First attempt at 'Bacon Burnt Ends' - Meh...

[SGMan]

Im on the tail end of my first attempt at some bacon burnt ends (that of course I stumbled across on the interwebs)

After thoroughly enjoying some (first time) chucky burnt ends, I thought I would try my hand at these bacon candies. Of course everything is a learning experience for the good or the bad...

For starters, I wasn't able to source a bacon slab like I had anticipated. So, I went to my local farmers market and grabbed some of their sliced bacon slabs.
All appeared to be going to plan but I found it odd that they sliced easily until I got to the 'skin'. Hence my issue with them now... Apparently this bacon slab still has the skin (or a layer of it)

2 hours into the cook/smoke at 250+ on my MES30 and they initially carmelized 'okay' so I sauced them in the pan. Before I tossed them in my BBQ/Glaze I wanted to try one (or two) and they were 'almost' heaven - until you get to that rubbery/almost inedible skin on the end of them. I had to spit it out (twice) when sampling these supposed bacon candies, and I fear that the whole batch will end like this.

Grrrrg... And my chucky burnt ends are gone.
Looks like these might be gifts.

Unless they render amazing all of a sudden, but I doubt it. :(
*Note to self* Source better starting product.

 

[smokerjim]

can't you just cut the skin off

 

[SGMan]

can't you just cut the skin off

Well yeah...

*If* I had foreseen this to be an issue before I started the cook. The problem was the fact that these were (apparently) cheapish slab bacon strips that I had picked up from this 'farmers market'.

Honestly I think that this is a case of smoke and learn. They aren't 'bad' (They taste delish) But having to spit out that tough ass skin on every piece is a bit of an inconvenience.

 

[smokerjim]

you could try frying them to crisp up the skin a little that may help.

 

[SGMan]

Meh... Possibly...

But the old adage comes into play here Im afraid.

GIGO.

Garbage in Garbage out.

Ill find some unsuspecting victims to dump them off on, or just dump them :(

Its a crappy smoke like this that makes me not so disappointed with an 8+ hour smoke of a chucky for burnt ends.

 

[73saint]

Drop em in the deep fryer for a bit.

 

[73saint]

you could try frying them to crisp up the skin a little that may help.

I posted this before I saw your comment..beat me to it!

 

[bregent]

Yeah, skin on won't work for burnt ends as you've discovered. It's not that difficult to remove if that's your only option. I buy skin on pork belly for crispy roast pork but you got to pay special attention to the skin to make it edible. I usually par cook the belly so the skin softens, then poke lots of holes in it. Then rub the meat with a mixture of spices, and the skin with baking powder, oil and salt. Roast around 400 for about 45 minutes until the skin gets nice and crispy. So if you got some uncooked belly left, you might give that a try.

 

[SmokinAl]

Lately I have been getting my bellies with the skin removed, but here is a great video on removing the skin.

Al

 

[SGMan]

Thanks for the suggestions peeps! But unfortunately I think the only way to save these bad boys would be to deep fry them. They have already been cut into cubes, smoked and sauced. It was afterwords that I realized that there was a tough piece of leather on one side of the cubes.

I believe my woman tossed out the deep fryer, but I do have an air fryer - might this be a viable option to make an attempt at salvaging them?

Or would I be better served trying to cut the skin off of each individual piece and re-toss em?
Or just chalk it up as a loss and carry on smartly? :D

 

[smokerjim]

probably cutting them off would be the best option, air fryer might work if you don't want to take the time to cut the skin off. would hate to have to throw these bad boys out, worst comes to worst you could just keep spitting out the skins, sort of like eating grapes with seeds they are good but a pain to eat.

 

[uncle eddie]

Well yeah...

*If* I had foreseen this to be an issue before I started the cook. The problem was the fact that these were (apparently) cheapish slab bacon strips that I had picked up from this 'farmers market'.

Honestly I think that this is a case of smoke and learn. They aren't 'bad' (They taste delish) But having to spit out that tough ass skin on every piece is a bit of an inconvenience.

Ha! I say the same...even the mistakes on the smoker taste pretty darned good.

Thanks for sharing a "mistake" - these sort of posts are awesome learning tools.

 

[chef jimmyj]

I have two Beagles and a Pit bull that would sit patiently while I trimmed the skin of each bite. We took nothing...JJ

 

[Bearcarver]

Sounds like a great experiment for your Air Fryer.
And Report back to us please.

Bear

 

[SGMan]

Sounds like a great experiment for your Air Fryer.
And Report back to us please.

Bear

Good call! I was thinking about trying a small test batch of sorts to see if its improved any.
Ill definitely post my results!

 

[disco]

Sorry to hear of the glitch!

 

[SGMan]

Okay, so here with go with part deux of this (now) experiment.

I pulled out the small container of leathery skin on bacon burnt ends.

Still in their sauce (which is delicious) they were sticky icky - Ill be the one washing the Air fryer, so - in they went anyway.

I put them in @ 400 degrees for 15+ minutes.

Follow up to come here soon.

 

[SGMan]

Post fryer report - 15+ minutes was WAY too long. They are no longer burnt ends, and more so burnt all overs.

But being the trooper I can be, I still sauced and chomped them in all of their crunchiness.

Woof. That was rough, and I had a hard time telling if the skin was crisped or overcrisped as it all became a globuled mess in my mouth. Ill take another stab at a few more of the big bowl to see if I can find a happy medium.

 

[Bearcarver]

LOL---Yeah since the Air Fryer restarts without resetting it or anything, you might want to take it a couple minutes at a time.
I wouldn't have guessed that would happen that fast either.

Bear

 

[SGMan]

Okay, so I went ahead and cut the skin off of my remaining pieces to salvage what was left (and reduce the risk of messing it up more)

I saved the skins and plan to try to airfry them - maybe I can salvage them after all, but Im glad for halfway saving my ends :D