Have you ever wanted to make clear bacon? Um, well I didn’t until I sort of came up with the idea the other day! After you guys enjoyed other clear recipes such as the clear ketchup or clear lemon meringue pie, I had to give this a go! It took a long time but we ended up with something that resembled smokey bacon pretty darn well through a combo of making a bacon stock, drying, smoking and seasoning! Here’s how I did it….
How to make clear bacon
- First up make a stock by getting a mixing bowl or jug and soaking the cooked bacon in 1 litre of water, covering with cling film and leaving in the fridge overnight. Drain off the next day but pass it through some high quality filter paper a couple of times, which takes ages!
- Next, add the bacon stock to a saucepan with 4tbsp starch, bring to a simmer and stir regularly over a medium low heat, it should thicken up and go like a gel in texture, turn off the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
- Pipe the cooled mixture into bacon strips onto a lined baking mat. Put the liquid smoke in a small oven proof ramekin or similar alongside the piped clear bacon andb bake for 8 hours at 60c or until fully dried out and curled up. Handle them with care.
- Once baked get some oil in a wok and warm gently, use a test sample and add it to the pan with some tongs, hold it in the oil for around 10 seconds, to lightly fry, don’t do it too long or it’ll darken! Place on kitchen towel and repeat
- (Optional) Use a smoking gun gadget to smoke the clear bacon if you wish even more
- Whizz up some cooked bacon and salt in a blender until coarse, sprinkle this mix (bacon salt!) on the clear bacon and have a taste!
Full video on YouTube here / above