Instead of me trying to tell you how to grill your bacon, I went right to the source—the man, the myth: Biggles. Here you go, in his own words and photos. Thanks, Biggles.
These two words should never be separated, Grilling Bacon. The next two words after that might be, Grease Fire (feel free to separate those two, please). Which is exactly what I received years ago during a few trial runs, Grease Fire. Okay, everyone raise their hands that know what the words Indirect Heat mean? Excellent, this makes me happy. It’s also how you grill bacon, indirectly.
Ever attend a party where the hosts grill or smoke the meal and serve it? Uh, huh. Have you ever attended a party where the grill meister is pulling food off the grill, out of the smoker every 45 minutes during the entire party? Choose the one that sounds most wonderful and you can see why grilling bacon, even smoking it, makes this possible. Pork shoulders, steaks, ribs go in at the same time with the beef tri-tip roasts, pork loins and fancy sausages. Over the top of these one can drape bacon! Install the bacon to the side as well, on its own. Turn/flip the bacon often enough to keep it cooking evenly. To finish, lay the bacon closer to direct heat to finish it up, serve promptly. And, if you’re lucky the bacon will take on some of the flavors of the meat bedding, oh yeah baby. It’s best if you have a sturdy table grill-side with a large cutting board so you can whack it up and call your guests over. Leaving the grill is never a good idea, don’t do it.
As the day winds on, the smaller meat will slowly dwindle and you’ll be left with the larger hunks that need to be left alone to finish. This is the time to begin making bacon rosettes, a bacon flower if you will. Take the remaining bacon or get fresh. Use your tongs to grasp the bacon at one end and hold over the roast, rotate and lower the bacon at the same time. Ta da! Bacon rosettes. Close the lid of your grill or smoker, adjust vents accordingly. Generally speaking, leave the exhaust open wide and use the intake vent to adjust temperature. Closing the exhaust vent could trap a smoldering fire’s ability to emit creosote. This is a bad thing as it will offer up a bitter taste to your food and may contaminate your cooker. Don’t sweat it though; it can be scrubbed out later on. How can you tell you’re creating bad smoke? It’ll be brown, remove food and get the fire some air, ya foo!
Grilling bacon is so much fun, so easy, so perfect. Buy different bacons and everyone can gather around your cutting board to see which one they enjoy more or less for whatever reason. If vegetarians can learn to love Grilled Bacon, so can you.
Xo, Biggles