Greetings fellow jerky enthusiasts! Today, we're blending the delightful flavors of maple, bourbon, and bacon into a killer jerky snack that will tantalize your taste buds. With the sweet hint of maple syrup, the depth of bourbon, and the irresistible savoriness of bacon, this is a treat you don't want to miss. And remember, we always have photos accompanying each step of the process to make it all the easier!
The Perfect Marinade
To kick things off, we begin with the sweet note of maple syrup, incorporating it into our marinade base. The bourbon is the next ingredient to make an appearance, offering a warm, smoky undertone that pairs perfectly with the syrup. We then balance the sweetness with a touch of brown sugar, some water for consistency, savory soy sauce, and a hint of Worcestershire sauce to round out the flavors.
For recipes that pack a punch with sugar, we recommend whisking the marinade ingredients together thoroughly to ensure full integration. The goal here is to create a harmonious flavor profile, with each component complimenting the others, rather than dominating.
Prepping the Bacon
With our marinade set aside, we next turn our attention to the star of the show: the bacon. To make it fit conveniently on our dehydrator, we slice the bacon strips in half. We aim for perfect lengths that will not overhang any of the trays, ensuring an even drying process later on.
Once we've got our bacon perfectly sized, it's time to introduce it to the marinade. We carefully layer each piece into our flavor-filled concoction, ensuring all the bacon slices are completely covered. It's crucial that the marinade infuses every strip of bacon to carry those flavors deep into the meat during the marination process.
The Marination
Sealing our meat and marinade tightly, we refrigerate it for just over 48 hours. This step ensures that the bacon soaks up all those delicious flavors - the aroma alone is enough to get your mouth watering!
The Drying Process
Next up is laying out our marinaded bacon on the dehydrator trays. It's important to space out the pieces to ensure proper airflow around the jerky. This guarantees even drying, not just on the top and bottom but also around the sides.
We recommend drying the jerky at 150-160 degrees and start checking it around the 6-hour mark. In our experience, the optimal drying time ranges between six to seven and a half hours.
The Taste Test
Finally, we reach the best part - tasting the fruits of our labor. The texture of the jerky is perfect, easy to underdo but not overdone. The first notes that hit you are the bourbon and the robust flavor of the bacon itself. The maple offers a subtle sweetness, creating a balanced, savory-sweet experience that is just right. However, there's always room for improvement, and we believe a touch more sweetness would elevate this recipe even further.
We also invited a few of our taste testers to sample our creation. Their feedback was generally positive, with the sweet and smoky bourbon flavor standing out alongside the sweetness from the maple syrup and the underlying savoriness of the bacon. Some suggested a bit more flavoring could be added to further enhance the profile, but overall, our Maple Bourbon Bacon Jerky received three thumbs up!
Wrapping It Up
We love experimenting with new flavor ideas and creating delectable jerky treats. This Maple Bourbon Bacon Jerky was a delightful concoction that we owe to Jay Hill, who suggested it in the comments section of one of our videos.
We appreciate your suggestions and invite you to continue sharing your flavor ideas. Your feedback is invaluable, and who knows - your suggestion might feature in our next video!
If you decide to try out this recipe, do let us know how it goes. Share what you changed, what you liked, and what you would do differently. This helps us improve and provides valuable insights to other jerky enthusiasts as well.
Don't forget to like, subscribe, and stay tuned for more exciting flavors from the jerky.com test kitchen. Until next time, happy jerky making!
1 comment
Thank you this is amazing