Honey Bacon Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Combine the honey and bourbon in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
• Lay the bacon on the prepared baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes. Brush with some of the honey-bourbon syrup. Continue roasting until deeply caramelized and crispy, another 10 to 15 minutes--the bacon will really crisp as it cools. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon pepper and serve.

Steps:

• Rinse the pork belly and pat dry. Transfer to a resealable 2-gallon plastic bag. To make the spice rub, mix the kosher salt, pink salt, brown sugar, honey, red pepper flakes, paprika and cumin in a bowl. Coat the pork belly all over with the mixture.
• Close the bag and refrigerate 7 to 10 days, flipping once a day, until the pork belly feels firm. It should take 7 days for a thin belly that is about 11/2 inches thick, longer for a belly that's 2 to 3 inches thick.
• Remove the pork belly from the bag, rinse thoroughly and pat dry. Refrigerate the belly on a rack, uncovered, 48 hours.
• Set up your smoker according to the manufacturer's instructions using applewood chips, and set to 200 degrees F. Smoke the pork belly 3 hours, or until the bacon reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees F.
• Remove the rind (optional), then slice and cook as desired. To store, wrap the bacon in plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 1 week or freeze up to 2 months.
• Pink curing salt is a mix of salt and sodium nitrite. It keeps the meat pink and protects it from bacteria. You can find it at specialty food stores or online.

Steps:

• Set Oven to 400 degrees.
• Mix brown sugar and chilli powder together in a bowl.
• Coat your bacon with the mixture. Making sure both sides or pretty much evenly coated.
• Put your bacon in a pan and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Your bacon will come out crispy and sweet.

Steps:

• Place the pork belly in a large Ziploc bag. Add the salt (and pink salt if using) and the cure additions. Rub the cure into the pork belly, turning the bag over and over and pressing the cure into the flesh. Close the bag, squeezing out all the air and refrigerate for seven days. Each day, flip the bag over. Some liquid will begin to gather in the bag.
• After seven days, wash the cure off the meat, rinsing thoroughly. Pat the bacon dry with paper towels and set it on a rack over a baking sheet. Allow the bacon to air-dry in the refrigerator for 6 to 24 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Roast the pork belly in the oven to an internal temperature of 150 degrees for about 90 minutes. Chill the bacon well, then slice thick or thin, to preference. Any bacon that doesn't easily slice may be cut into chunks, for starting a pot of beans or soup. Wrapped in parchment paper, then wrapped in plastic wrap or foil and placed in a Ziploc bag, the bacon will keep for three weeks in the refrigerator and three months in the freezer.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• For the red chile-honey glaze: Lay the bacon in a single layer on a sheet pan, keeping space in between each slice. Place bacon in pan and bake until lightly browned and crisp, 15 to 20 minutes. While the bacon is cooking, whisk together the clover honey and ancho chile powder in a medium bowl until smooth. Remove the bacon from the oven, using mitts, and carefully drain the fat, tipping the pan, into a medium bowl. Blot the top of the bacon with a few paper towels. Place the sheet pan with the bacon on it on a cooling rack and immediately brush each slice with the glaze.
• For the sorghum glaze: Lay the bacon in a single layer on a sheet pan, keeping space in between each slice. Place bacon in pan and bake until lightly browned and crisp, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the bacon from the oven, using mitts, and carefully drain the fat, tipping the pan, into a medium bowl. Blot the top of the bacon with a few paper towels. Place the sheet pan with the bacon on it on a cooling rack and immediately brush each slice with the sorghum syrup.
• For the brown sugar-pecan glaze: Line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper. Lay the bacon in a single layer on the baking sheet, keeping space in between each slice. Divide the brown sugar evenly over the top of each slice of bacon and bake until bacon is golden brown and almost crispy, about 13 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the finely chopped pecans, return to the oven and continue baking until pecans are toasted and bacon is crispy, about 3 minutes longer.
• Let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.