Pink Peppercorn Bacon Recipes

PINK PEPPERCORN BACON

Steps:

• Place racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 400°F. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with foil and fit with wire racks. Place bacon on racks and sprinkle with half of pink and black pepper. Bake 15 minutes, turn, sprinkle with remaining pink and black pepper, and rotate baking sheets. Bake bacon until brown and crisp, 15-20 minutes longer.

MAPLE-PEPPER BACON

Steps:

• Position wire racks on 2 rimmed baking sheets. Lay 1 pound bacon in a single layer on the racks and bake 7 minutes at 375 degrees F. Brush with maple syrup and continue baking until caramelized, about 25 minutes, flipping, brushing with syrup and seasoning with pepper every 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes on the racks.

OVEN BAKED PEPPER BACON

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Arrange bacon slices in 2 jelly roll or shallow roasting pans, overlapping the lean edge of each slice with the fat edge of the next. Evenly sprinkle pepper over bacon slices. Place pans on 2 oven racks and bake 25 minutes, switching pans between upper and lower racks halfway through the baking, or until bacon is golden brown and crisp. Transfer bacon to paper towels to drain; keep warm.

SMYE'S LIGHTLY PEPPERED BACON

Steps:

• Rinse pork belly and pat dry. Mix brown sugar, salt, paprika, red pepper flakes, black pepper, curing salt, and cumin seeds together. Add maple syrup. Spread the cure mixture evenly over pork belly.
• Vacuum-seal the pork belly or place it into a resealable plastic bag, squeezing out as much air as possible. Refrigerate for 7 to 10 days.
• Remove pork belly from bag and rinse thoroughly. Pat dry and refrigerate while preheating your smoker to 220 degrees F (105 degrees C) according to manufacturers' instructions.
• Place pork belly, fat-side down, onto the wire rack. Place the rack into the smoker. Add 1 fist-sized chunk of applewood and 1 chunk of hickory wood to the smoke pan according to manufacturer's directions. Smoke for 1 1/2 hours; add 2 more chunks of applewood. Continue smoking until pork belly reaches an internal temperature of about 150 degrees F (66 degrees C), about 1 1/2 hours more.
• Remove pork belly from smoker and slice as desired. Store in the refrigerator for roughly 30 days. You can also portion out the finished bacon and freeze whatever you don't plan to consume right away, as you would any other meat product. To use, simply thaw in the refrigerator and you're good to go with little loss of texture.

CANTALOUPE IN PINK PEPPERCORN SYRUP

Steps:

• Combine 1/4 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons pink peppercorns, 1 bay leaf, and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Split 1/2 vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape seeds into saucepan; add pod. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Let cool; remove bay leaf and vanilla pod. Serve 1 medium cantaloupe (peeled, seeded, cut into 1 1/2" pieces) drizzled with syrup and sprinkled with flaky sea salt (such as Maldon).