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Scrap Iron Chef's Bacon Recipe

Scrap Iron Chef's Bacon

Alton Brown

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

Rated: 5 stars out of 5Rate This RecipeRead users' reviews (22)

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Average Rating:

Total Reviews: 22

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  • on August 31, 2011

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    If you want a 5 star version, substitute maple syrup for molasses, brown for white sugar. Remember you can use ice for the rapid cool down instead of tap water. I like the salt increased by a quarter cup.

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  • on April 15, 2011

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    Absolutely love this recipe and it's easy to make. Alton is right... there is nothing like the taste of making your own bacon. I know that the recipe calls for no nitrates (Pink Salt but I usually add a little. I've made it with and with out. With out.... it will taste like bacon but won't have the "red" color that we are use to with bacon. With pink salt.... it will maintain the red color. Also, I used liquid smoke in my latest batch instead of actually cold smoking with great results. In my smoker, it's hard to control the temperature when it begins to warm up outside which gave me the idea of liquid. I got a huge "thumbs up" from the family.

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  • on November 12, 2010

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    My friends and I constructed our own version of the cold smoker based on Alton's design. We used a small cardboard box for the hot side and a U-Haul wardrobe box for the cold side. (Much easier than using metal boxes. We put together a really fun video that you can watch here:

    http://vimeo.com/16502428

    For     the cure I followed AB's recipe. For the wood shavings we used maple. It all came together pretty easily and the bacon was spectacular. We're already planning our next bacon smoking session.

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  • on September 17, 2010

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    Yeah it's not perfect but I build a cold smoker using a soldering iron, a flower pot, wood chips and my existing gas grill (Alton should be proud!.

    Pour some wood pellets from http://www.bbqrsdelight.com/ into a small flower pot. Place the flower pot on one side of the grill, as close to the bottom as possible, removing any grates in the way.

    Get an UNUSED soldering iron and put it into the flower pot. Use a rib rack to hold multiple slabs for smoking. Do it all in your grill. Pour in new pellets as needed. It works quite well. Try using different woods too.

    You would be surprised how much a difference that makes.

    One note about fire. The soldering iron gets red hot after a while, the flower pot gets burning hot and the pellets burn as embers for hours. When you're done, take in your bacon and leave everything else in the grill for hours, or better yet, overnight. But none of this creates enough heat to cook the bacon.

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  • on July 23, 2010

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    i love bacon!!!!
    i want alton to build one out of kitchen stuff and fans like the fruit!!! love this show!

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  • on July 18, 2009

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    I made bacon last month using this recipe, followed it to a "t" and it turned out excellent. I froze what I didn't use the first time, cut some up tonight and made BLTs - awesome! I don't own a cold smoker so I used a cheapo homemade version using the instructions on this website:

    http://www.smoker-cooking.com/build-a-cold-smoker.html

    I     used hickory chips this time, may try something different next time. I also did a blog about my experiences here:

    http://kitchenkungfu.wordpress.com/2009/06/21/makin-bacon-the-project/

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  • on April 27, 2009

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    I haven't tried making the bacon yet, but the tip about cooking it in this oven was great. I immediately tried the oven process after seeing this episode it turned out great. Thanks for the tip AB. Also does anyone have any recomendations for what wood to use?

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  • on April 18, 2009

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    The recipe on the show -- which I just watched -- is for two slabs of pork, while this one is for one slab of pork. Hence, the printed recipe uses half as much salt and sugar, etc.

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  • on April 04, 2009

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    In the show, the ratio was 2 cup salt, 2 cup sugar ... followed by the same.

    Here it is given as 1 cup salt, 1 cup sugar....

    ????

    I made the bacon in my Bradley Smoker simply laying the bacon on the racks. While the Bradley Smoker does cold smoke, it doesn't keep the temp down at 80 F unless it is really cold, and it isn't really cold now in Texas. However, this desire to keep such a tight control on the temp isn't reflected in other recipes for bacon:

    http://www.bradleysmoker.com/maple-cure-recipes.asp

    So     anyway, I made the brine with the double portions of salt and sugar as per the show. The result was too salty, so perhaps the show is in error. I didn't know this until after the bacon was smoked, but suspected most of the salt was on the surface. A rinse of the bacon fixed that problem, but lost the pepper.

    I am about to go it again, but will add a rinse step after the brine but before drying in front of a fan. I will continue with the higher ratios given in the show, because I really, really, really loved the result. Besides, if it just makes the cure a harder cure, that's good given the higher temps I am using to smoke the bacon.

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  • on January 18, 2009

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    i love this episode i think thay should run a 1 half day marathon of just good eats and i love the opening i time it when it says good eats if anyone agree's with me about the marathon just emal me my email is farcry332@live.com

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