3 Headed Biscuit Bacon (Cold-Smoked Tenderloin Bacon)

Posted by BBQ Resources at 1/19/2009 12:15 PM
Categories: Projects
3 Headed Biscuit Bacon/Cold Smoked Tenderloin Bacon

Garlic lovers rejoice!  Here is a home-cured bacon project just for you!
This recipe comes from a multi-pronged idea I had.  One was to see if you could cure pork tenderloin the same as the loin cut and end up with a quality bacon.  The second element was incorporating garlic into a recipe in heavy doses, as our family just loooooooves garlic! The third element was creating a bacon that fit onto the sourdough biscuits that I enjoy making this time of year.  So, the result, is the 'Three Headed Biscuit Bacon Recipe'.  If you're a bacon/garlic lover give it a shot.  I looked online for other garlic bacon recipes and found a company that makes a 10 clove garlic side bacon and charges 13.49/lb for it.  So, I guess the 2.99/lb raw weight price for tenderloin doesn't seem so extravagant after finding that out! 
Here's what it takes to pull together the 3 Headed Biscuit Bacon.

Sourdough Biscuits
The first order of business is creating your starter, or 'sponge', that you will draw on to make the biscuits (or sourdough bread, if that is your preference).  To do so, use:
1 package dry yeast (2.25 teaspoons)
2 cups warm water (95-105°F)
2 cups all-purpose flour
In a 1.5 quart glass or earthenware dish, mix together the yeast and water until yeast is thoroughly dissolved.  Add flour and mix until there are no lumps.  Cover with a tea towel and store in a draft-free place for 48 hrs, stirring a couple of times along the way.  Mixture will get a little foamy and bubbles will form, but it won't expand much or increase in size at all.  
There may be some clear liquid that separates out, and you can just stir that back in; unless it's pink (dead yeast), that's okay.  If the liquid is pink, yeah, your yeast is pooched and you need to start over.
After 2 days, you can store this in the fridge and draw off this 'sponge' as necessary for biscuits or bread.
When you draw off from the 'sponge' for bread or biscuits, replace with equal parts flour and water to equal the amount you've drawn off.  Leave this in a warm, still place for 24 hrs to get the sponge working again and it can once again go back in the fridge.

to make 12 biscuits:

1 cup flour
1.5 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, shortening, lard or bacon grease
1 cup sourdough starter/sponge

Preheat oven to 425°F.  Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.  Cut in the fat with a pastry blender until mixture looks like bread crumbs.  Make a well in the centre and add the starter.  Stir with a wooden spoon until combined.
Flour a board and hands generously.  Turn out the dough and knead just enough to make it smooth; any more and the biscuits will be tough.  Pat dough out to a 1/2 inch thickness and cut with a cookie cutter or inverted glass.  
Place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet or Pyrex dish.  Oil the sheet/dish with the same fat as in the dough (I used lard).  To make biscuits rise the most, place them in the vessel with the sides touching.
Cover the dish with waxed paper, place in a warm, draft-free place and let rise for 1/2 hr.
Bake for 20-25 mins in the preheated oven.




3-Headed Tenderloin Bacon

4 pork tenderloins, trimmed of fat and silverskin, approximately 1 lb each
3 heads of garlic, peeled and trimmed
1 medium onion
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
dash of olive oil
1 Tbspn fresh leaves of lemon thyme
1 Tbspn each dried lemon and orange peel, hydrated in 2 oz white wine (Reisling)
6 Tbspn Morton TenderQuick curing salt
4 Tbspn Dark brown sugar

Mix all ingredients except the pork loin, Tenderquick and brown sugar  in bowl of a food processor and blend until a smooth paste. Transfer to a large bowl and add in  Tenderquick and brown sugar. Stir to mix well.  Rub this paste all over the 4 tenderloins and place in a Ziploc bag in the fridge for 4-5 days, massaging and working the paste mix evenly over the tenderloins once or twice each day.
On day 4 or 5, remove loins from the Ziploc and rinse well under cold water, removing the paste, garlic and lemon thyme leaves.  Once large curing spices/garlic/onion are off the tenderloins, soak for 1/2 hour in cold water.  Drain and repeat as necessary (I did 2 of the 1/2 hour soaking sessions before continuing).
Pat the tenderloins dry and allow to airchill for an hour or two.  Set up your smoker for cold-smoking application, achieving ideal temp around 60-80°F.  For this I used the Backwoods Smoker and a hotplate set in the bottom with a pie pan set on top to contain the smoking wood.  For smoking wood I used Smokinlicious woodscuits of pecan and bourbon.  2 hours of cold-smoking produced a wonderful aroma and smoke element to the bacon.  
Because this 'bacon' was just given a cold-smoke application of heat and smoke, it will have to be fried up to a full internal temp of 155-165°F in order to be ready to eat.  I could have hot-smoked to 155°F to achieve a 'ready-to-eat' product, but that was not my goal this time out.  The finished product is ready to hit the fry pan.



While it sizzles away to completion, the biscuits go in the oven.  In about 25 minutes it's time to bring the two together, along with some slices of aged cheddar cheese.  Served the finished 3-Headed Biscuit Bacon on the sourdough with the sliced aged cheddar and some lard-fried french fries on the side.  Daughter Hannah called it 'heaven on a plate' and Denise called this recipe 'Divine'.  Gotta believe them, since we had these biscuits for dinner on Saturday night and then again on Sunday morning for breakfast (with potato pancakes in place of the fries).  
In 'thinking up' this recipe, I ran it past the Big Dog, who made the comment that he felt the texture of the tenderloin versus traditional loin might be an issue. In fact, the opposite was true, in that the 'spongy' nature of the tenderloin made for a nice contrast against the crisp exterior of the biscuit and the rich full mouthfeel of the inner biscuit and tangy cheddar.  
The garlic 'kick' of this recipe is unmistakable.  For a lesser garlic fan, maybe a two-headed version would be on order.  Feel free to play with this recipe to suit your tastes, but around here, we're calling this one a winner!



Qfan


 

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