit of garlic powder.
02:34And that's it.
02:35We'll take a whisk and give this a good mix.
02:38And no, I didn't forget the cayenne.
02:40Right, as you'll see,
02:41we're going to cover our bacon with spicy pepper rings.
02:44So I decided not to cayenne this time.
02:46But if you want it extra spicy, feel free.
02:49I mean, you are after all the Pecos Pete
02:51of your cowboy bacon's heat.
02:54But either way,
02:55our glaze is ready to brush on.
02:58But before we do,
02:59let me show you a little trick.
03:00Okay, if your bacon's curling up in spots,
03:02especially near the ends,
03:04we'll simply take some scissors and snip here and there
03:07to relieve the tension.
03:09And since my bacon was very well behaved,
03:11I only had to do that in a couple spots.
03:14And that's it.
03:15Once our meat's nice and flat,
03:16we'll go ahead and take our glaze
03:18and brush it on very generously,
03:20just on this one side,
03:22making sure we're covering the entire surface.
03:24And once that's been accomplished,
03:26we will pop that back in the oven
03:28for seven minutes,
03:29at which point we will pull it out
03:32and very carefully flip it over.
03:35And then we'll repeat that exact same glazing process
03:37on the second side.
03:39Oh, and I know I said to brush generously,
03:41but be a little bit careful
03:43not to lay it on too, too thick.
03:45All right, we're going to be glazing this multiple times.
03:48So we don't want to use it all up too early.
03:50And that's it.
03:51Once that second side is brushed,
03:53we'll pop that back in for another seven minutes,
03:55at which point we'll pull it out
03:57and flip it again.
03:59Except this time after we flip,
04:01we won't brush again.
04:03We will simply pop this back in the oven
04:04for about 10 minutes this time
04:06and give that glaze that's already on the bacon
04:08a chance to start to caramelize.
04:11And after about 10 more minutes in the oven,
04:12our bacon should look something like this.
04:15And we will give it yet another flip.
04:18And by the way,
04:19the pieces on the outside
04:20are always going to cook a little faster
04:22than the ones in the center.
04:23So if we want,
04:25we can take some of those more well-done pieces
04:26on the outside
04:27and switch them
04:29with some of the ones from the inside
04:30that might not be cooking quite as fast.
04:34And yes, that's a totally optional step.
04:36But if you do that,
04:37there's a chance you're going to get
04:38a more uniform cook.
04:40And since I've always been a big fan
04:41of uniform cooks,
04:42I went ahead and did that.
04:45But whether you rearrange or not,
04:47we'll go ahead and give this another brushing
04:48before we pop it back in the oven
04:50for another 10 minutes or so.
04:53And no, I certainly don't expect you
04:54to be keeping track
04:55of how many times we baked this
04:57and flipped it and brushed it.
04:59All right, all those steps
05:00are going to be in the written recipe.
05:01But basically, our game plan here is
05:04to keep glazing and flipping and baking
05:06until our bacon's close to being done.
05:09And at this point,
05:10I thought I was getting close.
05:11And when we do get to this point,
05:14we'll give our bacon one more brush.
05:16And then using that as a sort of glue,
05:19we'll place down our sliced chili rings.
05:21And I'm using both jalapeno and Fresno chili.
05:25And as far as placement goes,
05:26you can go green, red, green, red.
05:29Or if you prefer, red, green, red, green.
05:32And yes, as you can see,
05:34we definitely want to seed the peppers.
05:37Oh, and as you're placing these down,
05:38if you happen to grab a smaller ring
05:40that looks like it'll fit better
05:42on one of the thinner parts
05:43of the strip of bacon,
05:44you can always switch it out
05:45for the bigger one that's there.
05:47And then move that to a spot on a strip
05:49that's a little bit wider.
05:51And once we're happy
05:51with how every strip's been pepper ringed,
05:54we will pop those back in the oven
05:55for about 10 minutes or so
05:57before pulling them out
05:58and giving them the final glaze.
06:00And if everything's gone according to plan,
06:03we should be pretty much out of the glaze
06:05by the time this step's done.
06:07At which point we'll simply put them
06:08back in the oven until they look perfect.
06:12Meaning those chili peppers have become tender
06:14and our bacon's fully rendered
06:16and beautifully browned.
06:18And for me, about seven minutes later,
06:20my bacon looked like this
06:21and I decided it was perfect.
06:24And once it is,
06:25we simply need to let this cool to room temp
06:27before we serve it.
06:28But what I like to do
06:30is take it off the rack
06:31and transfer it onto a piece of parchment paper.
06:34Since sometimes if you let it cool on the rack,
06:36it will stick
06:36and the bacon will break or tear
06:38as you try to get it off.
06:39So I like to play it safe and transfer it.
06:42And we'll go ahead and let that cool completely.
06:45And yes, the ends are going to get a little bit charred
06:47if you cook it this far,
06:48which I really think you want to,
06:50to achieve the perfect candy bacon texture.
06:53And trust me, it's not going to taste burnt.
06:55It's going to taste amazing,
06:57which I will verify in a few seconds
06:59after I transfer this onto a serving platter.
07:02Oh, and it's probably not a bad idea
07:04to cut these in half before you serve them,
07:06just to make for a little more manageable bite.
07:09And it's probably best to do that
07:10when they're on the parchment paper,
07:12so you're not dislodging the rings underneath like I am.
07:15But anyway, that, my friends,
07:17was a perfect, perfect piece of candy bacon.
07:21And I'm not going to say this is crispy,
07:23because it's really not going to be
07:24when you do a sweet, sticky glaze like this.
07:27But it is completely and fully rendered,
07:29which gives us a texture
07:31somewhere between crispy and chewy,
07:33which we don't really have a word for.
07:35So I will just call it fantastic.
07:38And as I mentioned,
07:39I thought cowboy bacon
07:40was sort of a made-up thing.
07:42But as it turned out,
07:43bacon pretty much kept the cowboys alive,
07:45since they could cure it and smoke it
07:47and preserve it for a long time.
07:49Oh, and speaking of cowboys,
07:51for an alternative delivery system,
07:53after these are cut,
07:54you can actually place them vertically in a glass.
07:57And then if you have one of these
07:58authentic cowboy scorpion belt buckle belts,
08:01you can use that for your presentation,
08:03which I really think ties everything together nicely.
08:06And I would love to tell you the story
08:08about how I acquired this belt,
08:10but I can't,
08:11for a few more years at least.
08:13But no matter how you serve it,
08:15this spicy candied bacon
08:17will be the most popular,
08:19most talked about snack at your party,
08:21which is why I really do hope
08:23you give it a try soon.
08:25So please follow the links below
08:27for the ingredient amounts,
08:29a printable written recipe,
08:30and much more info as usual.
08:32And as always,
08:34enjoy.
08:36enjoy.
08:36enjoy.
08:36enjoy.
08:37enjoy.
08:37enjoy.
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