Originally published on June 10, 2014
Who doesn’t love bacon? I don’t know many who don’t. Even I, who would prefer to see sausages alongside her eggs rather than bacon, still have a soft spot for this fatty cured meat. But just like all food, the world of bacon is evolving. While you can still throw it into a skillet, turn it occasionally, and be left with beautifully crisp pieces of the stuff, more and more people are finding new ways to cook it.
One of the most popular ways is to bake it. Now, unless you have a baking sheet equipped with a wire rack, I implore you not to even try baking your bacon. Sadly, I did, and what I was left with was a soggy, greasy mess that not even my husband – the biggest lover of bacon of all – wanted to eat. I understand baking it is probably great if you do happen to have that wire rack. There’d be little mess, the grease would magically fall off it into the pan below, and you’d be left with a superior product. But, did you know that you can get this same effect on the barbecue too?
It’s true. Last night it was hotter than heck in my house (being June with no air conditioning and all.) After the harsh winter we just went through, no one was complaining, but we weren’t so keen on turning on the oven or stove either. So, I grabbed some pork chops and some potatoes, and went out to fire up the grill. But what about turning those bakers into loaded bakers? At first, I dismissed the idea – because it would mean cooking on the stove. Then, the light bulb went off. Why didn’t I just throw the bacon onto the grill? Could I? Should I? I did.
Okay, as you know, bacon is quite fatty, so you have to be careful how you do it. I started by laying aluminium foil down over one part of the burner. I was going to use indirect heat anyway, but again – fat means flareups, and I didn’t feel like playing the part of a firefighter either. Then, I turned on the gas and lit only one half of the grill, the half that didn’t have foil covering it up. I kept the heat at about medium. To the half of the grill that did have the foil underneath, I laid my strips of bacon across. Then, I closed the lid and waited for my bliss to come. But it wasn’t actually that easy.
After a few minutes, I opened the lid and saw that my bacon was still raw, and worse, flareups were still happening right on top of the foil. It probably would have been fine if I had left it like that, but I wanted to eat dinner sometime that night (and so did the rest of my family.) So, I moved the bacon up to the top rack of the grill (still on the half using indirect heat) and, wearing silicone gloves and armed with stainless steel tongs, I lifted up the bottom rack and carefully took out the foil before closing the lid. Voila! The bacon immediately started to sizzle and crisp up and, because it still wasn’t over any direct heat and was far enough away from any actual flame, it was much safer and easier to do it this way.
Now, I don’t recommend cooking your bacon this way if you’re just making some up for breakfast in the morning. But if your house gets super hot this summer and you want to cook entirely on the barbecue, or if you’ve got some guests over that you want to impress, try this method and then tell them that you’ve barbecued the bacon. It’ll work, trust me.