Candied Smoked Chipotle Bacon
This is ingenuous. I've done catering for about 45 years now and just haven't thought to thread bacon on a skewer! Sometimes the obvious jumps ahead of us. I've threaded other things like bread dough, puff pastry, cheese pastry, fruit, more solid meats, veggies, fruit and cake, you name it. Never even thought to do bacon. Would be so ideal for a brunch buffet. You can stand it in a gorgeous pitcher or vase as a bacon centerpiece! lol I am off my rocker, but, I love the idea of this. Will definitely try it. I am not a chipotle lover though, so, it'll be a different flavor bacon for us. I'd like this with a black pepper bacon, and nix the black pepper in the recipe and use some red pepper flake maybe for an extra zing.
This is ingenuous. I've done catering for about 45 years now and just haven't thought to thread bacon on a skewer! Sometimes the obvious jumps ahead of us. I've threaded other things like bread dough, puff pastry, cheese pastry, fruit, more solid meats, veggies, fruit and cake, you name it. Never even thought to do bacon. Would be so ideal for a brunch buffet. You can stand it in a gorgeous pitcher or vase as a bacon centerpiece! lol I am off my rocker, but, I love the idea of this. Will definitely try it. I am not a chipotle lover though, so, it'll be a different flavor bacon for us. I'd like this with a black pepper bacon, and nix the black pepper in the recipe and use some red pepper flake maybe for an extra zing.
- Carbohydrate 9.34048000773924 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 0.00323 g
- Fiber 0.119466663360596 g
- Protein 0.0216700000094679 g
- Saturated Fat 0.000910833333333333 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (10g)
- Sodium 2.64233333554252 mg
- Sugar 9.22101334437865 g
- Trans Fat 0.00128216666666667 g
- Calories 36 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set a cooling rack on top (I just used a disposable aluminum foil tray with ridges for easy clean up).
- In a shallow dish, mix sugar, cinnamon, and black pepper. Dip bacon slices in the sugar mixture, coating both sides, and thread each strip of bacon onto a wooden skewer. Place the bacon skewers on the rack.
- Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the bacon appears to be caramelized and crispy. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Threading thick strips onto wooden skewers prevents curling during cooking by forcing the meat to maintain a straight profile as fat renders out. Standard baking sheets warp under direct heat, meaning a rimmed foil-lined tray fitted with an elevated cooling rack is essential for allowing air circulation underneath each piece. Without that elevated airflow, dripping sugars pool and burn before the proteins achieve the desired rigidity.
Sucrose from light brown sugar undergoes the Maillard reaction when exposed to oven temperatures set at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, bonding with amino acids in the pork proteins to generate complex savory and sweet flavor compounds. Cinnamon introduces volatile aromatic oils that cut through the heavy porcine richness, balancing the dense saccharine coating without overpowering the natural smoke profile of the meat.
Timing requires close observation between twenty-five and thirty-five minutes, as the transition from properly caramelized to scorched sugar happens rapidly due to the high fructose content. Thick-cut slices are mandatory because thin cuts overcook before the sugar crust can fully set and harden into a brittle shell upon cooling.
Allowing the finished skewers to rest at room temperature lets the molten sugar matrix recrystallize into a stable, glass-like coating that shatters cleanly when bitten. Storing them in a sealed container destroys this crispness by drawing ambient moisture back into the sugar, so immediate consumption or short-term holding on a dry wire rack yields the best textural contrast.
