Tennessee Gun

Tag: bacon

  • Recipe: Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos

    Recipe: Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos

    Recipe: Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos
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    Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos are an addiction.  They are simple to make and taste so good.

    I especially love them when the peppers come right from my own garden.

    Since I have made my own bacon and cream cheese this is a recipe I can truly do from scratch.

    I don’t know anyone that does not like these jalapeno bites.

    Ingredients:

    • 1 package bacon
    • 1 package cream cheese
    • a pound (or so) jalapeno peppers

    Materials:

    • Wooden toothpicks soaked in water
    • Spoon
    • Knife
    • Baking Dish

    Procedure:

    1. Cut peppers in half and scrape out the inner flesh and seeds
    2. Cut bacon in half
    3. Spoon cream cheese into peppers
    4. Wrap strip of bacon around pepper and hold with toothpick
    5. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes.

    These bacon wrapped jalapenos are gone very quickly, I tend to eat some as they come out of the oven.  I find that if I am making these for a party I need to make a double batch just to ensure there are some to take.

    They are pretty easy to make, and I can eat them in huge numbers, but I dislike cutting up the peppers so I don’t make these as much as I want.  However, for those that are sensitive to the capsicum, I have a video that shows how to cut peppers without getting burned.

  • 4 Ways to Cook Bacon

    4 Ways to Cook Bacon

    52 Unique Techniques for Stocking Food for Prepper
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    I love learning new ways of doing things, and sometimes I even find better ways of doing things. As I have been making a lot of bacon lately, so I figured I would look up new ways of cooking it.  Today we show 4 ways to cook bacon

    But really that’s just intro fluff – what you need to know is that it is a post about BACON

    We use:

    • A microwave
      An Oven
      Water in a Skillet
      A George Foreman Grill

    AND as a bonus, we weave some bacon and fry it so that when we make sandwiches we can get bacon on every inch.

    Microwave

    • On a microwave safe dish, we placed a doubled paper towel, the bacon, and then covered it with a paper towel.
    • Our instructions said cook it for 5 minutes, flip and cook 5 more. We found 5 minutes total did a good job.
    • The microwave bacon shrunk more than the other methods, and it tended to stick a little to the paper, but it was the crispest of the methods.

    Oven

    • On a cookie sheet we laid out some parchment paper (the first time we did not use any, but it works MUCH better with), and then covered with bacon.
    • We preheated the oven to 375 and baked for 15 minutes.
    • We have read that some put the bacon in a cold oven and then set the temp to 400, and by the time the oven reaches temp the bacon is mostly cooked, but the 375 preheated oven did a very nice job.

    Foreman Grill

    • So simple is defies explanation, we set the bacon on the grill, cooked for about 4 minutes, and flipped it.
    • Very easy and it cooked up very nice.
    • A tip is to look at the grease as it runs off – as the bacon is cooked the fat will become clearer and thinner.

    Skillet

    Historically I normally just throw my bacon in a medium hot skillet and flip it around with a fork until I take it out and eat it.

    • In this method you take a cold skillet, put in your bacon, and then pour in enough water to cover the bacon.
    • Put on the heat and cook.
    • The water will parboil the bacon as it boils – which cooks the bacon without the need for turning or flipping or a lot of oversight. As the water boils away the bacon will start to sputter. This signals you that the cooking is almost done and you will need to start paying attention. Basically once the water boils away you only need to cook the bacon to your desired level of brownness.
    • This technique is good for fancy breakfasts where you have a lot going on and cannot devote all your attention to the frying bacon.

    Three neat things that may be useful:

    • Bacon curls from uneven heating – so the parboiled bacon and oven bacon curl less because they are heated more evenly.
    • When frying bacon, the oil bubbles get smaller as the bacon cooks
    • Bacon crisps as it cools, so if you cook it to desired crispiness, then it will be over cooked and more brittle than you desire – so pull it out when almost done.

    By he way, if you want high quality bacon, in bulk, for a good price, try Zaycon Foods – I have always been very happy with their products

  • How to Make Homemade Chicken Bacon

    How to Make Homemade Chicken Bacon

     

    52 Unique Techniques for Stocking Food for Prepper
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    Yesterday we showed how easy it is to make bacon – we do it at our house every chance I get – but to be honest finding good quality pork belly can be difficult at times so I am always on the lookout for alternatives.

    We tried rabbit bacon and found it to be – well blaaa, it was tough and not very meaty.

    However, chicken bacon was pretty good – if you like turkey bacon.   Chicken Bacon tastes just like turkey bacon.

    Personally I think bacon that is not pork based is a horrible lie, but my wife wants to limit my intake of the meaty goodness so that I wait until I am at least 50 before I stroke out, so she makes me eat more turkey bacon than I would choose to on my own.

    Making it is the exact same process as pork bacon – but since it does not have as much fat, I wanted it to have more flavor so I coated it in maple syrup during salting, and then again as I put it in the smoker.

    I have made many posts about ho to make bacon, but since bacon makes the world go around I am adding a link to an article on how to make bacon jerky.

    My wife eats turkey bacon, she uses it in her 21 day fix diet.  Personally I’d rather eat less real bacon than more fake bacon.  But its personal preference.

  • Recipe: Bacon Wrapped Twice Baked Potatoes

    52 Unique Techniques for Stocking Food for Prepper
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    All prep and no play makes Dave a dull boy, this is not a prep article really, but every once in a while I like a neat new recipe – because if I ever have to live off of my stored food without the ability to augment with a whopper or stuffed crust pizza I am going to want several extra options of cooking beans, rice, and potatoes so I don’t get “food boredom”

    This recipe for Bacon wrapped twice baked potatoes is normally made for company, its really easy, pretty cheap, and tastes awesome. Unfortunately, I normally make an entire tray full at a time because at my house we don’t leave the range with a half shot box of ammo, nor do we only cook a half package of bacon. Since it tastes so good, and I make so much of it when I do make it, I reserve it for times when I have a lot of folks to eat it.

    Ingredients:

    • Potatoes
    • Bacon
    • Cheese
    • Anything else you put in mashed taters – sour cream, mayo, salt whatever…
    • Round toothpicks soaked in water for at least and hour

    Procedure

    • Preheat oven to 375
    • Wash and peel half as many medium to large potatoes as you have bacon slices.
    • Cut a slice off of the top and bottom of each potato so that it can stand up. Reserve ends for mashed potatoes.
    • Cut each potato in half.
    • Wrap each potato half in bacon – use wet toothpicks to hold bacon to potato. (Using 4 toothpicks per potato holds the bacon really well).
    • Lightly oil cookie sheet and place small end of potato down (this makes it easier to scoop later).
    • Bake 30-45 minutes or until tender.
    • While baking wrapped potatoes, boil potato ends until soft.
    • Open oven and remove tray.
    • Gently scoop potato centers out to make a bowl.
    • Mix baked centers with boiled potato ends and make mashed potatoes. I like to add some cheese to the mix, but however you make mashed potatoes is fine.
    • Scoop (or pipe if you’re a gourmand) mix into potato bowl.
    • Top with shredded cheese.
    • Place back in oven and bake 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted to desired doneness.
    • Remove, let cool, and remove toothpicks gently.

    Tip – Potato is baked when bacon is crispy.