Bacon... Carrots... Smoke...

[bmudd14474]

For some reason I have been for several months wanting to do a smoked carrot. Yes I may need some mental help. LOL

Well last weekend I decided to take some carrots and smoke them. Well I can't do them alone. In walks their friend bacon. Well what does bacon love? Thats right brownsugar and rub.

I mixed brown sugar and my rub then coated the bacon in it. Then I wrapped the carrots.

I smoked them at 250-275 for 1.5 hours until probe tender in the large part.

I feel like the time and temp were great for about 80% of the carrot. The larger ends were tender but not as much as I wanted.

What would I do different next time.

Well I would make sure they are uniformed in size. Thinking of going with the mini carrot and use similar size ones. If they are larger I will par cook them like you did with glazed carrots on the stove to get them a tad soft then wrap with bacon and smoke. I feel like if I smoked any longer the sugars would caramelize more and bacon will burn. Im not 100% sure on that as I could lower the temp some.

Needless to say I have more work to do.

Over all if you love carrots as I do this had a great glazed carrot flavor with the added joy of bacon.

Hope everyone enjoys.

Thanks

 

[tbern]

Sounds like a great idea!! Thanks for sharing it!

 

[chilerelleno]

That is a great idea for both carrots and parsnips.

I might suggest very similar in idea to you, cut the veggie into roughly uniform shape/size, parboil them, wrap in partially cooked bacon and finish on the grill.
For the glaze, I might incorporate the sugar and rub in honey or agave syrup and brush it on either before the bacon or atop.
Brushing it on before the bacon might help layer the flavors in a literal sense and help the bacon stick to the carrot.

 

[mosparky]

I eat carrrots but still not their biggest fan. This has the potential to change all that.
Please keep working on this and keep us up to date on the results.
This really could take me from take it or leave it to gotta have it.

 

[DRKsmoking]

I'm a fan of both items, this is a good idea.
Yes on the uniform size. either smaller or mini carrots
or maybe the par boil

either way , the flavor would be a great combo
and with the brown sugar and rub, nice

David

 

[jcam222]

Great idea! Tenderness aside I bet flavor is the bomb. I wonder if you took two carrots together in opposite directions and bound them with bacon if that would even the cooking?

 

[gmc2003]

Now that's something new, and it looks real good. Nice Job Brian. Now that you got my gears turning. How about if you did them up like pork shots. Then you could fill the cup up with almost anything.I'm thinking a horseradish cheddar with your glaze may fit the bill. Or maybe a pear onion would work well as a filling.

Point for sure
Chris

 

[chopsaw]

I know those are good . My Son has been doing them in the oven and I've done some on the grill . I'll have to try this method .

I wonder if you took two carrots together in opposite directions and bound them with bacon if that would even the cooking?

I was thinking the same . You could cross cut them in 2 and go thick to thin and wrap , or cross cut in 2 then rip the big end over it's length and wrap as 3 pieces of similar size .
I do that with boneless chicken breast .
I think I have some carrots , and I always have bacon .
Nice idea Brian .

 

[3montes]

Love smoked carrots and do them often. I usually put olive oil on them and whatever rub I feel like. Lately I've been using Oak Ridge BBQ Saigon 21 on them and it's off the hook I highly recommend it, It's a totally different flavor. I've never had much luck in bacon wrapping much of anything really. Either keeping it attached to whatever it's wrapped around or getting the bacon and the whatever it's wrapped around done without one or the other being burnt or under cooked.

Also I'll move the carrots to a aluminum pan after awhile. That way you can just shake the pan to turn them or have the option to cover the pan to steam them a bit at the end to reach the right tenderness.

 

[bmudd14474]

Love smoked carrots and do them often. I usually put olive oil on them and whatever rub I feel like. Lately I've been using Oak Ridge BBQ Saigon 21 on them and it's off the hook I highly recommend it, It's a totally different flavor. I've never had much luck in bacon wrapping much of anything really. Either keeping it attached to whatever it's wrapped around or getting the bacon and the whatever it's wrapped around done without one or the other being burnt or under cooked.

Also I'll move the carrots to a aluminum pan after awhile. That way you can just shake the pan to turn them or have the option to cover the pan to steam them a bit at the end to reach the right tenderness.

Hey bud. Long time no see. Glad to hear from you.

I like the finishing in an aluminum pan thought.



Thanks everyone else for your feed back. I definately see lots of experimenting with this moving forward.

 

[cmayna]

Looks fantastic. What kind of temps are used for carrots? Oops just saw 250-275 in the original post. Sorry about that........

 

[bmudd14474]

Looks fantastic. What kind of temps are used for carrots?

I kept it between 250-275° the whole time. I didn't want to burn them.