BOILED BACON

Boiled bacon? This will be a Mad Meat Genius first. The inspiration for this madness is Guy Fieri making an over the top burger on his show. Bacon is boiled for two hours. It is drained and formed into patties. It is then fried and used as a garnishment for a hamburger. How could I resist? We will be using some generic bacon purchased at our local Wally-Mart. The hamburger will be made with ‘pink-slime free’ ground beef procured from our friend Angelo. We did have to make a special bacon press for this procedure.

The first step is to boil your bacon. A whole pound of bacon will be put into a large pot of cold water. Bring to a low simmer and cook for two hours. The first thing we noticed is the smell. Boiling bacon emits a putrid smell. Is it the chemical preservatives in this no name bacon? We had to open a window. After 2 hours remove and drain your rashers. Let bacon cool and then form in to two patties. Yes, you read correctly, two patties. Place your formed patties on a hot griddle and place your bacon press on top.

Our special bacon press was created with a brick from the back yard. It was brushed free of dirt and wrapped in aluminum foil. Place your shiny brick on top of your bacon patties. Cook for 3 or 4 minutes on each side until golden and crispy. Our special bacon press worked like a charm.

I will spare you the details of cooking the actual hamburger. We did use 8 ounces of meat seasoned only with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Assemble your burger with all the usual accompaniments including your bacon patty.  This was one large hamburger. The beef was juicy and tasty. The bacon patty was crispy but not very flavorful. In fact it was a little disappointing. The salt had been removed from the boiling process. We never re-seasoned this patty. I am not sure salt could have rescued this bacon puck. Not all cooking endeavors are a success. This is one.