Happy Valentines Day

                                         Happy Valentines Day from The BBQ Den

Valetines Day & Bacon

What better way to show your love on Valentines Day than with Strawberries, Chocolate and Bacon

This a great way to use up some of that candied Bacon. Stop at you local produce store and pick up some strawberries and some semisweet chocolate.

Clean the strawberries and set aside.
Crumble a few pieces of candies bacon,
Melt the chocolate chips
Dip the end of the strawberries in chocolate and roll in the candied bacon bits
Place on sheet of wax paper and let the chocolate dry
Enjoy

Can also be followed by...

Pig Candy

Pig Candy

 Sweet & Salty .This might sound a little off or different but if you have never tried it ,think of it as Addictive Deliciousness.


Ingredients:
1 lb bacon
1 cup brown sugar
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
¼ tsp black pepper

Directions:
Mix all ingredients in bowl. Rub mixture over both sides of bacon.

If using oven: Place on a wire rack over a cookie sheet. Line cookie sheet with tin foil and spray wire rack with cooking spray. Place in oven at 350F till desired crispiness.

On a BBQ: Place bacon on grill (indirect) at 350 F. Cook till desired crispiness.

                           Start with some of your favorite bacon.

                        Rub both sides with you brown sugar mixture

              Place on Grill over indirect heat till desired crispiness

                                              Voila , Pig Candy

More about BACON II

I would Like to tank everybody that came out to "More about  BACON" class at the LCBO in Windsor last night. Served up lots of tasty Bacon treats. Hope everybody that came out had a great time and a full belly. Any Bacon or BBQ questions please e-mail me : thebbqden@gmail.com

Jules

Make your own BACON

This week, it's all about  BACON

For starters to eat bacon you must make Bacon , so here we go

We started off with some fresh pork bellies that I picked up at Weston Abattoir .I ask for them skinned. I find that they soak up the smoke flavour better

To transform a pork belly to bacon the meat must first cured There is many different methods to cure bacon .I prefer the dry method

This is mine.....
I cut the bellies in 1/2 . easier to manage and bag up.
 Once they are cut the process begins ,
Mix up the Ready Cure curing salts, sea salt and sugar. Rub the mixture on each pork belly and seal them up in a Zip lock bag or Food saver bag. Make sure to remove all the air

In the Fridge they go for 6 days. Turning them daily

 After 6 days they come out of the bag and get rinsed in cold water to make sure all the cure mixture is removed. Before you smoke the bellies , you must make sure they are fully dry. I place them on a wire cooling rack in the fridge overnight so they form a pellicle on the outside of the meat. A pellicle forms as a result of the cure pulling water soluble proteins up to the surface of the meat. When these proteins dry , they form a shiny , sticky coating over the meat which will absorb the smoke much better.

  After the overnight dry time , it's time to get ready to smoke the bacon. For this i am using my  Pellet smoker ( Whole Hog ) using cherry wood pellets for smoke and flavour. Before putting the on . I like to rub them with maple syrup and sprinkle some black pepper on them

  Now we are ready to start smoking the bacon. On it goes till we reach an internal temp of 145 F.

Smoking all done , Off to the fridge they go for the night to firm up.

 Next day it is ready to slice.I like to put in freezer for 15 minutes to firm it up a bit more to help slice it. Once sliced into food saver vacuum bags and in the freezer they go.

Lamb Burgers

Looking in the freezer to find something for dinner Saturday night.  Found some lamb hamburger . Let make some stuffed  lamb burgers.

1-1/2 lbs of ground lamb ,
1 lbs lean ground beef ,
1/2 cup bread crumbs ,
1 tbs garlic salt
3 tbs smoked paprika
1 tsp of cumin.
Feta Cheese

Mixed up everything up , made the patties and stuffed some Feta Goats cheese in the middle. Sprinkle with salt & Pepper and on the Charcoal grill they go

 

 

15 minutes on the grill and ready for cheese

 

                                                                       Ready to eat.

Spring BBQ Class May 14

FROM THE SPRING BBQ PIT - $60
 

Tuesday, May 14                  6:30 – 8:30 PM

Pitmaster Jules Mailloux of the Roast ‘n’Toast Competition BBQ Team of the Canadian Southern BBQ Association ,returns to the kitchen with a menu of tasty crowd-pleasing recipes, sure to put a smile on the faces of your guests this season. Enjoy this menu and learn how to make Marinated, stuffed Grilled Portabellos and Grilled Lamb Kafta, served with Tzatziki; Smoked Mozzarella and Bacon-Stuffed Burgers, served with Grilled Tomatoes and Asparagus Salad; and Grilled Pineapple Upside-Down Cake.

For all the LCBO course info go to ,www.lcbo.com/learn/overview_edguide.shtml