For most people, the word “smoked pork” conjures up in their minds the image of a crispy, rich-tasting piece of meat that is still hot after it has just been removed from the frying pan. In fact, cooking on the stove is only one of many ways to cook bacon. For example, you might consider cooking bacon on the grill for outdoor events like barbecues. Not only is this method of cooking as effective as frying on the stove - it's also not nearly as much to wash after!
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Method 1 of 3: Using a Charcoal Grill
Step 1. Turn on the grill
Just like grilling anything with a charcoal grill, before you start grilling your bacon, you'll need to heat the charcoals until they're hot enough to grill. However, before lighting the charcoal, make sure you stack the charcoal on one side of the grill, so that the other side is free of charcoal. This will keep one side hot and one side cold on the grill when the charcoal is lit. When you're ready, turn on the grill.
- It should be noted that if you are not using flammable charcoal, you may need a burning liquid to light the charcoal.
- Once turned on, leave the grill cover open and wait for the charcoal to completely burn. The charcoal is usually ready for grilling once the outer layer of the charcoal has turned a grayish ash and emits a warm orange glow. To reach such charred conditions, it can take about 20 minutes or more.
Step 2. Oil the grill bars
When you are ready to grill your bacon, immediately grease the grill with a little neutral vegetable oil. There are several ways to do this, but the easiest is usually to use a grill brush or hold a piece of tissue paper with food tongs, dip it in the oil, and quickly rub it on the grill bars. Since bacon is naturally quite fatty, you don't need a lot of oil to prevent it from sticking to the grill during roasting.
If you don't have oil, you may be able to rub a piece of bacon fat along the grill bars or just skip this step. However, if you're just rubbing fatty bacon on the bars or not applying any oil to the bars, it's important to note that the meat may stick to the grill during roasting
Step 3. Place the bacon on the cold side of the grill
Using food tongs to protect your hands, place the bacon strips on the cold side of the grill (the side with no charcoal underneath). As the meat is roasting, the fat will naturally come out and drip into the grill. If you grill the meat directly over the charcoal, large flames may occur due to the burnt lard. To prevent a hazard from burning, fire, or scorching meat, cook only using indirect heat. The bacon fat will still drip into the grill, but since there is no charcoal under the meat, the flame will be minimal.
Try to place most or all of your bacon across the grill bars, rather than parallel to the bars. This reduces the chance of the thin meat falling through the grilles into the gray area below
Step 4. Flip bacon while grilling
As the bacon roasts, it will naturally begin to shrink, darken, and harden. To make sure both sides of the meat are thoroughly cooked, make sure you turn the meat over while it's grilling. Start turning the meat around when the effects of the cooking begin to show on the underside of the meat. Try to flip the meat at least every 5 minutes, and close the grill again after each turn.
- The length of roasting time will vary depending on the temperature of the grill, the thickness of the bacon strips, and your preference for crispness, so make sure you check the meat frequently. The total baking time should be no more than about 20 minutes. If you prefer a more "tender" bacon, yours may be done in at least 7-10 minutes.
- For other cuts of meat, there is a long debate in the cooking community about whether turning the meat often will spoil the meat. This is not the case for bacon, where most people agree that multiple reversals benefit the roast.
Step 5. Remove the bacon from the grill and place it on a plate lined with tissue paper
When the bacon is done, it varies in color from red to dark brown (depending on how crunchy you like it) and gives off a delicious aroma. Remove the bacon from the grill one at a time and place it on a plate lined with several sheets of tissue paper. Let the paper towels absorb the excess fat, then serve the bacon as desired!
Similar to flipping when grilled, bacon is also an exception among other meats when it comes to letting the meat sit before serving. While many other meats are noticeably moister and tastier after letting them sit for 10-15 minutes after cooking, bacon is ready to eat as soon as it's cool enough not to burn your mouth
Method 2 of 3: Using a Gas Grill
Step 1. Turn on all the grills on “low” heat
Your goal when cooking bacon on a gas grill isn't cooking it directly over the grill - if you do that, the oil, which softens and melts as the meat cooks, could drip onto the stove. This is even more problematic than a charcoal grill because, in addition to causing flare-ups, the dripping fat can cause the stove or the underside of the grill to become dirty. To prevent this, we will use a modified indirect cooking method that uses all grills (as opposed to the charcoal method on one hand described above).
Start by turning on most or all of the grill and cover the grill. Let the grill heat up for a few minutes before starting to cook
Step 2. Place the bacon on a flat roasting pan
While waiting for the grill to heat up, place the bacon strips on the bars of a flat grill pan. This skillet should consist of a metal grate that fits inside a non-perforated “fat mat” underneath. This allows bacon to be cooked over the heat of the grill without the fat dripping down the bottom of the grill or stove.
As an added bonus, grill pans are easy to clean - just pour any fat that drips down the bottom of the pan, wash the pan and grate, and you're done
Step 3. Grill the bacon with the grill closed
Place your roasting pan full of bacon on the grill and cover the grill. This keeps the heat from the stove inside the grill, so that cooking meat from both the top and bottom is like cooking it in the oven. To make the meat cook faster, keep the grill covered during cooking, except when you're checking for doneness.
Don't forget to turn the meat over as it cooks - although this is not mandatory as the heat is coming from all sides of the meat, rather than just from under the meat, turning is still necessary to ensure the meat cooks evenly. You may need to flip the meat at least once while cooking - more is fine too, but it can take longer to cook because the heat in the grill reduces each time the lid is opened. Keep an eye on your bacon as it cooks - if it cooks too quickly, turn it over immediately and reduce the heat
Step 4. Serve as usual
Once the bacon is cooked on both sides the way you want it, use tongs to lift the bacon off the grill and place it on a plate lined with paper towels. At this point, you are more or less done! Cover your grill and, once it's cool enough to handle, carefully remove your grill from the grill.
Method 3 of 3: Grill the Smoked Pork the Best You Can
Step 1. Use a sheet of aluminum foil for safety and easy cleaning
It doesn't matter whether you use a charcoal grill or a gas grill, aluminum foil is your friend in a pinch. It's easy to make a grilling pan out of one wide sheet of aluminum foil - fold the aluminum foil in half (to make it thicker), then bend the edges up to about 2.54 cm to keep the melted meat fat in the aluminum foil container.. Place the bacon strips in this “pan” and turn the meat over as usual as it cooks. When the meat is cooked, remove it from the pan and place it on a plate lined with paper towels. Carefully remove and discard the aluminum foil pan once the grill has cooled.
It's worth noting that using an aluminum foil “grill” saves you from having to stack the charcoal on only one side in the charcoal grill. Since the melted fat doesn't fall directly into the grill unless the foil is torn, you can grill it directly over the charcoal. However, it should be noted that this makes the meat cook quickly
Step 2. Purchase chunks of thick bacon
When buying bacon specifically for roasting, choose the thickest cut you can find. Thicker strips of bacon are easier to grill on the grill, as thinner cuts run the risk of breaking in half, falling through the grille, or scorching. This quality is very important because grilling usually requires food claws to lift and turn the meat, which can be difficult when used to lift the slippery pieces of raw bacon.
Step 3. Season the bacon while grilling
Smoked pork is a type of meat that is unique among other meats in that it tastes perfectly delicious without being seasoned at all (besides the ingredients used to make it smoked, of course). However, this doesn't mean you can't spice it up! By seasoning your bacon before roasting with your favorite ingredients or seasonings, you can give the meat a new, delicious flavor and make it suitable for a variety of dishes. The following are just a few examples of spices that are suitable for seasoning bacon - just sprinkle the spices below directly on top of the pork before cooking:
- Rosemary
- Red pepper powder
- Minced Garlic
- Cajun seasoning
- Black pepper
- Steak seasoning
- Sugar
Step 4. Consider other barbecue recipes that use bacon
Grilling bacon is fine and delicious, but why stop there? The following are just a few basic barbecue dishes that use bacon or can be easily customized - you're also free to add bacon to other dishes you know:
- Asparagus sticks wrapped in bacon
- Chicken wrapped in smoked pork
- Smoked pork cheeseburger
- Barbecue beans
- Chile
- Roast meat (pork, beef, venison, turkey, etc.)
Tips
- If you have a drain tray for your grill, consider using it to catch the melted, dripping lard. This will reduce the occurrence of large bursts of fire.
- If using a propane grill, use only low to medium heat to prevent a large burst of flame.
